You can get a replacement motor plate. I just did the alignment last night. Baratza sent me a new motor plate with the Forte grind chamber. Not sure why they said it needed a new plate, but this is what that calibration screw goes into

Jack.123 wrote:Hey just wondering if anyone could give me any advice. I have aligned my forte using the above method however in the many attempts it took me to do this it seems I accidentally stripped the secondary calibration screw. I messaged baratza who recommended I add a layer of teflon tape to the screw, however this seemed to further expedite the process. Just wondering if anyone knows of any fix I could do. the threads only being in plastic would it be possible to use a larger set screw (however not sure i could find one with the same design (long spike at end)).

-at the moment it appears my grinder does not hold calibration well- moving from 3I - 2I from only 200g of beans being ground.

Looks like I have a problem...going to give the alignment a try this weekend.



50% top burr makes initial contact.

Just a quick update, I realigned my burrs using the "new improved" c clamp method a few months back, and got a finished wipe off about 80-85% and just yesterday decided to test the quality of grind via this new app available for analyzing particles, and look at this consistency! This was done at my v60 setting which is around 700-750 micron, I will repeat this soon using an espresso setting.




*Also an important note, this was done using the Baratza single dose Hopper, which is what I use daily, modded by cutting off the anti popcorn piece and I use an old tamper in its place to prevent popcorning. I also did this using the standard shut off hopper but as single dose, not full, and it did significantly worse, many more boulders

No end to issues with my new to me Vario. I've tried various attempts at alignment but can't get things straight. When running it sounds like the burrs are contacting unevenly.

Images show results of a marker test, as well as showing a clean burr. Are the marks around the edges a terrible sign? Any hope for aligning these? Appreciate your thoughts!

Jtbel1988 wrote:Looks like I have a problem...going to give the alignment a try this weekend.

image

50% top burr makes initial contact.

I know it seems crazy, but my forte only had a 40% wipe before alignment, and still achieved about 85% wipe after first alignment, and the resulting grinds are remarkably better and more consistent. I will align again down the line to try and get a 95%+ contact, but for now I'm very happy with my results. I posted a graph above, of particle consistency which shows very minimal boulders and better than acceptable amount of fines with 91% of grinds in the target zone.

I understand to an extent, Baratza not willing to meticulously align each and every grinder going out, but I fail to understand why they wouldn't put that effort into their flagship Forte grinders at the very least. Even some semblance of alignment would be nice, I was shocked by only 40% burr contact when I did the initial ink test. I love Baratza for their customer servuce, and standing behind their products, and the products themselves, but a little more effort in the alignment department, would not be lost on their customers.

I'm also curious if Jake had any love for the D-shaft motor. I don't know if/when they started using them in the Vario... mine is 2yrs old but new to me. Not taken apart yet but I was about to order the upgrade parts and wonder if I should splurge for a D-motor as well [Obviously I'll make sure I dont have one already ]. I'll take it apart in the next couple days.

I tried using the clamp method on my Forté, but I'm having some difficulty.

This is the result after trying the alignment several times (running the motor off a variable power supply):
As you can hear, it sounds pretty poor, and the spinning burr carrier doesn't seem to be running true. Also, without the burrs touching, there's a clicking noise - is that expected?

I've tried playing with the belt tension, but it doesn't seem to help. Here's what the belt tension looks like at the moment:
Does anyone have any ideas how I should proceed from here? I'd appreciate any leads!

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether the above videos look normal? I printed anti-TBS spacers in TPU and repeated the alignment procedure with the same results. The marker test showed the rear of the burr being cleared so I loosened the belt tension, but it didn't help.

I think belt tension is probably the most tricky variable. Took me quite a few tries of basically trial and error on the 2 Varios I've aligned to get a clean wipe. On my Forté the wipe didn't stay perfect at full speed, so I'm guessing it's the belt pulling things out of alignment Anyway at that slow speed you'd want it to be one continuous sound.

Thanks for the reply! Yes, belt tension is definitely challenging! I will play with that more. What about the spinning burr carrier - is that normal, or should I replace it?