tinman143 wrote:Excuse the laziness but this thread is 40+ pages now. What is the consensus setting for espresso (med dark roast)? I saw some yt vids where they suggested going 15 clicks finer than the suggested 0/30-60 on the catch cup. TIA

This was the case with the very first batch, having "lazy" QC, and a somewhat spread zero point range.
For example mine, with espresso grind in the 20-24 neighborhood.
For this batch, at request is available for free a tuning kit, consisting of 0.1-0.2 mm washers, that shifts the range by 6-12 clicks.
Mine is at 34 now, with such washer.

The next batches suffered a second QC, at warehouse, and they are better, according to "manufacturer".
Anyway, you should experiment, 30-60 is still a huge range though...

The range on my Arco, for medium and medium-dark roasts has been 38 to 40/41 respectively using 20g doses for IMS 26.5 Competition basket and typically ~10-sec PI with a yield of 30-36g espresso. As always with grinder settings YMMV.

I probably have around 10lbs run through it now and still getting more grounds clinging to the under side of the bottom burr than I'd like to see...and more than I get on my OE Lido OG for compare (ditto my former Apollo and 1Z).

EDIT 11/20: To add: I have only used my Arco in electric mode. I have not used it as a hand grinder. And as most of us know, this effects the grind setting.

Thanks for your input Ren and Spress.

Spress - is yours with the washers installed?

My Arco did not need nor come with additional shim washers (unless they were installed by Arco...I have not taken the burr assembly apart to inspect for this).

Its darn near impossible to get all the little details right at the 'first pressing' of any manufactured product; Arco included. A couple of things I'd like to see if they go down the path of a v2.0.

The catch cup is bit of a PITA to deal with. If you leave the 3-pieces, the metal cup, the plastic magnet holder and the also plastic cup liner, in tact the nooks and crannies collect considerable grounds between grinding and pouring into the basket (espresso). In an effort to make transferring grinds from the catch cup into the basket a little more efficient/cleaner I've removed the plastic liner and right after grinding, and before pouring, I remove the plastic ring holding the magnets...the workflow surrounding this is just clunky.

Retention below the lower burr, as I mentioned in an above post, is more than I'd otherwise like to see. This photo, taken this morning, was after grinding 20grams of medium-dark beans with TWO spritzes of water mist to better control static. This grinder is a bit of a static monster compared to ALL my current and former grinders; hand grinders included. No amount of knocking, etc., gets the retained grounds to release; only brushing to remove works.

The other little nit-pick I have, also reported by others, is the rubber sleeve on the outside barrel of the grinder: It is not anchored to the grinder and slips around when you remove/install the hand grinder portion to the motor assembly and/or during hand grinding.

Flavor, for espresso, OTOH, is very good! I have made some incredibly tasty espresso with my Arco! My very subjective thoughts: It easily holds its own from a flavor perspective all things espresso (medium, medium-dark roast levels).

All in all, the Arco is a very attractively priced hand & electric combo grinder and if they can address a couple of little problems with a v2.0, it would leave little to nothing to complain about.

For pour over you get ghost burrs or cease complaining... simply as this.

Regarding static... is strange to see that deposit, and especially hear it still stuck there if hitting the cup only once, from bottom up, moderate hard. For me it worked always. For espresso only !
Because for pour over... you WANT that static, and you should cease any RDT or other method to reduce static.
Is the best way to keep the chaff and fines away from the main grounds.
Others build special magnetic traps around the output to get this effect, and you complain... d'oh...

Just made my first shot. 15g @ 34 clicks (by hand) and 33 sec shot to produce 30 g shot. Not bad and will try 37 clicks tomorrow. Retention was like the above pic but nothing my brush didn't get out. Once I get things dialed more I'll use the electric motor. Fwiw my daily is a modified Versalab and the arco isn't too far off!

Not intended to be offensive at all, but English is not my native language, so more difficult to compose something meaningful.

What I meant was, that Arco is for brew as any other conical in his 47 mm Italmill burrs class, nothing significantly better or worse.
If that matters, the last brew champion won with a grinder having almost same burrs.

The big leap, if you are a brew fan, is a ghost burrs grinder. This is addressed to anyone, not directly to you.
Imo, that was the beginning of the milling, in the ancient chinese grain mill, and now resurrected, with hopes to become the future of the coffee milling, at least for brew. Hopes that aren't without support, with the issue of the new Timemore Sculptor hybrid burrs grinder.