I sent my original video to Baratza, and they suggested that the lower burr wasn't centered in the carrier, and they were correct. I centered it by shimming between the outside of the burr and the inside of the sweeper arms with tinfoil folded twice (4 layers of tinfoil between each sweeper arm and the burr) temporarily while I screwed the burr down, which did the trick in centering it.

THAT SAID.

I took a video of the lower burr carrier with no burr on it at all, and sent it to Baratza as I could still see some wobble, and the tech's response was 'That looks great!'

Judge for yourself:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/132504oa4ey2d ... 2.mov?dl=0

Did you replace the LBC?

I think i have the same issue (early production vario), large variance in wobbling. bought the forte grind chamber and upper burr carrier, but I can't seem to get it to align well at all. frustrating.

I haven't done it yet... but I imagine I will at some point sooner than later I'll keep you posted. My Vario is an early 886 whenever that came out.

Is 886 a version of Vario or your serial number? If serial number it is indeed about as old as mine (ten and a half years). Mine is the one in the Vario "super alignment" thread.

-Peter

It's a version number (where they went to the full metal portafilter holder instead of the plastic one)

Serial number is 1501838

I just had an Idea: I wonder if the wobble could be due to the motor capstan not being true. I should check that at some point...
wobble isn't totally gone but centering the burr seems to have helped a lot. Marker pattern is pretty consistent and only varies around the bolt holes so I might have to shim the burrs with a 3D printed part. Burrs are also fairly new (less than 2kg through them) so patience is a virtue at the moment
Excited to taste the outcome!

Another option that has occurred to me is to clamp the burrs down tight and then lap them true. They are tool steel, but I have had a few sets that had heavy wear from being run in poor alignment for quite some time that cleaned up wonderfully on a wet sheet of 440g sandpaper on my granite countertop. The upper burr carrier makes a good fixture to try such an approach.

While the breaker section of the burrs will still be distorted from the Taco Burr Syndrome, you can at least get the outer finishing teeth to give you a perfect ink pattern which will all but eliminate boulders that sneak through the gaps at the outer perimeter.

There is of course risk of causing more harm than good when trying such a thing if you end up with a wedge-shaped burr in the lower position, but if one were careful you could likely get great results quite quickly.

Cheers!

- Jake

I still like the idea of printing TBS resistant spacers and then lapping those on the granite counter top. Of course they may be easier said than done. Perhaps someone who's tried it can chime in?

-Peter

That's how I do it...

I have found a similar wobble in my lower burr (Vario-W, about 2 years old, metal burrs). Interestingly, I got a nice clean 360-degree dry-erase test on the lower burr, before I noticed this. (I also tried to do the Alicorn alignment, with some success I think. I'll move that commentary and a follow-on question to the other thread.)

Here's a link to a slow-motion video of the wobble: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jngq7d4bnu5rd ... 0.MOV?dl=0

Please let me know (anyone!) if that doesn't work. Finding my way around this.

If I manage to get good alignment (with a clean 360 degree test on the upper burr), does that indicate the wobble is irrelevant?

I don't see it spelled out in the thread above: which replacement part could I order from Baratza for this?

Thanks for any guidance!
Patrick

That's a radial misalignment. It effectively reduces the surface area of the final grinding stage but i suspect it has minimal impact on the final particle distribution of the grinder. If you have an even ink test on the upper and lower burrs, you should be in good shape.

Note that a misaligned lower burr can create a perfect pattern on the upper burr and yield a terrible particle distribution pattern. Likewise, a misaligned upper burr will almost always give a perfect ink pattern on a well-aligned lower burr. In order for any of this alignment business to work, you must have a clean ink pattern on both burrs.

Cheers!

- Jake