Baratza Vario Macro-Micro Setting Overlap & Primary Calibration Method

#1: Post by **Kz1000p** » October 8th, 2020, 12:41 am

FYI I just changed my Vario burrs from ceramic to steel (as I'm doing more pour over than espresso these days, but still use it for both).

Two interesting points:

1) I recalibrated it so it so the steel burrs start to touch at 2Q, by moving the 2.5 mm "primary calibration" screw/slot all the way back (as far as it would go), with the 2 mm "secondary" calibration screw removed completely. Then I screwed the 2 mm "primary" adjustment screw back in so it just touches; my thought is this would provide a better support for the bottom grind chamber (vs using the 2 mm adjustment screw to push up the chamber all by itself). I'm not sure it makes a difference, but I feel better about it.

2) And when checking the touch points, I found that yes, it just starts to touch at 2Q, but also at 3G! They make the exact same burr-starting-to-touch sound at 2Q & 3G, so a grind setting of 2Q=3G. Seems of the 23 micro settings (A-W), only 10 are unique (A-J). If this is the case through-out the range, then for example, 2K=3A, 2W=3M, etc. And 2U=3K=4A. So instead of us having 23 (micro) X 10 (macro) = 230 settings, you only have 113 unique settings (if you lay them out in Excel). Does this matter, not really I guess, still love the grinder, although I find it interesting; and knowing this explains how to better use the grind settings.

Here's the overlap between grind setting 2 (fist column) and 3 (second column):
2 3
A _
B _
C _
D _
E _
F _
G _
H _
I _
J _
K A
L B
M C
N D
O E
P F
Q G
R H
S I
T J
U K
V L
W M
_ N
_ O
_ P
_ Q
_ R
_ S
_ T
_ U
_ V
_ W

#2: Post by **Jeff** » October 8th, 2020, 1:02 am

Half overlap makes sense. Doing so would let you dial in coarse with fine in the middle, then just use fine and be able to reach the "rejected" coarse step.

October 8th, 2020, 10:53 pm

Good point; yes, otherwise you could get caught between macro setting.

Along those lines, 1 macro change = 10 micro changes (say gong from 3M to 2M, but 2M=3C, and 10 micro changes between 3M and 3C). As there are 23 micro changes (A-W), 1 macro change is less than half a full range micro changes (10 of 23)). This supports your point of not being in a position to get stuck between macro changes.

Has anyone else checked to see where their burrs start to touch in two adjacent macro settings? Like where they start to touch in macro 2 vs. macro 3 (or macro 1 vs macro 2, etc.) to see if they are getting the same overlap findings?

#4: Post by **chanty 77** » October 12th, 2020, 3:53 pm

So would this work the same for Macro 1 Micro R equalling Macro 2 Micro H? For WHATEVER the reason, with a lot of my blends, it seems like I prefer Macro 1 because I have more room to "play" with the micro settings if say, it flows out too fast on 1R (which is what I have it at now), I can always set the Micro to P or Q, and still have so much room to play with. I used to use Macro 2, but on these same blends--I was up to D at times with the Micro, and still not fine enough at times. Yes, that is with recalibrating.

October 12th, 2020, 6:33 pm

Yes, but see the excellent info in Jake_G's Oct 10, 2020 replay in "Baratza Vario - grind size by steps."

Basically Jake_G is saying the closer you are to the top of the micro adjustment, the smaller the micro step, so you should be able to better dial in espresso using say macro 2 & micros A-E, vs. macro 1 & micros K-O (assuming you can get fine enough at macro 2 & micro A).

Baratza Vario - grind size by steps

#6: Post by **DamianWarS** » October 23rd, 2020, 3:17 am

Kz1000p wrote:Here's the overlap between grind setting 2 (fist column) and 3 (second column):...

that's really interesting, I've never knew how it overlapped (or bothered to figured it out) but it makes sense. if the overlap starts at K then 3K would be the same as 4A, 4K the same as 5A and so on... all documentation I can find says the unit has 230 grind settings and markets it more like after 2W the next step is 3A. the overlap, as mentioned in the OP, puts it more at 113 steps but I suppose 2U, 3K and 4A probably still have fine differences and are not exactly the same.

I wrapped it in a code tag which keeps a fixed-width font and makes it easier to read