I have a Bartaza Sette 270 that I will be selling, as I now have an Niche Zero that replaced it (well, 2 NZs), one for the City and one for the Cottage; an embarrassment of NZ riches!

My Bartaza Sette 270 does did not grind fine enough, so I had added a shim. I then had to add a second shim. Over time, this was insufficient and I could barely grind fine enough at it finest setting.

So I tried to add a third shim, but when I do, the lower burr (i.e. the stepped adjustment mechanism that also acts as the housing for the lower burr) will not re-install properly. When the lower burr is inserted, it will not rotate to its normal dial facing forward position. Rather the dial ends up facing the rear (backwards). Moreover, with the 3 shims installed, the burr set is at its tightest (burrs touching) at a much higher number than before. I have not tried running the machine like this, as I don't want to damage the unit.

Would purchasing a new upper burr (cone and housing) solve the problem, and avoid or reduce the number of shims? Fyi the shims ( needed) install in the upper burr cone housing.

Or do I need a new lower burr as well?

Or?

I don't want to spend too much money on this, or it will cost me more money to repair it than I will receive in resale value.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

A few thoughts popped in my head of things to check. First thing I would ask is if your the original owner? If not, then are you sure you have the correct burr installed? The S1 and S2 burrs look similar at a glance. Here is a side by side to compare. https://baratza.com/faq/can-tell-difference-ap-bg-burr/

Next thing I would check is if the motor mounts are loose. Another member suggested this awhile ago and sure enough my motor mounts were slightly loose. Not bad enough to cause problems but I've heard others having issues.

According to Baratza each shim is equal to 6 macro steps. I've had my Sette for 4 years and still have 1 shim installed and grind between macro 4-7 depending on the bean.

Most appreciated SutterMill! Thank you.

If its ok with you, I might have some questions once I dig into it, accompanied by some pics.

I also emailed Bartaza tech support and am awaiting a reply.

Sure. I'm certainly no expert on grinders but the sette is a fairly simple setup and Baratza made it pretty easy to DIY most issues.

Since your wanting to get it out the door I would suggest removing at least 1 shim for now. The upper burr carrier is actually the gearbox ($40). The lower burr is $26 to replace. I highly suspect an alignment issue or wrong burr though.

FYI, I've had the Sette and Niche side by side. Taste wise I had a really hard time telling them apart. Lance Hendricks video echoed my own experience. The Niche was just such a quiet pleasure to use.