Burr upgrade for Breville grinders?

Grinders are one of the keys to exceptional espresso. Discuss them here.
bgnome

#1: Post by bgnome »

Has anyone else attempted this? I have noticed that some of the newer machines are using the Etzinger 6-blade design, but the vast majority of Breville grinders out there are still using the standard 5-blade burr. Breville sells the Etzinger upper burr as a replacement part, which apparently fits all Smart Grinder Pro-based machines, but they don't make the lower conical burr available.

Currently, Orphan Espresso still sells Etzinger burrs for the Lido Series for roughly the same price as the Breville part. A brave soul on Reddit wrote about swapping these in to a OXO grinder:

This gave me hope that these would be the correct part for my Oracle touch, which come in both burr flavors. Unfortunately, they are not a perfect fit. The conical burr requires the impeller to be modified to a single peg, a foil shim on the motor shaft, and a washer under the acorn nut. The upper burr has a brim that is 1mm too large in width and diameter, necessitating a modified burr carrier. I do not have the official Breville Etzinger upper burr to compare to, so it may be sized the same or also have a modified version of the carrier. I designed a 3d-printed piece that will give me similar adjustment and reuses the top piece of the adjustable carrier.


I have just re-assembled everything and confirmed fit. I will have to see how well it works. This also allows the use of an Italmill-style upper burr that I have from an old Saeco superauto. I also got a Baratza M3 conical cheap to check fit for an M2, but the motor shaft is too thick for the burr.

bgnome (original poster)

#2: Post by bgnome (original poster) »

I substituted a 3d printed spacer for the aluminum foil shim on the motor shaft for the conical burr. I am much more confident that the burr is now as aligned as I can get it.

I ran out of the previous SWP decaf roast I was using, which I suspect was also giving me some difficulties. The best I managed was 3:1 in roughly 30 seconds on my Oracle Touch with the stock setup or with mismatched burrs. I have now pulled a couple shots with the new burr setup and a freshly frozen SWP roast and have finally reached syrupy goodness. In fact, the beans won't even feed in the burrs at a setting below 15 now, which was about where I was at previously.

I also made a modified holder for the stock burr, which removes a lot of slop and centers it better. I suspect this is a big issue with the Breville grinders and will likely lead to significantly improved grind consistency if anyone wants the file for 3d printing.

bgnome (original poster)

#3: Post by bgnome (original poster) »

Another possible option?
Lance Hedrick has given us a better look at the Fellow Opus burrset. The lower burr looks like it might drop in. It has 2 holes on the bottom so the impeller probably won't need to be modified. I would also guess that the center bore diameter is maybe 10mm, like the Lido burr. Lance did not take the upper burr out of the carrier, so I can't say if it could work or not.

bgnome (original poster)

#4: Post by bgnome (original poster) »

Lance just posted a review of the Encore ESP by Baratza. These area using the Etzinger burrs, and given that they changed the mounting design, it looks very optimistic as a Breville burr replacement. Since Baratza is owned by Breville, it would make sense that Baratza would redesign their mainstream grinder to use the same burrs as the Breville machines at least from a production perspective. Hopefully Baratza will sell these on the Parts store.

Edit: According to their specs, these are the same old M2 burrs https://baratza.com/grinder/encore-esp/
Edit #2: Maybe not the old M2s? The old M2 part was #6175, while on the ESP parts list, it is #6775 M2 Cone Burr (ESP) https://baratza.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... 12723.pdf