Hi All,

I recently bought a Eureka Atom Pro. I'm fairly happy with it. I haven't used it enough, nor am I knowledgeable enough to give a real review of it. It looks gorgeous though.

I had a question about cleaning it. With other grinders, one can remove the top burr carrier by unthreading it to access the burr chamber.

With the eureka grinders, one has to unscrew 3 phillips bolts under the lid to access the burr chamber.

My screws were a bit stripped to begin with. Not a big deal. I expect I'll swap them out for some Allen or hex bolts.

I bought this grinder hoping it would last 10 years! Maybe wishful thinking? I was wondering how often people are cleaning the burr chambers of their eurekas, and if they noticed any problems when they regularly have to screw and unscrew the bolts securing the burr carriers.

I'm worried that the hole threading on the upper and lower burr carriers will wear with time as the bolts are tightened/untightened with regular cleaning.

Perhaps I should source some bolts made from softer metal to prevent against this? Im curious if any eureka owners can offer some insight, or if anyone has any proactive ideas in this regard.

Thanks all.

I haven't noticed any issues with the screws causing damage with use.
Main things is...use the correct phillips size. It uses the larger bit size...I think PH3.

I haven't noticed any problems and I have the Atom Pro. It's relatively easy to clean, but I only do it about once a month. It is relatively low retention so there usually isn't too much to clean, but it is still worth doing. I use a hand vacuum and a brush.

I find this post a little confusing. First, why would the top screws be damaged at the onset; is this a used grinder? Second, if this is a new grinder, why clean it now? According to WLL, for one, grinders of this configuration in home service can go for many months without any servicing. In one of their videos, they suggest every 18 months if one uses a pound of coffee a week. I have a similar grinder (Feilai ZF64W). I took it apart to check the burrs alignment once it had been in use for some months. There was virtually nothing to clean; sure, there were some stray grinds there, but no build-up of oils and fines. Perhaps the cleaning schedule might depend on the roast level; I roast to just before 2C, so have only the slightest amount of surface oil on the beans, if any. For really dark roasts, perhaps more cleaning is needed. I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I'm curious to know how often users of this style of flat burrs grinder actually find anything meaningful to clean and how often they do it.

I imagine one could go for longer without cleaning. I just clean periodically. There isn't usually much coffee in there, but still some, especially in the exit chute. I've heard some people have removed the clump crusher for this reason as coffee can get stuck behind there for instance.

Nunas wrote:I find this post a little confusing. First, why would the top screws be damaged at the onset; is this a used grinder? Second, if this is a new grinder, why clean it now? According to WLL, for one, grinders of this configuration in home service can go for many months without any servicing. In one of their videos, they suggest every 18 months if one uses a pound of coffee a week.

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure why the top screws were a bit stripped. It's a new grinder. I have a plethora of drill bits, and when using my biggest Phillips bit I noticed the bolt head was a bit "slippery" and I could visually see wear in all three. To that end the bolts were screwed in very tightly.

I can appreciate cleaning out the burr chamber once a month. That frequency sounds reasonable to me for a grinder with low retention. But servicing is not cleaning. I would have thought by servicing, WLL means bringing the grinder in to a professional shop for a proactive inspection.

I can't imagine WLL means they think a grinder should be cleaned only once every 18 months.

LewBK wrote:I haven't noticed any problems and I have the Atom Pro. It's relatively easy to clean, but I only do it about once a month. It is relatively low retention so there usually isn't too much to clean, but it is still worth doing. I use a hand vacuum and a brush.

Amazing to hear. Thanks for the input. I am definitely going by to test the waters by removing the clump crusher at some point.

buckersss wrote:<snip>I would have thought by servicing, WLL means bringing the grinder in to a professional shop for a proactive inspection. I can't imagine WLL means they think a grinder should be cleaned only once every 18 months.

You may be right, as their video is titled "cleaning and calibration", while the bit recommending 18-months intervals is for "calibration". Check it out here https://www.google.com/search?channel=f ... 64+grinder Frankly, though, what they are recommending is a bit odd to me. The claim seems to be that by not calibrating the grinder, one can get sticky build-up. The thing is, their "calibration" isn't about burrs alignment; it's merely to set the zero-point (aka touch point) of the burrs. The claim appears to be that by not setting the touchpoint, one can get sticky build-up; I'm skeptical . In any case, I remain curious as to how often folks are finding anything in their flat-burrs grinders. Mine has been more or less clean, meaning nothing like the gunk shown on the WLL video, despite it having been brushed and vacuumed only once since I've owned it. Thanks for posting your question, BTW. It certainly prompted me to think about the issue.

Thanks for the link.

I previously by found another good link on HB, I figured I'd place it here.

Eureka Olympus 75e Burr Alignment and Retention

I think I will do as LewBK suggested and remove the clump crusher. I had found quiet a bit of buildup there, I'll see how the grinder fares without it.

I've cleaned mine once in 2 years, lol. It didn't even need it then. I also have concern how the large and strong Phillips screws could be stripped, that seems very odd to me.