Compak K10 Doserless to Doserless Conversion!

Grinders are one of the keys to exceptional espresso. Discuss them here.
EspressoForge
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#1: Post by EspressoForge »

I've seen some people post conversions for the K10, and in fact, I bought a converted K10. Overall I liked the grinder (and quality of grind), but the doserless spout wasn't my favorite for dosing straight into the basket.

So I went from this:


Plus this (and about an hour with a dremel tool to cut holes and polish the inside):
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Stainles ... 64714.html

To this:


Here you can see the polished inside after grinding a shot, just a tiny bit of grounds stuck:


Overall I'm very happy with the Mazzer style funnel. It doses much more evenly, and with the small 13mm spout (enlarged from 6mm or so) very accurately. Surprisingly, it's also somehow easier to brush out. Before with my other spout, I would need to brush out up to 5-6+ times to get out all the coffee, pulsing the grinder in between. Now twice and it was 90% clean, with the 3rd time giving only a tiny bit more coffee. Not sure why (grind path is the same length etc), but I'll take it!

I'm planning to find a way to puff some air down the grinder throat, tried a rubber ball but the size didn't work out for me. Will probably look into the other mod someone posted with a small piston and a plexiglas tube.

Also, measured a shot just now, 17.1g in and 17.0g out. This is with brushing out twice. Previous retention was around 0.5g brushing around 5 cycles.

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#2: Post by HoldTheOnions »

Looks good, I like your mod better.

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baldheadracing
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#3: Post by baldheadracing »

Nice-sized mug to keep HG one grounds from flying around (not to mention the Aeropress funnel and tinker bell).

Thanks for posting the 13mm diameter. I was wondering what the first cut should be on my "octopus balls."
-"Good quality brings happiness as you use it" - Nobuho Miya, Kamasada

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#4: Post by EspressoForge (original poster) »

baldheadracing wrote:Nice-sized mug to keep HG one grounds from flying around
Purchased in Malaysia from a tea shop. Used as a pouring vessel after brewing
baldheadracing wrote:(not to mention the Aeropress funnel and tinker bell).
Yup, aeropress funnel hard at work! The plug is from the HG1 tumbler.
baldheadracing wrote:Thanks for posting the 13mm diameter. I was wondering what the first cut should be on my "octopus balls."
So far, I'm finding the 13mm diameter works well. It plugged up on me once when I had the basket too full and let coffee pile up in one spot. But a quick brush gets it out. I'm thinking of now modifying or replacing the portafilter fork with something more useful to hold a basket.

Octopus balls...no idea how someone found that search term. I thought the stand was going to be useless, turns out it was. But it did get me thinking about trying to find an alternate tripod stand for my machine. This one isn't the right diameter, but having a search on aliexpress it seems like I need to know some translation magic to figure out what search terms to put in. :)

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baldheadracing
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#5: Post by baldheadracing »

I wire-tied a piece of wood dowel to the stand. Fits in a big tin can and makes the world's ugliest knockbox - but no grounds on the counter. (I am not at home so no pic. Be thankful for small mercies.)

My HG one goes to its new owner tomorrow. I'll miss it :cry:

As for AliExpress - I didn't know about the site until the octopus balls link was posted here. I don't think that I will ever buy anything on eBay again (that I can find on AliExpress).
-"Good quality brings happiness as you use it" - Nobuho Miya, Kamasada

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Bluecold
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#6: Post by Bluecold »

EspressoForge wrote: I'm planning to find a way to puff some air down the grinder throat, tried a rubber ball but the size didn't work out for me. Will probably look into the other mod someone posted with a small piston and a plexiglas tube.
Be aware that you probably need to modify the grind chamber exit for that to work to a satisfactory degree.
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#7: Post by F1 »

How does the HG-one compare to the K10?

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#8: Post by EspressoForge (original poster) »

Bluecold wrote:Be aware that you probably need to modify the grind chamber exit for that to work to a satisfactory degree.
In what way? The grind chute on the K10 seems pretty small to me, but will find out.
F1 wrote:How does the HG-one compare to the K10?
Grind quality I can't detect a difference, but I haven't done blind cupping or other serious tests. Just side-by-side comparison with the same coffees. I know this doesn't really mean anything definitively, so I do recognize there could be a difference between them in grind quality.

Ergonomics for single dosing is another story of course. HG1 for me is hand cranking, misting beans, WDT. K10 requires chute sweeping (or hopefully just puffing) and electricity. Both seem pretty well suited to single dosing, which is what I do exclusively since I have 2-5 different coffees roasted at any given time and liking switching between them several times a day.

One nice thing about having both for a while is that I keep one grinder on light roast setting, one on dark roast, and can select the grinder based on the beans I want to pull at the time. But ultimately it's a small luxury that isn't worth the extra money to me, so eventually I'll sell off one. :)

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Bluecold
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#9: Post by Bluecold »

You want more airflow near the edges of the grind chamber exit because that's where the grounds start building up and stick. But perhaps ymmv.
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#10: Post by EspressoForge (original poster) replying to Bluecold »

Thanks for the info, will keep that in mind and see how my mods come out. I was hoping a quick rubber ball would work for me, but finding the perfect size might take some wandering around the toy store...

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