Hello,

I was hoping to see if someone has an input in regards to this issue. My Compak K3 grind control collar is no longer rotating. I woke up this morning to grind for espresso instead of Chemex and it wouldn't rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. The burrs are working and the grinder is grind coffee just fine except that I cannot move the collar to make the grounds finer or coarser. Did anybody experience this issue before and if yes, how did you fix it?

Thank you

Certainly sounds like a jam of some kind. You can't loosen the grind even a minuscule amount? If you can't, take apart and clean up as much from the grinder throat, grind thru whatever coffee is remaining, and see if you can get the fixed burr mount to loosen enough to remove then. You'll probably find it was just something jamming up in the threads somewhere.

I can rotate it very little clockwise and counterclockwise but really miniscule

I have seen this happen on Compak, Mazzer, Rancilio and Macap grinders, and it can likely happen to most any grinder with a threaded upper burr carrier. In each case fine grinds have built up to the point that enough had worked their way into the threads to cause substantial friction. Often times it happens after removing the burr carrier and replacing. Enough old coffee fines are disturbed in the process and are moved into the path of the burr carrier threads to cause the problem. The collar will usually unscrew with slow and continuous force. On the K3, be careful not to grab the doser funnel for leverage as it isn't intended for that purpose. Once you remove the burr carrier, clean very thoroughly with a brush (a new toothbrush works great for this) and vacuum clean if you can before replacing. You can use a food grade lubricant sparingly as needed, dow 111 works if you already have it on hand.

Thank you. Can I use mineral oil like the one you use on cutting boards?

Thanks for the couple of people who responded but this has been resolved. I used mineral oil and dropped it where the top burr threads are then went at it rotating clockwise and counterclockwise till I gave in and loosened up. After I removed the top burr I saw that there was coffee buildup inside and on lower section of the threads, which I believe caused the top burr to get stuck. Hope this can help someone with the same issue. Lesson here is you can't go 6 months without cleaning your grinder!