Is the Ultra Grinder a Monolith copy? - Page 6

#51: Post by **ira** » June 2nd, 2020, 2:48 pm

In theory, the stationary, top, burr of both machines can be made equally parallel. If that's true, the most significant difference is likely that Dennis spends a lot more effort making sure that the spinning burr mount is as close to perfect as humanly possibly. As has been pointed out earlier in this thread, you can tell from the seeming perfect parts in his scrap pile. In this day of SSP burrs, the need to correct for the errors of out of parallel burrs is likely a non-issue. So the question is, how much difference does the alignment of the bottom burr matter. Is an error of .001" noticeable, is .0001 noticeable. It's not a question I know the answer to and it's not likely a question I could answer, but the one feature the Ultra gives us is the ability to tilt the top burr in tiny amounts to see what the difference is and where it starts to matter. Or even to discover if small misalignments might help with some coffees and brewing methods. I.e. can you adjust burrs with very uniform particle distribution to work for coffees that work better with slightly wider particle size distribution?

And back to the topic, the odds that anyone would be willing to put in the effort to make a grinder as good as a Monolith, even if they just made what seemed to be an exact copy is probably zero. Any sane person looking at what Dennis does would tell him it's absurd. The stuff he does is on the order of what my neighbor has to do when qualifying parts to go on a SpaceX rocket and they commonly sell stuff I could make for $50 for $1000 or more just because of the testing and tracing required.

Ira

#52: Post by **y.tald** » June 2nd, 2020, 3:39 pm

In the coffee market there are few people who act like Denis. Zhang behind Ultra is one of them. Frank behind Titus too. Facts here, not theory and praise.

#53: Post by **cdo** » June 2nd, 2020, 4:23 pm

Is there anymore known about this Zhang behind the Ultra? I am assuming this item is already out to market in Asia, I have been trying to find some mention of it on Asian forums to see if anyone has done any in-depth reviews.

#54: Post by **luca** » June 2nd, 2020, 7:46 pm

y.tald wrote:I disagree with you, Luca, this time. Monolith is fixed and parallel. Ultra is modular and parallel They both achieve the parallelism, yet in a different way.

Are we disagreeing about anything here? I think we're in agreement!

#55: Post by **peacecup** » June 3rd, 2020, 2:05 pm

I haven't delved into the gory details of all this, but aren't basically all espresso machines and grinders copies? I mean someone invented a lever machine (Gaggia, I think) and everyone copied it. Someone invented the E61 and everyone copied it. Pavoni made a home lever and Olympia copied it. Most machines and grinders look and work more or less alike.

So Monolith can't possibly keep up with demand, exactly because of their exacting specifications. Plenty of makers are going to see that demand and try to fill it.

I mean, we could all go back to old PeDe hand grinders and 2nd home levers (wait a minute...I never left that space). Most people wouldn't know the difference in a blind taste test anyway.

#56: Post by **RobindG** » June 3rd, 2020, 2:13 pm

ira wrote: And back to the topic, the odds that anyone would be willing to put in the effort to make a grinder as good as a Monolith, even if they just made what seemed to be an exact copy is probably zero. Any sane person looking at what Dennis does would tell him it's absurd. The stuff he does is on the order of what my neighbor has to do when qualifying parts to go on a SpaceX rocket and they commonly sell stuff I could make for $50 for $1000 or more just because of the testing and tracing required.
Ira

Still, does extreme precision automatically make it the best grinder? Or do we need new techniques? Vertical burr low rpm grinders? Horizontal burrs with bean auger? Roller burrs? Was the doser not all that bad to get rid of static? Will the SSP conical burrs make the difference?

#57: Post by **ira** » June 3rd, 2020, 3:42 pm

For me, the answer is I don't know. I can't really tell you that the espresso is better with my Flat than it was with my M4D, but I can tell you I became willing to make espresso again when I got the Flat. Using it is a pleasure. You put in 18 grams, you get out 18 grams. You change between espresso and drip and back again and the grind is the same. It's reasonably quiet. It's slow at the speeds I grind at, but I'm not really in a hurry. The grinders I drool over are the Ceado Hero and the EG-1. Not so much because I think they are better, but because they look more like art than an industrial machine. I bought a Flat in the very first batch, back when I watched the available count drop between zero and one every day for weeks and finally opted in when there were 5 left. At that point it was a bit of a gamble. And I'm guessing that the new versions are more convenient to use, but not noticeably better in the cup. Well, at least not if I was to upgrade from the Mythos burrs I now have.

I think the person behind the Ultra thinks which is a good thing. Given my needs, it seems like a decent choice and I'll probably jump in near the end of the pre-sale.

Ira

#58: Post by **LnR** » June 4th, 2020, 6:28 am

For the source of this grinder you could ask here
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1G7411w7Wo

Best regards,
V

#59: Post by **knumph** » June 4th, 2020, 8:00 am

L&R wrote:For the source of this grinder you could ask here
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1G7411w7Wo

Best regards,
V

Anyone know the best workaround for viewing videos in this site from America? Great find btw

#60: Post by **sprolever** » June 4th, 2020, 12:08 pm

VPN, proxy server or TOR browser