Niche Zero grind consistency issue - is this normal?
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- Posts: 34
- Joined: 11 years ago
I've had a little more than a year with my niche and after my last cleaning of the grinder I noticed that I had to grind about 4 steps finer than before with the same coffee for espresso. Shots have been a little hit and miss and I wasn't sure why until I recently started using an aeropress for americano style coffee. It seems that theres a large variance in particle sizes that the grinder is producing, with the larger particles floating up to the top before compressing with the aeropress - you can see how the density of the particles is significantly different from the top vs bottom half.
I thought this might be misalignment that could have been caused by cross-threading the adjustment dial when reassembling the grinder but it's always been very smooth and threads on very naturally, I can't for the life of me figure out what's causing this issue.
While re-seating the burrs carrier I noticed it has some play/wiggle room where it could possibly shift/tilt while operating. The burrs themselves look perfect without appearance of any wear or damage and I was wondering if this could be a possible cause for the uneven grind distribution.
I know fines are always expected but I dont think the particle sizes should be nearly 50/50 between large and small like this...
I thought this might be misalignment that could have been caused by cross-threading the adjustment dial when reassembling the grinder but it's always been very smooth and threads on very naturally, I can't for the life of me figure out what's causing this issue.
While re-seating the burrs carrier I noticed it has some play/wiggle room where it could possibly shift/tilt while operating. The burrs themselves look perfect without appearance of any wear or damage and I was wondering if this could be a possible cause for the uneven grind distribution.
I know fines are always expected but I dont think the particle sizes should be nearly 50/50 between large and small like this...
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- Posts: 238
- Joined: 6 years ago
I noticed similar play in the burrs, but after talking to Niche they said it was by design and wouldn't cause issues with the grind. I considered that there is the possibility that it could be off center and cause a mix of finer and coarser grinds.
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- Posts: 34
- Joined: 11 years ago
I'm still kinda stumped on why after my first thorough cleaning the grind setting had to jump 4-5 marks finer with the same roast to get back to 25sec shot time. I ignored it for the longest time but when I recently starting making aero press coffees, the pucks jumped out at me as very odd.
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- Posts: 34
- Joined: 11 years ago
Yes, plenty tight with the NFC disk. I don't think the bolt affects alignment much though either.
- MB
- Posts: 792
- Joined: 10 years ago
Did you loose a spring or two?
(Extras in the base.)
(Extras in the base.)
LMWDP #472
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- Posts: 34
- Joined: 11 years ago
Any chance this could be caused by the blend I'm using? It's not SO. Are some beans harder than others and possibly coming through the grinder coarser?
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- Posts: 34
- Joined: 11 years ago
Har har, NO!MB wrote:Did you loose a spring or two?
- MB
- Posts: 792
- Joined: 10 years ago
Not joking. There are two springs that are exposed when cleaning that can easily come out.
LMWDP #472
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- Posts: 34
- Joined: 11 years ago
Sorry, I thought you were teasing. I removed the springs carefully before blasting their holders out with compressed air and re-seating both of them.