LObin wrote:If you don't think there's anything wrong, I respect your opinion. I would still like to hear from other owners who've experienced something similar though. My interrogation are not based on 24h of ownership but rather on countless hours of researching, reading and watching. Not saying I have a faulty unit. Not even complaining. Simply questioning.

Not exactly the same thing that you are seeing with yours but as I posted here I am grinding at higher settings than the ones I used during the first days : Niche Zero grinder
Actually now I am grinding between 18 and 22. I'm sure there is a simple explanation though, and most probably something that I am doing differently. But still, no change in the range settings when I use my other grinder.

ash4889 wrote:I know for a fact they don't recommend spraying the beans first, it will clog up grinder in the long run.

It may be a fact that they don't suggest it, but many of us have used RDT without any issues. I have been using it that way daily without any build-up of ground coffee in the grinder.

Baratza cautions against getting any moisture on the Sette burrs as they claim they could/might/will rust.

Could easily be the same issue.

HTH.

Max./

In the manual of the Sette 270 the only reference to rust that I have found is in the section related to cleaning, where it says not to wash the burrs. The same advice is in the manual of my Lido E. No reference to potential problems with adding few drops of water to the beans.
In the long run the addition of 0.2 g of water each time may have the same effect, but since it is a common practice I think that they would have specified that in the manuals. On the other side I also don't know if the oils that are deposited on the surface of the burrs are going to protect them from oxidation.

By the way, I am not advocating for adding water to the beans, it's just for the sake of discussion.

Yes I remember reading about your settings going coarser as the burrs get seasoned. I sure hope it's the case otherwise I might have to add a few steps below the 0 on my Niche (-1 ; -2 ).

I'd suggest reviewing the calibration process. I don't know that it's an official procedure, I haven't seen Niche literature about it, but there are videos (for example some are from a "DaveC", possibly a forum member - if so, thank you sir!). My brand new Niche certainly wasn't calibrated, at least not per the procedure everyone else is using. I think if you're using near 0 now I'd get away from it in case a particular future grind setting needed takes you beyond 0 to where it's not even marked any longer.

Generally you grab the silver ring and with decent but not Herculean forces twist it clockwise until it stops. Then look to the back and right and see where your grind setting indicator is located compared to the calibration dot. Now, holding the silver ring steady, twist only the black ring under it (it will move independently) until the setting indicator is lined up with the calibration dot. Now move the silver ring (it'll carry the black one with it) back towards the numerical range for your actual grinding needs.

For me I "gained" about 4 (i.e. went form 14 to 18 for a good grind for a particular coffee) after this. I could somewhat predict that by seeing how far "off" I was to start with.

Also keep in mind that the numbers are just for being able to go back to a setting if you decide to make changes, they aren't a measurement of any sort. So even if you're off, if you're happy, it's OK.

I don't have one, but I don't see why it would be different from any other grinder. They wear in, fairly rapidly at first, then settle down. On the Niche Zero, you turn the bottom ring until the dot lines up with the calibration dot, then use the top ring to set. You should be able to choke with all but the most stale beans once you do this. Perhaps with the slow speed and large burrs of the NZ this takes a long time. With the Baratza 7-270 it happens quickly. But, it should settle down and rarely require calibration (for the NZ) or shimming (for the 7-270) thereafter.

tracer bullet wrote:I'd suggest reviewing the calibration process. I don't know that it's an official procedure, I haven't seen Niche literature about it, but there are videos (for example some are from a "DaveC", possibly a forum member - if so, thank you sir!). My brand new Niche certainly wasn't calibrated, at least not per the procedure everyone else is using. I think if you're using near 0 now I'd get away from it in case a particular future grind setting needed takes you beyond 0 to where it's not even marked any longer.

Generally you grab the silver ring and with decent but not Herculean forces twist it clockwise until it stops. Then look to the back and right and see where your grind setting indicator is located compared to the calibration dot. Now, holding the silver ring steady, twist only the black ring under it (it will move independently) until the setting indicator is lined up with the calibration dot. Now move the silver ring (it'll carry the black one with it) back towards the numerical range for your actual grinding needs.

For me I "gained" about 4 (i.e. went form 14 to 18 for a good grind for a particular coffee) after this. I could somewhat predict that by seeing how far "off" I was to start with.

Also keep in mind that the numbers are just for being able to go back to a setting if you decide to make changes, they aren't a measurement of any sort. So even if you're off, if you're happy, it's OK.

Ahhh...! I knew I had to keep the faith! That's exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for.

I was starting to question myself... "is it me?", "will I be eternally unsatisfied??", "Am I unconsciously asking for other people's settings???"

I'll try to find Dave C's video about this and will report back.
Thanks!!

Here are a couple of videos:

You guys were spot on. While rewatching Dave C's 32 min video, I realized that hou should only recalibrate with a clean grinder. Otherwise, whatever coffee left in the burr chamber will affect the calibration.

My mistake was: when I first received my NZ, I ran 1/2 pound of stale beans in it before checking the calibration. When I did check it, it was off by a few notches so I moved the black ring but it was never truly recalibrated. Same thing happened later when I remove the top burr and swept off the old grinds. I did not remove the bottom burr which I should've done.

Now that I've done it properly according to Dave C's video, my espresso settings are in the 10-14 range when they were 5-10 before.