prof_stack wrote:The NFC disk arrived yesterday. I had some trouble, at first, getting the 10mm bolt loosened.

What worked was to use a ratchet wrench. A firm whack on the wrench easily loosened the nut.

It doesn't seem to slow down the grind much and might be easier on the burrs since the beans go into the burrs in a somewhat more consistent rate.

Ditto. The end of a toothbrush in the burrs stopped rotation.



I try to never whack anything with bearings

The Niche has been in service for ≈80 weeks or ≈1100 shots or ≈20kg.
Burrs are nicely broken in and espresso has never been better.
All in All, the best espresso grinder I've ever owned.
It's not used for anything else.

I put a M5 washer in today, but I got to thinking about why I should even have to do such a thing for something that is supposed to help.

Yeah, if it ain't broke... for sure

baristainzmking wrote: On my husband's darker roasted beans (he only drinks medium-dark roasts) they wouldn't feed at all. Until I figure out the shims for this, the disk is out. If it ain't broke..

On my 3D printed version of the disc, I added a washer between the the burr and the disc so there was a little more room for the beans. Makes grinding smoother and a tiny bit faster.

The washer that you linked earlier in the thread, right .

WIth the washer in place and two loads through it, the NZ is definitely smoother. The 32g load had no indicated lag of beans going in through the disk hole and there was no popcorning. The espresso load, 15g, was perhaps a little faster than before installing the washer.

So, for me the washer is helping the disk work as anticipated. At least for this particular espresso blend roast.

Is it the same washer that randyr5 put on his NZ?
Can you please post a picture?

Besides turning the dial finer, has anyone needed to modify their routine? My normal workflow of needle > leveler > tamp has created horrendous donut extractions with the NFC installed.

For what it's worth, I haven't had any problems since installing the NFC disk. I love the reduction in popcorning/debris escaping around the lid and only had to go finer by about 2-3 marks. No differences in workflow needed to maintain the excellent extractions I have come to expect and no washer has been necessary as of yet for me. Overall, a definite improvement for the 10 bucks it cost me.

baristainzmking wrote:I installed the disk and used it with my larger doses for pourover and not sure I like it. It works good for espresso shots, but with 30 to 34 grams for large pour overs it seems to labor and take too long. Has anyone noticed that?

So will 34 grams go in the hopper without spilling over? I haven't tried it but my beans for espresso at 18 grams seems to be close to the edge.

After 3 days and 6 uses of the NZ with the NFC disk, I think it doesn't do as much good as I thought it would. Today's (larger) Colombia Supremo beans had a harder time getting in through the opening on the 32g load. I could put another thin washer in there, but don't see the point.

The espresso loads of 15g work as normal with very little popcorning.