Niche Zero not pushing out ground coffee - Page 2

#11: Post by **Pressino** » January 17th, 2022, 11:41 am

I don't have a Niche but the spindle shaft as you said is clearly off axis with the grind chamber. Is it possible that the motor itself has slipped from its mounting brackets and thus tilted the spindle? This might occur if the grind chamber is not fixed solidly to the motor. Anyhow, I've read reports about the Niche motor mount screws loosening on some folk's grinders. Just an idea...as the previous poster said Niche's warranty should cover the problem, whatever is causing it.

#12: Post by **cafeIKE** » January 17th, 2022, 1:09 pm

It's possible the motor is improperly mounted.

Put on the burr and insert the key, rotate the burr 180°
Does the sweep contact on the same side or the other.

If the same side, the motor is mounted incorrectly. If you are handy, you may be able to effect a repair. Check w Niche for authorization.

If the sweep contacts the other side of the chamber, the shaft is bent. Replacement required.

#13: Post by **mgwolf** » January 17th, 2022, 3:03 pm

It's a brand-new grinder and non-functional. Why would you want to try to repair it rather than get a replacement that works? Niche is fairly responsive about problems.

#14: Post by K7 » January 17th, 2022, 3:32 pm

This seems like a more severe case of NZs with alignment issue.

Niche Zero: Uneven Burr Chamber Wear

#15: Post by **cafeIKE** » January 17th, 2022, 4:59 pm

mgwolf wrote:It's a brand-new grinder and non-functional. Why would you want to try to repair it rather than get a replacement that works? Niche is fairly responsive about problems.

Time
No guarantee of a perfect 2nd unit
Education as to build
Gotta know why & how stuff works or not*

* I'm a sad bugger who took the telephone apart in about 1958 to see how it worked

January 17th, 2022, 5:35 pm

NZ support is suggesting i partially disassemble and look at some bolts for motor alignment. This is in line with what others have posted.

As a computer sw and hw geek, and handled electronics manufacturing - i think it's 6 screws total. I could throw a man tantrum and ship a big heavy box back to London to have it fixed there and shipped back... but I'll try to fix it myself first.

Let's see how it goes and as someone commented, i might learn something along the way!

January 18th, 2022, 8:35 am

Sorted! It was difficult to remove the top casing due to the misaligned motor & shaft. In fact there's a good teardown video on yt that helped. The motor was slightly out of place. I don't need to unplug the board or anything, just reseat it on the support bolts. Reassembly was easy and we're off to the races.

January 18th, 2022, 11:52 am

Notes for anyone having the same issue.

Here's the teardown video

And this is how the motor looks when it's well aligned - the edge of the motor is roughly aligned with the PCB. So these pics are _after_ I reseated it. Before, it was turned and clearly those were not aligned. https://photos.app.goo.gl/p8Y1kWRiAaaKLLXA7

Now that it's aligned, the burrs spin centered. Before they spun just a tad off-center. I had spotted that, but had told myself "can't be that the burrs are _so_ out of alignment, must be the plastic disk is screwed a bit offset".

January 20th, 2022, 7:15 pm

After a grinding a dozen or so doses - it's all working pretty well. American Beauty dialled in at 12, B&W Classic at 14.

Burrs are still settling. It's not as "clean" as the flat burr grinder I had before (Eureka Mignon Notte) but damn I can dial in easily, and switch beans on the fly.

#20: Post by **DavidB** » January 26th, 2022, 12:27 am

OP, thanks for sharing the teardown video! I can see this coming in handy one day.