Orphan Espresso Apex Grinder - Page 41

#401: Post by **day** » February 19th, 2019, 1:38 am

dale_cooper wrote:The APEX has arrived. 15 minute impressions....

Surprisingly difficult grinding effort. Maybe this was already stated in this thread but I'm assuming I should completely skip all instructions of trying to use the grinder without a base, on my granite counter, even with the supplied 6 sticky gel pads. Reason I state that is because even with the sticky feet, and a setting in the middle or on the fine side of middle, its very difficult to keep stable. There were times where even turning counter clockwise was difficult.

Who is the target end user for this? I'm assuming it would be a complete coffee nerd who is trying to extract flavors from LIGHT roasts. Thus, I now understand the pictures in this thread which show people vice clamping the grinder down to the counter - which sorry, but that's rather absurd.

Onto the major plus side and why you would buy this >>>> The grind uniformity and lack of fines appears to be unbelievably good - like wow.

It appears that the apex is indeed capable of delivering spectacular grinds, but to operate the grinder and achieve that is a bit kludgy to say the least (for light roasts). Thus its an incomplete product the way it ships. Yes I'm using light roasts, but again - who is spending $500 on a hand grinder and grinding dark roasts. OE should honestly create a weighted base that they ship with the grinder.

I'll search this thread but

1. Roughly, what grind settings are you all using for a standard v60 or similar pour over cone? By the way, really seems like they should've put a scale to track grind setting more easily.
2. Tips on what kind of base? edit: I'll just buy the heaviest cutting board I can find at IKEA Looks like they make a black one which is decently heavy and could match the APEX!

Thanks!

Maybe this is crazy, but...if you could find a thin super strong fairly wide magnet, you could perhaps tape or otherwise affix one side on the bottom side of the counter in a drawer (thin enough to still open the drawer, then affix the mating magnet to the bottom of the apex with a thin cloth on it. The magnet could clamp it to the counter when needed but still allow the apex to slide off when not needed. Probably a dumb idea but thought it would be fun to see!

February 19th, 2019, 6:22 am

dale_cooper wrote:The APEX has arrived. 15 minute impressions....

Surprisingly difficult grinding effort. Maybe this was already stated in this thread but I'm assuming I should completely skip all instructions of trying to use the grinder without a base, on my granite counter, even with the supplied 6 sticky gel pads. Reason I state that is because even with the sticky feet, and a setting in the middle or on the fine side of middle, its very difficult to keep stable. There were times where even turning counter clockwise was difficult.

Who is the target end user for this? I'm assuming it would be a complete coffee nerd who is trying to extract flavors from LIGHT roasts. Thus, I now understand the pictures in this thread which show people vice clamping the grinder down to the counter - which sorry, but that's rather absurd.

Onto the major plus side and why you would buy this >>>> The grind uniformity and lack of fines appears to be unbelievably good - like wow.

It appears that the apex is indeed capable of delivering spectacular grinds, but to operate the grinder and achieve that is a bit kludgy to say the least (for light roasts). Thus its an incomplete product the way it ships. Yes I'm using light roasts, but again - who is spending $500 on a hand grinder and grinding dark roasts. OE should honestly create a weighted base that they ship with the grinder.

I'll search this thread but

1. Roughly, what grind settings are you all using for a standard v60 or similar pour over cone? By the way, really seems like they should've put a scale to track grind setting more easily.
2. Tips on what kind of base? edit: I'll just buy the heaviest cutting board I can find at IKEA Looks like they make a black one which is decently heavy and could match the APEX!

Thanks!

The grinding experience seems to improve as the burrs season, and if you can find a way to bolt it down it improves no end.

1. Typically I'll be 4-6 notches to the fine side of centre for a 1 cup brew.
2. Mine is bolted to a chopping board which is clamped to the work surface.

Denis wrote:Can someone tell me how long does it take to grind 15-20g of coffee? From start to finish, with all the beans grinded (the last 3-4 beans that don't want to enter the burrs included).

A single cup dose like that takes around 4-5mins for me including a post-grind sweep out of the shoot. Note that I grind WAY slower than the OE recommendation though, the 120BPM seems to give more fines for me, around 75BPM seems to be the sweet spot for the roasts/grind settings I use (and a "backwards" grind action).

EDIT: I haven't had the "last 3-4 bean" issue for a while, I suspect it's a burr seasoning thing.

#403: Post by **voozy** » February 19th, 2019, 6:57 am

Can you say about how many turns of the crank it takes to do that 15-20g dose? This sounded like a great french press grinder but grinding 60g to do a liter of FP starts to sound painful.

Any idea why they use that spring as an auger, instead of a proper solid auger like a Bunn-style grinder uses?

Anyone given any thought to motorizing the Apex?

Thanks!

February 19th, 2019, 12:20 pm

voozy wrote:Can you say about how many turns of the crank it takes to do that 15-20g dose? This sounded like a great french press grinder but grinding 60g to do a liter of FP starts to sound painful.

Any idea why they use that spring as an auger, instead of a proper solid auger like a Bunn-style grinder uses?

--Good question.

Anyone given any thought to motorizing the Apex?

--Good question.

Thanks!

February 19th, 2019, 1:58 pm

voozy wrote:Can you say about how many turns of the crank it takes to do that 15-20g dose? This sounded like a great french press grinder but grinding 60g to do a liter of FP starts to sound painful.

Any idea why they use that spring as an auger, instead of a proper solid auger like a Bunn-style grinder uses?

Anyone given any thought to motorizing the Apex?

Thanks!

I don't know the number of cranks, maybe 225? (3mins x 75BPM)? That's a complete guess though, it would depend on a number of factors.

Keep in mind the times are (probably) not additive - time to grind 60g should be less than 4 lots of 15g. It's dependent on the amount of beans hitting the burrs, at the end of the grind you might only have 1 bean engaging at a time which wouldn't happen with a fuller hopper (hence times not being additive). If you were only concerned with time constraints I guess you could keep the hopper fully loaded with beans and weigh the output to hit your target, I imagine that'd be most efficient time-wise.

As for the auger I don't know, that's a question for the OE folks. I would guess it has something to do with the planetary gear.

As for adding a motor I think that would be very difficult as you'd want to kill the motor if the grinder "stalls" and grind backwards for a while and the grind forwards again. You can't just "power through" with this grinder so It wouldn't be as simple as just adding a drill connection etc. Not impossible to figure out but complicated enough I don't think it's worth the effort.

February 19th, 2019, 2:04 pm

How important is the weight of the cutting board? vs How important is then securing the board to your working surface. Seems to be that the weight of the board is only important for keeping it still. The magic of the "board" seems to be that the physical dimension (extra surface area) acts as a force multiplier to allow the grinder to do it's thing without moving around. Maybe I just go ahead and pick up clamps at Lowes?

I have an old cutting board I'll use as a proof of concept tonight (not too heavy but 3/4in thick), just going to screw in some panhead screws. I'll then either use the sticky gel pads, or a foam liner (like Yan did) under the board.

By the way, I checked out the black plastic cutting board at Ikea today ($20) - its QUITE heavy, without being too large and seemingly matches the APEX perfect. I didn't buy it quite yet, because I want to see how my old junky cutting board works. I also would need to drill into that plastic material which I'm not prepared to do yet.

Screwing/Bolting the Apex down - it doesn't seem like an optional step, or nice to have for the beans I'm brewing. Rather, it's a necessity - hence why I strongly stand behind my statement that it ships as incomplete product. I know I'm being critical but usability of a product at this price point is so important. Its the type of thing that seriously drives me nuts. I haven't used an HG1, but I don't believe it requires additional workarounds to make it effective for lighter roasts.

#407: Post by **filtus** » February 19th, 2019, 2:49 pm

wsfarrell wrote: Confirming it was not my imagination, the helical auger spring broke on my Apex so I had to go back to the Vario. Noticeable decline in flavor. OE is sending a new spring, so I'll have another chance to confirm my observations. I really hope the spring isn't a weak point in the grinder.

The same happened with my grinder...

February 19th, 2019, 5:16 pm

dale_cooper wrote:I haven't used an HG1, but I don't believe it requires additional workarounds to make it effective for lighter roasts.

I have also an HG1. Bought in 2013. The Apex isn't more difficult to use.

#409: Post by **Richard** » February 19th, 2019, 7:23 pm

Denis wrote:Can someone tell me how long does it take to grind 15-20g of coffee? From start to finish, with all the beans grinded (the last 3-4 beans that don't want to enter the burrs included).

I have never timed grinding coffee because I don't care. That said, grinding 23g takes on the order of 15 or 20 seconds. It's not possible to evaluate the last 3-4 beans; how fast can you grab a brush and sweep the beans into the maw of the grinder?

#410: Post by **Richard** » February 19th, 2019, 7:26 pm

Power Freak wrote:A single cup dose like that [ca. 20g] takes around 4-5mins for me . . .

That is bewilderingly subglacial. I grind 23g on the order of 15 or 20 seconds.