Orphan Espresso Apex Grinder - Page 46

#451: Post by **Yan** » March 15th, 2019, 11:25 am

hankua wrote:I've got some good news for Apex early adoptors!

There is a factory funnel mod under development, and the final design has been selected. The mod fits in the hopper and covers the two screws and adjacent slots. At present it's going from 3-D design stage to pre-production planning work. No specific completion date yet as there could be a snag in the process somewhere; should be a matter of months if all goes well. The funnel mod eliminates the need for a spring as the beans feed by gravity. First results are positive however it has not been extensively field tested.

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Good news.... I think the only down side we can't see clearly the last 1-3 beans that sometimes not easily slide go to the burr path and keep rotating behind the stationary burr, hopefully the funnel will help...

#452: Post by **Yan** » March 15th, 2019, 11:37 am

jbviau wrote:Thanks. So it doesn't smell? I might pick something like this up today on the way home.

The needle bearing location were protected by separate room/chamber and I only spray a tiny bit on the needle bearing.
I try to smell the burr chamber area but the coffee aroma maybe more stronger than the Silicone oil.

March 15th, 2019, 4:05 pm

Yan wrote:Good news.... I think the only down side we can't see clearly the last 1-3 beans that sometimes not easily slide go to the burr path and keep rotating behind the stationary burr, hopefully the funnel will help...

I've only had this happen once after I did my Sugru mod 10 weeks ago ... that works out to about 1% of the time. The OE piece should do a better job than my hack - I am looking forward to installing the OE piece when it becomes available.

hankua wrote:And Barb's "Flat Pack" travel dripper set.

I was wondering about that. It will be interesting to see as there are soo many travel drippers around already - so far, I haven't seen anything that could replace my Soto Helix (and OE 3-4-5 pitcher and Bonavita travel kettle) for travel.

#454: Post by **jbviau** » March 15th, 2019, 8:14 pm

Cleaning update: I did the limited tear-down described in OE's "deep cleaning" video to get to the thrust washer. A little mineral oil there didn't fix my squeak, but Barb had also suggested putting some oil "where the axle goes through the end cap," and that got the job done. The tolerance must be really tight. In the picture below, the end of my toothpick is pointing at the relevant area:

So, all good now. I'm not handy, and I found disassembly/reassembly easier than expected. Cheers to Doug & Barb for a well-made machine.

March 15th, 2019, 8:23 pm

The Flat Pack dripper is supposed to be finished in a couple of weeks, silicone mould is getting a few adjustments. It's got very attractive book case looking packaging with the canvas travel pouch inside, silicone reversible dripper (two different ribbed styles), V2 style filters, and a flat titanium bead blasted circle stand. Barb has had this idea for awhile as she hates traveling with a rigid filter cone that takes up too much space.

March 15th, 2019, 8:46 pm

Interesting...can we use the regular v.60 paper filter? what size? or we need a new one?

#457: Post by **Yan** » March 15th, 2019, 8:54 pm

jbviau wrote: So, all good now. I'm not handy, and I found disassembly/reassembly easier than expected. Cheers to Doug & Barb for a well-made machine.

One of the reasons I like about OE products, we can tear down everything and clean the grinder, and their video instructions in youtube very clearly and easy to understand it helps a lot in maintenance the product....same here I am not really good with tools...

March 16th, 2019, 12:29 am

That funnel looks nice. Looks 3D printed to me. Any chance of an stl file so we can print one ourselves? I'm not too familiar with how OE handles retrofits like this for us early adopters.

March 16th, 2019, 2:07 am

Yan wrote:Interesting...can we use the regular v.60 paper filter? what size? or we need a new one?

Sure, just regular V2 filters, they are supplying the Abaca brand white filters (AC4-100W) with the flat pack.The Abaca V2 filters seem comparable to Hario, the paper is a bit thicker and a slightly faster draw down time. Mostly a supply issue as brown coffee filters are predominantly used in Taiwan.

March 16th, 2019, 2:21 am

vanilla_squash wrote:That funnel looks nice. Looks 3D printed to me. Any chance of an stl file so we can print one ourselves? I'm not too familiar with how OE handles retrofits like this for us early adopters.

That's an excellent question about the prototype 3D funnel. I kind of doubt they are going to post the file public as the production injection mould has been commissioned. Same food safe material as the black auger shaft; it's probably better to wait and get the final smooth finish product.