Orphan Espresso Apex Grinder - Page 56

Grinders are one of the keys to exceptional espresso. Discuss them here.
Prosounds
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#551: Post by Prosounds »

Hey that's a really nice offer, thanks.

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baldheadracing
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#552: Post by baldheadracing »

So ... I finally got around to installing the funnel a few days ago.

I removed the spring auger at the same time, as I read previously in this thread that the spring was supposed to be removed. I ended up having beans sitting in the hopper not going anywhere - unless I got my finger in there and moved the stationary beans 'down' towards the burrs. Repeatedly.

So I put the spring auger back in - with the funnel installed. (This was a replacement auger spring from OE, complete with longer bolts.) I quickly realized that this was not the way to do it. The funnel+auger started to function as, well, a grinder - breaking up beans, clogging the real burrs, as well as taking a lot more effort. So the spring auger came back out.

Am I the only one experiencing this lack of beans feeding? If so, I must have done something wrong, but can't for the life of me figure out what ...

In case I'm not the only one, I solved my issue with a bit of wire (stainless steel safety wire) looped around to make a 1/2 turn mini-auger:
This is much less aggressive than the spring auger. Essentially the wire just keeps the beans moving about in the hopper such that the beans will eventually feed into the burrs.

YMMV
-"Good quality brings happiness as you use it" - Nobuho Miya, Kamasada

Yan
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#553: Post by Yan »

baldheadracing wrote:In case I'm not the only one, I solved my issue with a bit of wire (stainless steel safety wire) looped around to make a 1/2 turn mini-auger:
This is much less aggressive than the spring auger. Essentially the wire just keeps the beans moving about in the hopper such that the beans will eventually feed into the burrs.

YMMV
Interesting, if using a larger beans bigger than average size does the wire mod speed up the process?

In my experience normal to smaller size beans don't get too long to finish but the bigger ones keep rotating and sometimes I take & crushed manually with tweezers :D

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baldheadracing
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#554: Post by baldheadracing replying to Yan »

I am currently drinking a Colombian that was fairly large (screen size 17/18), and was roasted to just before second crack. Thus, the roasted beans are larger and less dense compared to light roasts of smaller screen sizes.

Given those beans, I would say that the overall grinding time is a little longer with the funnel+wire compared to when I had the spring auger and no funnel. As none of the beans "keep rotating" in the hopper around/under the axle, overall grind time compared to just the funnel (and finger poking) is much faster :).
-"Good quality brings happiness as you use it" - Nobuho Miya, Kamasada

Yan
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#555: Post by Yan replying to baldheadracing »

Nice... I will try the mod... :D

iBrew
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#556: Post by iBrew »

I've had no issues with beans not moving into the grinding chamber with the funnel attached, I did have this problem with the auger spring. I've found the funnel to be a noticeable improvement with usability, beans flow into the grind chamber easily, also the grinding seems smoother with funnel vs auger spring.

Edit: switched up my beans and I now notice beans moving slowly into the grind chamber :(

Yan
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#557: Post by Yan »

Are they still seriously sale APEX parts other than Glass catch grind in the feature, my plastic burr closer were getting large of scratches from cleaning with teapot brush and need to be replace



Hopefully they still support the product by stocking some easy to scratch plastic parts...
Note: sample picture taken randomly from Google

jbviau
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#558: Post by jbviau »

^^^ I'm sure they'll support your grinder if you reach out. Barb was generous enough to send me a replacement silicone base cover for free a few weeks ago (after I'd offered to buy one). I had reached out to OE via Twitter, for what it's worth.

That said, you might be cleaning your Apex too often, no? Also, would scratches on that part even matter? IIRC it's not visible and doesn't impact the grind.
"It's not anecdotal evidence, it's artisanal data." -Matt Yglesias

Yan
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#559: Post by Yan replying to jbviau »

I already email them many times without any response maybe too many so they think it was a SPAM mail...

ira
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#560: Post by ira »

When I first received my Apex I comments earlier in the thread that it didn't feed very well. Mine was the demo grinder from the 2019 SCCA and has the 3D printed prototype of the new inside plastic part. I'm now at about 20 lbs and sometime recently it's started feeding much better. I was a 4 or 5 clicks coarse for a long time because it fed much better ther, but now I've moved the adjustment back to center and it's still feeding fine. Anyway, I think these burrs may have a long break in time, mine certainly did. But now it's become a much more useable for the 30 gram batches I grind.

Ira