I replaced the burrs to my 15 year old Cunill grinder, but now cannot grind fine enough, even at the point of the burrs touching. They are generally well aligned using the marker test: the bottom spinning burr had little marker left and appears uniform; I needed to shim the top burr at two screw mount locations to get the top burr to be more aligned. I try to grind out coffee at the end of each day so little remaining coffee for the next day, also to avoid the potential for jamming (which may happen if I tighten another step).

Grinds do look very uniform, like very fine sugar. Espresso comes out way too fast, say 12 seconds for a 30 ml shot. I could choke my lever before.

Anything else I can do here? Thanks.

For what it's worth, I had the exact same experience with my Rocky grinder a couple weeks ago. Super frustrating, i decided to stick with my originals.

I took it down another couple of notches and it may work! Lungo in 70 seconds (too long I know but 1/2 that for espresso should work). With no beans it chirps a bit though. Got a response from Cunhill suggesting I may need to remove the bottom burr to check alignment there (coffee throwing it off) but I recall cleaning well when I put it on. It was very hard to get off..need a magnet to lock the motor to remove axle nut. Maybe I bent the bottom burr carrier a bit removing the old one? With the marker test the bottom spinning burr showed even wear, with the top static burr off a bit before shims (still off a little on one side). Maybe I'm not thinking about it right but seems the bottom is ok? Or am I getting it backwards and top is good and bottom off?

Just an update: followed Cunill's suggestion and reinstalled. Turns out I didn't tighten the bottom burr nut enough and it was slipping. So now works fine. Big kudos to Cunill customer service addressing a couple of inquiries for a 15 year old grinder. It's been a reliable machine.

I still have a smidge of upgraditis though...something with lower retention, and ideally much better espresso. But I do get fluffy, even grinds now, and can dial in easily to 30 second shots, so may just run this for a while. Are other grinders truly that much better shot quality?

JeffNYC wrote: Are other grinders truly that much better shot quality?

Usually, yes.

As in DF83?

I've not used a DF83.

JeffNYC wrote:As in DF83?

The name of the grinder is almost irrelevant as long as it can be aligned and uses standard burrs as 64 or 83mm. Majority of grinders that do so are built on most of the same principles the biggest difference will be build, tolerances, retention and ease of use. Some like DF83 will then be more designed towards SD but like most run at 1400rpm.

Once you align them the difference in the cup is going to be mute if using same burrs and mostly then down to retention.

malling wrote:Once you align them the difference in the cup is going to be mute if using same burrs and mostly then down to retention.

I think the burrs and their geometry make a big difference that is not insignificant in the cup. In all my testing this has proved to be the case.

Dave that's like what I write, if you use the same burrs the grinder hardly matters