Tom,

You should rethink chopping the grinder and just find a nice place with a garage to set up all your gear, with the 1950 La San Marco "Lollobrigida" you scored you're well on your way.

Yay!
Post some progress pictures Tom

Right now, it just looks like a regular old G1. I'm too busy at work and the 7 other projects to tackle the next step yet. I only want to cut it once, so I'll wait until I can do all the steps properly.

After reading this thread last night I got to thinking about making a custom enclosure to shrink my G3 bunzilla and make it not ugly. An hour of noodling around and I came up with this:

http://i.imgur.com/bFcid3I.jpg

I still need to work out inner structure stuff and how things are fastened. I am also going back and forth on the wood being rough cut on a band saw and then sanded in place (using the steel as guide for the sanding block) or using veneer over another material.

Alec, that is a lovely design. My own G2 has a largish dent in one corner of its case that may be beyond my skills to smooth out. If I can ever carve out the time, building an enclosure like the one you pictured would be a really lovely project. Sadly, this summer has been so hectic that my own Mini-Bunn project sits half-finished in my work room, with beautiful new Ditting burrs that I still haven't gotten a chance to break-in.

The picture looks nice now you have to make the finished product look like that. Remember that the burr holder/motor assy is pretty heavy. With that base & all that weight up top it might be a bit top heavy & tippy.

I only shortened the front (where the collection tray is) a few inches. It is now flush with the face of the grinder. It ought to be more stable as the motor is mounted a few inches lower and I didn't change the width. If necessary I can always add weigh to the bottom rear.

As far as being able to build this myself- the bunn's internals are dead simple. It is basically a single assembly that mounts to one bracket. The only thing I am trying to work out in my head right now is how to fit everything without needing to cover the side panels in any kind of fasteners. I know some people who tig weld so that may be the best option.


If I actually start building this I will make a new thread. I have a half dozen fabrication projects on the back burner so it might not happen any time soon.

Also,
How many bunzillas are out there now? When I built mine John said he knew of one other. Looking around on here it seems like it is becoming a popular modification.

No idea but the idea has taken off in the last 6-8 months. For the first couple years there were only a few that I knew of.

I finally got my Mini-Bunn, with the Ditting burrs, up and running this week! So far I've seasoned it with 5 lbs. of rice and a few pounds of throw-away coffee, and I am already loving the results.



This used to be the case from a banged up G2, and I removed almost half of the total height, some from the top and some from the bottom. Now it fits nicely beneath the upper cabinets. There are still some aspects of this that need to get done, including a new paint job and building a cleaner and more permanent upper funnel set-up. (Right now I just have the cut-down remains of the old funnel held in place with duct tape ... ) But as soon as I had it far enough along that I could reassemble it and give it a try, I couldn't resist.

The little catch cup is held on with magnets; for big batches I use the tall metal cup seen on the right-side of the photo, which is tall enough that I can just rest it on the bottom grate.

I'm really grateful to Kurt and the others who have contributed to this thread; you guys made it much less scary to take on a project like this.