# Sage Oracle tamper problem



## m7934 (Oct 14, 2019)

Hello,

I have aproblem with my Sage Oracle. The coffee isn't tamped any longer, smooth surface. I send you some pictures, does anybody know the problem?

How can it be so solved, everything is cleaned, the same coffee beans, no changes.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

you have taken the tamper fan out ,cleaned and reseated?


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## m7934 (Oct 14, 2019)

Yes I did it


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## m7934 (Oct 14, 2019)

m7934 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have aproblem with my Sage Oracle. The coffee isn't tamped any longer, no smooth surface. I send you some pictures, does anybody know the problem?
> 
> How can it be so solved, everything is cleaned, the same coffee beans, no changes.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

take it apart,.put it back together again


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## Nicknak (Aug 10, 2018)

I had an oracle for a short time . This happened to me and I was advised to grind a bit finer by coffee classics. This worked for me . I found the oracle grinder needed tweaking as the beans aged . Might be worth trying


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## Peter Wood (Jun 4, 2020)

I have a similer temp problem. I change beans about every 8 days - we go through a 1kg bag - always the same type and the beans are roasted about a month / 4 wks ago.

Just yesterday the tamp seemed to stop working and the water seems to pour through the coffee. I am grinding on 27 - I did try to go fine but got very little coffee through - on 27 I get about 20g of coffee into a double doze.

Sometimes when I switch the machine on in the morning the first grind is very light and very little coffee comes out.

The coffee pucks after a coffee is very watery - and more like a sludge than a dryish puck.

I have tried tamping the coffee more and that seems to help

Any suggestions would be helpful.


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## Goodfella (Jan 4, 2010)

I had the same issue as mentioned above, coffee classics advised to grind finer which did solve the issue 90% of the time.

I find you do need to adjust the grind as the beans get older, especially if you leave them in the hopper. I have taken to loading only the beans I require and then tamping manually if required.

I have had my machine 4 months and it seems I need to keep grinding finer and finer even with fresh beans. I am down to 25/26 where as when I first got the machine that grind would have choked the machine and I was using 29/30.

Do grinders wear out?

Cheers

Ross


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## Stephennidds (Jun 9, 2020)

Goodfella said:


> I had the same issue as mentioned above, coffee classics advised to grind finer which did solve the issue 90% of the time.
> 
> I find you do need to adjust the grind as the beans get older, especially if you leave them in the hopper. I have taken to loading only the beans I require and then tamping manually if required.
> 
> ...


 Helo Ross, Grinder Burrs do wear out over time. Another interesting point i have just found out, is you are better to keep your bean hopper nearly full. This creates weight and pushes the beans into the grinder.

Hope this helps

Stephen


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## Kannan (Mar 28, 2020)

Goodfella said:


> I have had my machine 4 months and it seems I need to keep grinding finer and finer even with fresh beans


 I think it's unlikely the burrs have worn in that period unless you are running a coffee shop! More likely they've seasoned and therefore create less fines (speculating here)... you'll probably find it settles from here on...


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## woodbar (Aug 28, 2020)

Had exactly the same problem on my 2 month old Oracle. First of all just the odd poor tamp then all of a sudden every one failed.

Chasing around to find out if it was fixable or would need to be returned I saw a suggestion to clean the grinder - remove hopper and top burr then get in there with the brush?

I was a little skeptical but tried it anyway, cured the problem a treat!

I also saw a suggestion somewhere to leave the filter basket a bit wet before dosing - have not tried that yet.


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## woodbar (Aug 28, 2020)

Just had the failed tamp twice today again - cleaned the grinder and seems cured again.

Perhaps I should clean the grinder more often??????????


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## mohass (Feb 26, 2019)

Having same issue myself now. 
mine month old oracle touch. 
mall of a sudden not tamping properly

cleaned grinder cleaned tamp fan and grind finer with no change.

haven't changed beans either

funnily enough tried the single basket and that tamped fine. Seems to only happen with double basket which is odd


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## woodbar (Aug 28, 2020)

I believe the single basket has a micro textured finish - to stop the puck revolving in the basket as it is being distributed and tamped - the double basket does not.

Try leaving the double basket a bit damp when you use it.

The tamp failure shown on the photo several posts above is because the the coffee puck is actually revolving with the tamper blade. Leaving the basket a bit wet(ish) allows the grounds to stick to the walls and therefore unlikely to spin with the tamper bade.

I always leave the basket damp now, instead of religiously drying it as I used to and I have only had one tamp failure since my previous post 9 months ago. That was my signal to remove the top burr and clean the grinder as well as removing the tamper and cleaning it and the chute behind it - job done!

I also drop the tamper and carefully clean it on a weekly basis -paying particular attention to the little rubber scraper wings on the edge.


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## Katherine (Nov 21, 2021)

Hello,

I don't know if this can help anyone else, but it has worked for me so far. Mine was doing the wavy tamp the first time I used it right out of the box. I've only tried one type of coffee so far, so I may have to adjust when I try a different brand. I saw a video regarding changing the burr grind size on the upper burr (I'll link below). First, I removed the beans from the hopper. Then I ground what was left in the grinder in the machine. Then I did what the video said by setting the grinder setting to the coarsest setting. Then, I removed the upper burr and the metal handle as done in the video. Mine was factory set to 6. I tried going to a 10 like he did in the video, but I got the same wavy tamp result and it was far too coarse. I took the beans out of the hopper again, ground what was left, and started over. I then changed it to 3 (again this may be different with the type of coffee used - I used a Volcanica Mexican Coffee, which is a medium roast). I put the handle back on and placed the upper burr back into the align position and turned to the right to lock it. I then set the grind to 25, which was a little too fine, however, it gave me a flat tamp. I changed the grind to a 27 and it gave me a double shot. Hope this can help someone else!

Video referenced above:


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