# Sage Oracle grinder not working



## hitman_76

Hi there.

I'm a citizen from Denmark, I bought a Sage Oracle machine 15 months ago from a UK shop, due to a great discount (around 30%) compared to average Danish reseller price. So I received the machine, and felt happy for around 6 months... then the grinder started making trouble. Sometimes it worked great as intended for many days in a row, and sometimes not grinding at all. I changes coffee beans several times from supermarket coffee to different kinds of freshly roasted coffee. I cleaned the grinder several times to ensure nothing was stuck or greasy. So in the end I realized I have to have it fixed. I shipped it to UK, and the grinder was replaced by a new unit, and I got it back. But after a few weeks the same grinder problem occurred again. So now I'm stuck with a useless coffee machine with a mind of its own, sometimes it works great, and sometimes not at all. Shipping it back to UK for another repair is not an option, as the shipping cost back and forth is quite expensive. And a local repair will be quite expensive as well. Any good ideas that I haven't tried yet?


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## 4085

Try contacting Sage UK. People seem to have luck sometimes when talking to them about out of warranty repairs......though you are also out of country

[email protected]


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## hitman_76

dfk41 said:


> Try contacting Sage UK. People seem to have luck sometimes when talking to them about out of warranty repairs......though you are also out of country
> 
> [email protected]


Hi again

Thanks for taking your time to answer me. I've tried contacting Sage UK several times, at first they helped me, also arranging the first repair, but at last they explained me that the issue might be due to use of too oily beans. Meaning I'm stuck with a useless unreliable Sage Oracle machine :-(

Best regards

Henrik


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## Mrboots2u

hitman_76 said:


> Hi again
> 
> Thanks for taking your time to answer me. I've tried contacting Sage UK several times, at first they helped me, also arranging the first repair, but at last they explained me that the issue might be due to use of too oily beans. Meaning I'm stuck with a useless unreliable Sage Oracle machine :-(
> 
> Best regards
> 
> Henrik


No it means you need to buy some different beans . Oily beans clogging up bean 2 cup and entry level grinners is quite a common thing .


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## hitman_76

Mrboots2u said:


> No it means you need to buy some different beans . Oily beans clogging up bean 2 cup and entry level grinners is quite a common thing .


Mboots2u, thanks for your suggestion, but I've already been through a lot of different freshly roasted beans.

The grinder is completely living a life of it's own, sometimes it works, and sometimes not at all. Even though I clean the grinder according to instructions it doesn't work. Then I leave it for a few days, turn it on, and it works again for some cups. Seems like some kind of a switch, fuse or sensor turns the grinder off and decides whether it should grind or not. Quite frustrating :-(


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## Mrboots2u

hitman_76 said:


> Mboots2u, thanks for your suggestion, but I've already been through a lot of different freshly roasted beans.
> 
> The grinder is completely living a life of it's own, sometimes it works, and sometimes not at all. Even though I clean the grinder according to instructions it doesn't work. Then I leave it for a few days, turn it on, and it works again for some cups. Seems like some kind of a switch, fuse or sensor turns the grinder off and decides whether it should grind or not. Quite frustrating :-(


Are you suing oliy beans all that time ? Or have you tried a range of types?

Shouldn't be performing like that , what roasters have you tried ?


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## ajohn

I have had a problem with a very similar grinder on the Barista Express. I think all of their machines use the same burrs. It has been working flawlessly for several kg of beans. Early on I found that rather than clean it a better options was to simply run the beans under the hopper out or if the same beans just use them. This way it settled down to a new bean much more quickly or just carried on working as it was. As I use rather oily beans I do need to wash out the hopper. after about 500g otherwise the beans can stick to it when the hopper is low.

Anyway having noticed that Sage upgraded a part in the Smart Grinder Pro some time ago I decided to check that it was upgraded on my BE so cleaned it pretty thoroughly but didn't remove the centre burr. All hell broke loose. The dose reduced drastically and it was clearly ground finer than it was before cleaning. So cleaned it again including removing the centre burr, The output had dropped because it was pretty clogged up. So put it back together and set a coarser grind. Worked ok but the grinds were clumping very badly. Left as is and 2 shots latter the clumping had stopped. This morning it's showing signs of getting back to normal over another 2 shots so I set a slightly finer grind. Still ok. The problem seem to be that the grinder need a certain amount build up in the grinds chamber in the area where they are swept out into the chute. Disturb that and things go wrong.

In the past all I have been doing when I changed bean type was run 20g or so through the grinder after the others had been run out and throw them away. What I found when I did the last clean is that due to the rather high quality finish on the burrs the residue left on them is truly negligible.

When I bought the BE I was pretty new to espresso machines so followed the manual. Set a grind of 8, get the output quantity right, run a shot, taste and repeat etc. It seems that I had "conditioned" the burrs by the time I had produced a decent drink. If the current set up doesn't get back to how it was, looks very much like it will, I'll get some beans and keep running a weight of beans through it until the same weight comes out. I use the SGP like that and have noticed that from new the loss in the grinder decreased pretty rapidly to a point that what went in was likely to be what came out.

By flawlessly I have held 9.3g into a single basket over something like 1.5kg of these beans with just the usual slight grinder drift taken care of via the look of the puck. Once settled sometimes it adds a bit more sometimes a bit less - most often a bit less with longer and longer periods in between.








I wont be cleaning it again unless it needs it.

John

-


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## Ray in the UK

Hi everyone. I have the Barista Express and it suddenly developed a problem with the grinder. Instead of the usual grinding noise and ground coffee coming out there was a loud mechanical clicking sound, like a rachet not quite engaging and clicking loudly and rapidly.

I stripped the grinder down, all the way to the felt washer at the bottom and vacuumed and washed all the parts. The area was completely clean and everything put back. No luck, just the same rachet clicking when the hopper button is depressed with the portafilter.

Anyone got any ideas please? I checked that the two pins we're still intact on the bottom fitting and that they engaged into the holes beneath them.

I would appreciate any ideas before calling Sage and sending it off to them.

Thanks

Ray


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## Greentree_UK

Ray in the UK said:


> Hi everyone. I have the Barista Express and it suddenly developed a problem with the grinder. Instead of the usual grinding noise and ground coffee coming out there was a loud mechanical clicking sound, like a rachet not quite engaging and clicking loudly and rapidly...


Just got the same problem, did you resolve it?


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## jasonpye66

Greentree_UK said:


> Just got the same problem, did you resolve it?


 I have this too, did you resolve ?


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## Greentree_UK

Yes, I found a piece of wood was jamming the burr grinder - had this happen a couple of times since


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