# Mignon burr alignment - New



## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

I have just taken delivery of a Mignon Manuale which looks great. 
I have started sending through the supplied 1kg of duff beans (which actually taste ok) 
but visual inspection of the grind it looks a little uneven to say the least.

I spent a good amount of time with the felt tip method aligning the burrs of my la Pavoni (64mm flat) and it made a significant difference to extraction and flavour.

So I am thinking I should probably do this on the mignon too.

Or should I wait till the burrs bed in?


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## ashcroc (Oct 28, 2016)

TomHughes said:


> I have just taken delivery of a Mignon Manuale which looks great.
> I have started sending through the supplied 1kg of duff beans (which actually taste ok)
> but visual inspection of the grind it looks a little uneven to say the least.
> 
> ...


I assume it'd be the same tin foil shim method as used on the mignon MK2, SJ etc. May as well get it sorted sooner rather than later.


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

ashcroc said:


> TomHughes said:
> 
> 
> > I have just taken delivery of a Mignon Manuale which looks great.
> ...


 That's what I'm thinking. Get it done now.


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## Magnobh (Jul 30, 2019)

I have got a mignon specialità. Lease let me know what is the felt method?...
Sorry.
Thanls.  

Enviado de meu MI 8 Lite usando o Tapatalk


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Magnobh said:


> I have got a mignon specialità. Lease let me know what is the felt method?...
> Sorry.
> Thanls.
> 
> ...


 This is for an ek43 but should be the same with the mignon


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## Magnobh (Jul 30, 2019)

Thanks. Tom.

Enviado de meu MI 8 Lite usando o Tapatalk


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## WolfHammatt (Jun 21, 2018)

Having very much the same issue on my Manuale. Also having an issue with not being able to grind fine enough for some decaf beans I have, with 2 other blends being too close to the finest the dial will go for my liking. Wonder if the two issues are related?


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## Border_all (Dec 19, 2019)

Fascinating really amazed that a brand new grinder is potentially sent out without being spot on. Thank you


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

WolfHammatt said:


> Having very much the same issue on my Manuale. Also having an issue with not being able to grind fine enough for some decaf beans I have, with 2 other blends being too close to the finest the dial will go for my liking. Wonder if the two issues are related?


 I suspect so. 
My manuale is definitely requiring alignment. 
I dismantled the top and fully cleaned it out. Then with the top burr in I slowly turned it by hand, turning the dial finer and finer. 
There was a point where the burrs came into contact, just one point, so would catch then release on each turn. 
It took a further bit of turning for the burrs to fully lock in and resist the turning. 
On my la pavoni after I aligned the burrs this didn't happen, they just pretty much touched and locked in one.


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

To update I aligned the burrs earlier, pre alignment there was a section of about 12-4 on a clock that was higher and rubbing the marker first. 
The burrs were touching at this section when the dial was on around 0.5.

After about 15 mins and some foil shims I got the bottom burr straight. The burrs were now touching at around -2 on the dial. So a lot closer together.

The upper burr didn't need any alignment.

The resultant grind is clearly far more consistent visually.

The first pull set at dead on the number 1 (18g) fully choked the espresso machine.

I dialled out till I am just a mm or 2 beyond the 2 marker. This produced an excellent espresso.

So I'd recommend doing this if you have a mignon as the difference is huge.


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## Magnobh (Jul 30, 2019)

Great. Tomorrow I'll get it done. Thanks.

Enviado de meu MI 8 Lite usando o Tapatalk


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## NikonGuy (Jul 31, 2014)

Border_all said:


> Fascinating really amazed that a brand new grinder is potentially sent out without being spot on. Thank you


 I have never found a grinder spot on from the factory, I've calibrated 10 Eureka's over the years for family and friends and all needed a little shimming.

I also never shim until at least 5Kg of beans have been through the machine.

With my new grinder I'm having the burrs lapped, it will be interesting to see the results...


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## Border_all (Dec 19, 2019)

NikonGuy said:


> I have never found a grinder spot on from the factory, I've calibrated 10 Eureka's over the years for family and friends and all needed a little shimming.
> 
> I also never shim until at least 5Kg of beans have been through the machine.
> 
> With my new grinder I'm having the burrs lapped, it will be interesting to see the results...


 Thank you. I stripped mine for cleaning ready for the Lsol February and i can say mine will need shimming. I have put through about 3.5 kg so far so will take your advice and do mid end march. Good luck with trying lapped burrs ?


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## NikonGuy (Jul 31, 2014)

Border_all said:


> Thank you. I stripped mine for cleaning ready for the Lsol February and i can say mine will need shimming. I have put through about 3.5 kg so far so will take your advice and do mid end march. Good luck with trying lapped burrs ?


 Thanks it's an interesting little side project, after the lapping the burrs are going for a plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition coating ? I may start a thread on the whole process...


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## NikonGuy (Jul 31, 2014)

For anybody interested I use stainless steel shim stock instead of foil, it's a lot more precise then using foil...


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## Border_all (Dec 19, 2019)

NikonGuy said:


> For anybody interested I use stainless steel shim stock instead of foil, it's a lot more precise then using foil...


 What thickness do you use please? Do i need buy large size packs if i go this route. Cheers


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## NikonGuy (Jul 31, 2014)

I use 0.05mm & 0.10mm shim stock.


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## Border_all (Dec 19, 2019)

NikonGuy said:


> I use 0.05mm & 0.10mm shim stock.


 Many thanks ?✅


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## John Yossarian (Feb 2, 2016)

I have just submitted a new post for Mythos but I can see lots of similarities in this thread. Thank you for the video.


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## lexathon (May 1, 2020)

TomHughes said:


> To update I aligned the burrs earlier, pre alignment there was a section of about 12-4 on a clock that was higher and rubbing the marker first.
> The burrs were touching at this section when the dial was on around 0.5.
> 
> After about 15 mins and some foil shims I got the bottom burr straight. The burrs were now touching at around -2 on the dial. So a lot closer together.
> ...


 Hi all, hoping to resurrect this thread for a bit more info on the Mignon.

Just been looking at my fairly new Specialita and thinking about the alignment. The burrs are definitely not parallel, but I can sort that with the helpful information above.

However, the lower burr carrier is not concentric with the motor axle. I'd say it's roughly 1mm off, meaning the lower burr spins off-centre. As far as I can see there's nothing that can be done to correct this without installing a new carrier, but it also strikes me that achieving perfect concentricity is less important than perfect parallelism, between the two flat burrs.

I'm wondering if anyone here who has had their grinder apart can share whether their burrs were perfectly concentric? And perhaps someone could shed light on the relative importance of concentricity (edit: have just realised Matt in that BH video linked states parallelism is 90-95% of the problem) and what kind of tolerance should be expected from a grinder at this price mark.


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## struttura.originaria (Nov 20, 2019)

lexathon said:


> what kind of tolerance should be expected from a grinder at this price mark


 If you buy cheap products, you expect cheap quality. That's it.


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## 17845 (Jan 10, 2018)

I'm afraid my taste buds are not up to noticing if the burrs are misaligned.

I just clean now and then and grind away.


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

hubcap said:


> I'm afraid my taste buds are not up to noticing if the burrs are misaligned.
> 
> I just clean now and then and grind away.


 I don't think it's about taste buds. Mine we so mis-aligned I couldn't grind fine enough for harder beans and light roasts, as the burrs would touch. Spending the time to align them was well worth it in this case.


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## AustinTO (Oct 29, 2020)

lexathon said:


> Hi all, hoping to resurrect this thread for a bit more info on the Mignon.
> 
> Just been looking at my fairly new Specialita and thinking about the alignment. The burrs are definitely not parallel, but I can sort that with the helpful information above.
> 
> ...


 I know it's been a long time since you posted this. Just curious if you ever did anything about the lower burr carrier issue. I have the same issue. tried to do the whiteboard marker parallel alignment process and it was made impossible by my lower burr wobble. Even when I would spin the burr manually and could hear it only making contact once a rotation I would take it apart and all the marker would be rubbed off. super frustrating. Was trying to find a way to show how out of alignment the burr carrier was to the retailer I purchased from and I finally figured it out when I had the entire chute assembly removed and could look at the burrs from the side. Check out where the burrs meet in the video below. it moves out of alignment quite a lot.

I know it's not the most expensive grinder but you can feel the whole thing shake as the burr slows down from the alignment issue. Pretty frustrating.

/monthly_2020_10/Eureka_Mignon_Radial_Alignment-MP4.mp4.33c54893ae1c36bd866294bf849ac1e1.mp4" type="video/mp4">
View attachment Eureka_Mignon_Radial_Alignment-MP4.mp4


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## Sodamelon (Nov 8, 2020)

Does anyone know if the Atom 60/65/70 has these misalignment issues???


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Sodamelon said:


> Does anyone know if the Atom 60/65/70 has these misalignment issues???


 From what I gather, they all pretty much do. Not only only those, but most flat burr grinders.


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> From what I gather, they all pretty much do. Not only only those, but most flat burr grinders.


 Agree. 
From my limited experience it's something worth considering on all flat burr grinders, especially as it's so easy to fix


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## Sodamelon (Nov 8, 2020)

TomHughes said:


> Agree.
> From my limited experience it's something worth considering on all flat burr grinders, especially as it's so easy to fix


 I guess it depends... I tried for hours to fix my Specialita using foil and never got it to be perfect. I think maybe that's due to the lower burr being off centre from the spindle maybe


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## ETX1 (Apr 3, 2017)

My Mignon which I have had for about 5 years started giving me problems a few months back even though I put new oem burrs, basically I could not grind fine enough.

After reading about misalignment I discovered this to be the problem with mine, spent many hours trying to align it however I could not get it perfect but I got it to the point that I could grind fine enough, just.

Now it seems to have gone haywire again and I cannot be bothered with the hassle so I have been looking at changing, the Specialita took my fancy however I would hate to buy a new grinder which again might suffer from the same problems.

So I think I shall wait for when the Niche becomes available again which seems like it is going to be a long wait.


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## HDAV (Dec 28, 2012)

ETX1 said:


> My Mignon which I have had for about 5 years started giving me problems a few months back even though I put new oem burrs, basically I could not grind fine enough.
> 
> After reading about misalignment I discovered this to be the problem with mine, spent many hours trying to align it however I could not get it perfect but I got it to the point that I could grind fine enough, just.
> 
> Now it seems to have gone haywire again and I cannot be bothered with the hassle so I have been looking at changing,


 Did you order a niche in the end? Did you get to the bottom of the haywire mignon?


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## cuprajake (Mar 30, 2020)

Wondering if this is something i should do to my new (used) zenith 65... Stick new burrs in and align


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

Eureka grinders are usually pretty decent from the factory in my experience.

As for replacing the burrs you will be able to see the total number of shots done on the Zenith and unless it works out to 500kg through the grinder it is probably pointless.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

BlackCatCoffee said:


> Eureka grinders are usually pretty decent from the factory in my experience.
> 
> As for replacing the burrs you will be able to see the total number of shots done on the Zenith and unless it works out to 500kg through the grinder it is probably pointless.


 Not sure of Zenith 65E burr life....might be around the 350Kg mark, really can't remember at the moment?


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

@Cuprajake - Worth having a check next time you clean it and see if there are any grooves etc. on the burr flats. If they look good and it's had <100kg then not worth it really to replace.

You just need a dry wipe marker and a long socket to gently spin the burrs by hand.

If you are time pressured then I would hold off until you have a morning/afternoon free to try the shimming. It can be a bit of a faff and sometimes people don't exactly improve the consistency first time around...

I have just about managed to convince myself my EK43S is OK out of the box, as I can't currently face the task of trying to improve on it 😂


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Cuprajake said:


> Wondering if this is something i should do to my new (used) zenith 65... Stick new burrs in and align


 What are the current burrs like? 
When I replaced the old ones in my La Pavoni zip the difference was night and day. 
The old ones were dull, in that if you ran your finger over them they were less like blades, more like dull wedges. 
They should be like sharp knife blades to cut up rather than crush the beans.

Also considering the cost of new burrs at like £20 it's something very worth doing IMHO.


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## ETX1 (Apr 3, 2017)

HDAV said:


> Did you order a niche in the end? Did you get to the bottom of the haywire mignon?


 Tried a few times to align but with no great success, it had improved with new burrs but for a short while around a couple of months so have not bothered to replace the burrs again.

Strange as the Mignon was never dropped or mistreated.

Yes I have ordered a Niche and is supposed to be here in February, cannot wait to be honest as shall say goodbye to me Silvia which I have had for 15 yrs and probably go for an Elizabeth.


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## cuprajake (Mar 30, 2020)

@TomHughes i need to check next time i clean, ive only had it for a few days, so finding my feed with it for sure.


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

So my Eureka facile has been terrible, i cancelled my niche few months back due to funds so im stuck with it
I can only just grind fine enough, currently got a bag of sweet shop that i cant go fine enough for, i can hear the burrs grinding together and they stop instantly when i take finger off the button as they are touching.

i have to say and im sorry to say but bella barista have been awful for me, they told me not to shim as it will damage it and don't listen to people on here.

They said its an issue with most eureka's and the burrs will bed in after use. Then the engineer at BB told me what i think is the zero point isnt, and the burrs are not touching. Ive sent endless video's etc to them, but they simply don't want to know.

so for the past 6 months ive been running the grinder with the burrs not only chirping but grinding together as bella barista told me to. i would never dream of selling it to anyone, its had more than enough beans through to "bed in" ive endlessly stripped and cleaned it, but no matter what i do it will not even come close to choking my maraX

one day ill get a niche when i can afford to, but id never ever buy a Eureka or a grinder from BB again.


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Burnzy said:


> So my Eureka facile has been terrible, i cancelled my niche few months back due to funds so im stuck with it
> I can only just grind fine enough, currently got a bag of sweet shop that i cant go fine enough for, i can hear the burrs grinding together and they stop instantly when i take finger off the button as they are touching.
> 
> i have to say and im sorry to say but bella barista have been awful for me, they told me not to shim as it will damage it and don't listen to people on here.
> ...


 To be fair that sounds pretty bad service!
Maybe the burr carrier is out. I can't see why they would suggest no shimming unless this was the case and how would they know?
Either way surely a company has to take into consideration that it is 
A) Not performing it's function. 
B) Making noises it shouldn't!

I've had a few dealings with a number of other companies (in the cycling space) over the past few months and I've been surprised how bad customer service has been from companies with great reputations. 
I get it's been tough on them with everything going on, but they seem to be using Covid as an excuse to not reply or not do what they should be doing.

FWIW the mignon is normally a great grinder, but at the finer end it will produce a lot of fines (maybe not such a bad thing) that would almost certainly be able to choke a machine no problem.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

The Mignon will choke any machine at it's finest setting. It's such a shame about Bella Barista. As a last resort @Burnzy , have you contacted Eureka? You never know, they might be able to help you or even confirm that what you see is not right, and then you can go back to Bella Barista with a second opinion.

Very sorry to hear that. This is not the level of CS I'd expect or have ever experienced from them. Such a shame.


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> The Mignon will choke any machine at it's finest setting. It's such a shame about Bella Barista. As a last resort @Burnzy , have you contacted Eureka? You never know, they might be able to help you or even confirm that what you see is not right, and then you can go back to Bella Barista with a second opinion.
> 
> Very sorry to hear that. This is not the level of CS I'd expect or have ever experienced from them. Such a shame.


 Yeah i even sent video to Eureka and they sent one reply saying they will send to the technical team. 
Its just something ive put up with, but now and again i get a coffee i cant use as it wont go fine enough without almost jamming the burrs together, and this sweet shop is one of them which caused my rant 😂

one day when i can afford to ill get a niche. 👍🏼


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Burnzy said:


> Yeah i even sent video to Eureka and they sent one reply saying they will send to the technical team.
> Its just something ive put up with, but now and again i get a coffee i cant use as it wont go fine enough without almost jamming the burrs together, and this sweet shop is one of them which caused my rant 😂
> 
> one day when i can afford to ill get a niche. 👍🏼


 It might be worth opening up the burr chamber and getting some good quality photos of the burrs.


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

DavecUK said:


> It might be worth opening up the burr chamber and getting some good quality photos of the burrs.


 I will do this for sure over next couple of days


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

TomHughes said:


> To be fair that sounds pretty bad service!
> Maybe the burr carrier is out. I can't see why they would suggest no shimming unless this was the case and how would they know?
> Either way surely a company has to take into consideration that it is
> A) Not performing it's function.
> ...


 Yeah the first reason i got back in July. It was the burrs are sticky. But you can see where she says not to shim, not that id be confident to get it right anyway 🙈


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Burnzy said:


> Yeah the first reason i got back in July. It was the burrs are sticky. But you can see where she says not to shim, not that id be confident to get it right anyway 🙈
> 
> View attachment 50612


 I don't how shimming, unless you stuck a giant wedge in there would damage the grinder? 
Shimming massively improved my Mignon. Maybe we have been unlucky with ours as everyone else seems happy with theirs without this


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

TomHughes said:


> I don't how shimming, unless you stuck a giant wedge in there would damage the grinder?
> Shimming massively improved my Mignon. Maybe we have been unlucky with ours as everyone else seems happy with theirs without this


 I know right, i remembered how pleased you were when you did yours, and i always see people doing there EK45's. its a baffling response


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## cuprajake (Mar 30, 2020)

When you shim a mignon/eureka grinder, do you shim the spinning burr or the static top burr?

My new(used) grinder is jamming on odd occasion, the grinders had approx 89kg through it, ive ordered fresh burrs to rule damage out, tonight i got home tried to purge, jammed, tried to grind, jammed id not touched it since this am brew, now the hopper was ready for filling again...

Must admit im struggling to get used to it, atm

Jake


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## HDAV (Dec 28, 2012)

Hmmmm the more I read the more I think I'll leave my mignon how it is, I did clean it the other day and looked at the construction a little more there is some discolouration on the burrs probably from it's time in storage but it works....... also dialling in some chocolate point I nearly choked my classic


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Burnzy said:


> I will do this for sure over next couple of days


 Did you ever open that burr chamber and photograph the burrs?


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Cuprajake said:


> When you shim a mignon/eureka grinder, do you shim the spinning burr or the static top burr?
> 
> My new(used) grinder is jamming on odd occasion, the grinders had approx 89kg through it, ive ordered fresh burrs to rule damage out, tonight i got home tried to purge, jammed, tried to grind, jammed id not touched it since this am brew, now the hopper was ready for filling again...
> 
> ...


 I shimmed the bottom burr and found the top one didn't need it after that.

As I've said before I had the same issue with mine that the burrs were touching prematurely. 
In terms of numbers, the were touching around the +1 mark and now it's about -1. That may not sound like a huge gap but took the machine from being unable to grind a light roast fine enough to extract properly on the La Pavoni to being able to choke it entirely.


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

DavecUK said:


> Did you ever open that burr chamber and photograph the burrs?


 Planning on cleaning it all out this weekend, so will defo get a photo up!


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## allikat (Jan 27, 2020)

Found this video on the subject. Comments if any?


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## cuprajake (Mar 30, 2020)

i used that but fwiw mine was fine no shims needed


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## Deegee (Apr 5, 2020)

Mostly I found his voice very annoying, thought it was one of those automated voices to start with, re the content, not sure I'd want to raise the top burr carrier as per the vid, it's an invitation for fines or powder to enter the motor casing imho. Good point about running the burrs backwards though, oh and VISE GRIPS? FFS use your fingers or a socket and extension, any respect I had for him disappeared when I saw that.....


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## Sean1ucc (Oct 24, 2020)

Tried for several hours to get burrs aligned tonight but the best I could get to is contact at 12 and 6 with the space in between untouched.


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## Deegee (Apr 5, 2020)

Is that contact points on the lower burr?


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## Sean1ucc (Oct 24, 2020)

Upper burr, 3 single pieces of tin foil shims. With no shims it was touching at just a single point, 3 at two points and any more gives the opposite of what I started with


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## Deegee (Apr 5, 2020)

Just going from my own experience of doing mine, it was the bottom burr that needed moving, is there a possibility that either burr isn't aligned radially with the other one?


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## Sean1ucc (Oct 24, 2020)

Where did you shim the bottom burr? It's a little more awkward to get that out of its carrier repeatedl!

Could be radial alignment is off, I did notice that there is a bit of play in the upper burr carrier. When all three screws are in but not tightened fully you can move the burr on the horizontal plane. Not sure how this could be rectified if it is the issue


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## Deegee (Apr 5, 2020)

Sorry @Sean1ucc I've only just seen your post, I lifted the bottom burr out of its carrier using long nosed pliers, after I'd pulled mine out and refitted a couple of times it became a bit easier to remove/refit. The shims go under the bottom burr to lift it if it's a little low, just the usual aluminium foil.
If it's out radially you'll see it on the markings if you ink the lower burr, use the screw clearance to move the top carrier so the ink mark is concentric burr to burr, they aren't normally that much out unless the manufacturers CNC machine was wandering slightly with wear, you could probably use a little rat tail file to open the holes in the direction required if that was the case.


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## Sean1ucc (Oct 24, 2020)

Deegee said:


> @Sean1ucc
> If it's out radially you'll see it on the markings if you ink the lower burr, use the screw clearance to move the top carrier so the ink mark is concentric burr to burr


 Could you explain this a bit more please? Do you mean that you would see the marking wear off only on the inner surface one side and the outer on the other?


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## Deegee (Apr 5, 2020)

It won't be that much @Sean1ucc, if the burrs were misaligned radially, (which would be unusual), when you've levelled the burrs by shimming and you're getting ink rubbed off the burr edges all the way round, then check and see if you've got a very thin section crescent of ink untouched right on the outer edge of the bottom burr, where the top burr isn't rubbing off the ink. It'll be hard to see, I checked mine using a magnifying glass and it was ok. If they are misaligned radially, use the top burr retaining screws to move it a touch if possible, the clearances in there don't leave a lot of room for movement. HTH.


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## antinwales (Jan 16, 2021)

After about 10kg, I thought I'd give this a go.
My top tips are:
-A socket set (11mm piece) is really handy for turning the lower burr
- If your burrs aren't aligned, you'll probably notice the burrs touching for half the turn
- When you've brought the burrs together to rub, take a photo of the results! Easy to forget which side needed adjusting in all the excitement
- My lower definitely needed adjusting - the upper one seemed fine once lower was adjusted.

My contact point is now around zero - the big question is - "Will I notice any difference"?


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## winz (Oct 10, 2019)

Mmm... I've got a eureka Mignon manuale. Is this considered an uneven grind, or it's okay and doesn't need to be shimed?


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Is that an espresso grind?


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## winz (Oct 10, 2019)

DavecUK said:


> Is that an espresso grind?


 Yup it is! Gets about 29 seconds on a gaggia classic for 38g out (19g in)


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

winz said:


> Yup it is! Gets about 29 seconds on a gaggia classic for 38g out (19g in)


 Well I wouldn't worry...it's very hard to see particle size variation by eye, (they can stick together) and whose to say having a little variation is a bad thing.


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

Currently have a gorgeous Honey processed Tanzanian that i cant grind fine enough for. i am at the point where even the dial is getting hard to turn - going to grab a white board pen tomorrow and give this shimming a go. If i have no joy it is going back to bella barista, I've given it nearly a year like this.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Burnzy said:


> Currently have a gorgeous Honey processed Tanzanian that i cant grind fine enough for. i am at the point where even the dial is getting hard to turn - going to grab a white board pen tomorrow and give this shimming a go. If i have no joy it is going back to bella barista, I've given it nearly a year like this.


 Some Mignons where affected by burrs manufacturing defect. You could maybe check your grinder if that's in that batch? I think @Coff Hey mentioned you can even check the serial number. Worse case, maybe a new set of burrs would do the trick?


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

@Burnzy If you clean it out completely and find the touching point by turning burrs with fingers. How close to the zero point are you grinding?


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

DavecUK said:


> @Burnzy If you clean it out completely and find the touching point by turning burrs with fingers. How close to the zero point are you grinding?


 Now opening it up, im so past the the point of zero i literally cant even turn the burrs by hand. 😂


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Burnzy said:


> Now opening it up, im so past the the point of zero i literally cant even turn the burrs by hand. 😂


 Doesn't sound right


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

@Burnzy - I remember your early posts&#8230; this must be so frustrating for you. I would by now have thrown the grinder out of the window!

£25 quid or so will get you a new set of burrs. I do wonder whether that might be worth a go. Seems like a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> @Burnzy - I remember your early posts&#8230; this must be so frustrating for you. I would by now have thrown the grinder out of the window!
> 
> £25 quid or so will get you a new set of burrs. I do wonder whether that might be worth a go. Seems like a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.


 Yeah its been so frustrating. Ive finally attempted to shim it. 🙈 now going to try.

before you can see about 8 - 11 o clock


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

Managed to get it to roughly most of the flats to rub off now - think its as good as ill get it. Bottom burr seems okay. We shall see now, ive set my new zero, ive coarsened the setting a teeny bit so no contact and ill attempt a shot!

Using same beans so i know what to expect. Ive not wanted to see a choked shot so much in my life 😂


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Burnzy said:


> Ive not wanted to see a choked shot so much in my life


 Go @Burnzy! 😂😂😂😂🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

Okay so results are in. Did take 3 sink shots. But got a good shot in the end. 
See pic below for where i was before for similar shot, same beans, weights etc.

top photo before - lower afterwards. I can go nearly 2 and a half numbers coarser! 🙈


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

I mean thats nearly half the bleedin dial isnt it!!!


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

That sounds about right as far as I remember with the Mignon. With a VST and a Gaggia Classic, I had to dial about 3 steps back from zero. How far from zero are you?

edit: I'm glad this is sorted out.


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> That sounds about right as far as I remember with the Mignon. With a VST and a Gaggia Classic, I had to dial about 3 steps back from zero. How far from zero are you?
> 
> edit: I'm glad this is sorted out.


 Im actually fairly close to zero still, but i was way waaay past it before, and these beans im on at mo seem to need a really fine grind. I have some new beans ready to go tomorrow so ill be interested to see how they go 😊


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

@Burnzy The burrs must have been quite a way out of alignment, glad it seems to be sorted?


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Burnzy said:


> Im actually fairly close to zero still


 How far from zero are you now? Are the burrs damaged at all?


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> How far from zero are you now? Are the burrs damaged at all?


 No i dont think so i couldn't see any obvious damage. In terms of how close i am, i think one more tiny adjustment and the burrs will start to touch again. So i do wonder if the bottom one needs further look.

But considering how far past 0 i was for these particular beans its a huge improvement. These were one of those bags that just seemed to need a really really fine grind, ive had a Tanzanian before and dont remember them being to problematic in that respect.

I'm confident its going be more usable now, really excited for tomorrows new coffee to see how it goes.

I just want a niche so badly now, but no way i can afford one for at least the next few months


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

Yeah had to go way coarser this morning for this new bag. Ive never been so happy to see shots choking 😂 honestly feel like my grinder is working more as it should now.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

@Burnzy - how's that going Burnzy? Has the burr alignment solved your problems?


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> @Burnzy - how's that going Burnzy? Has the burr alignment solved your problems?


 Ah absolute game changer! Its like a different grinder atm


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## tonezone6 (Jan 19, 2020)

Few months ago I purchased a Mignon Specialita grinder to use it for my daily espresso.

After *a lot* of experimentation with different fresh roasted beans from some local roasters, distribution tools, different tampers I've reached the conclusion that I cannot get decent espresso results. I replaced few espresso machines from Sage Barista Express to Gaggia Classic and lately I've bought a Sage Dual Boiler.

But the results are not better and what I found when I opened the Specialita to clean it up this days was that the *bottom burr is off-center* when rotating. So, I suspect that is the issue and I'm attaching below 2 short movies. 

I tried also the `marker test` but when I adjust the grinder gradually to the zero point, which in my case is around 5 on the dial and I'm hearing the `chirping`, the marker area looks untouched. 

videos


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