# Mignon camera hood mod



## totallywired (Jun 25, 2011)

Finally got around to taking some pics, not very good as they are from my phone but gives you an idea of what it looks like. Got the black lense hood from china on ebay and then got a chrome vintage one from ebay uk. With a little bit of fettling I managed to fit the chrome one inside the black one, this give it a wider mouth to feed the beans in and works a treat. The other black one is another ebay purchase and works very well at keeping grinds in the basket. Eventually I'm going to put some mesh in this one to take out any clumps. I cut cut up our old sieve and tried that but it was way too fine for the grinds to get through so I'm on the look out for something with a bigger mesh. Anyway, I now use the the timer on the Mignon and just two hits on the button and can hold the P/F a fair distance from shoot and not have any worry about grinds spilling( bottomless P/F so no hands free)


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Nice I like that we are getting some more mods on here


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## haz_pro (Apr 4, 2013)

Nice one, looks good. Any chance of a link to the parts you bought? (excluding the vintage of course).


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## glevum (Apr 4, 2013)

looks professional, a lot better than my plastic milk bottle and cup


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## totallywired (Jun 25, 2011)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-40-5mm-40-5-mm-Lens-Hood-Metal-Screw-in-type-Anti-reflective-Black-/251196054967?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:GB:3160 For the Hopper.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/58mm-Screw-in-Mount-Metal-Tele-Telephoto-Lens-Hood-Universal-/140882904600?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:GB:3160 For the basket.

Once you know what size you want just search on ebay as there are loads on there. If you want to use the basket holder on the grinder for the hands free then you will have to get a shorter lense hood to clear the shoot.

Good luck.

Dan


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## totallywired (Jun 25, 2011)

Once I get the mesh sorted in the basket hood I'll make a vid of it all in action.


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## haz_pro (Apr 4, 2013)

Thanks again for this, I will be ordering a hood for the hopper soon.

Does the hood fit inside the hopper hole, or is the hood just sitting on the top (if that makes sense).


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## totallywired (Jun 25, 2011)

There is a small lip that sits inside the hopper hole. You need to cut a slot in this at the rear to sit in flush.


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## Pdalowsky (Dec 31, 2012)

purely out of interest - whats the primary reason for doing this? I mean what is wrong with the machine as sold?


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## Godders (Dec 29, 2012)

Pdalowsky said:


> purely out of interest - whats the primary reason for doing this? I mean what is wrong with the machine as sold?


I did a similar one with mine as I found with the big hopper I had to shake it about to get all the beans into the throat when single dosing. It also enables you to put some weight (tamper is ideal) onto the beans which prevents "popcorning".

If you're making loads of coffees the original hopper works fine.


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## Godders (Dec 29, 2012)

Pdalowsky said:


> purely out of interest - whats the primary reason for doing this? I mean what is wrong with the machine as sold?


I did a similar one with mine as I found with the big hopper I had to shake it about to get all the beans into the throat when single dosing. It also enables you to put some weight (tamper is ideal) onto the beans which prevents "popcorning". It's not a mignon thing, people have done similar with lots of other grinders.

The original hopper works fine with a decent amount of beans in it but not many people make loads of coffees at a time.


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## Pdalowsky (Dec 31, 2012)

Godders said:


> I did a similar one with mine as I found with the big hopper I had to shake it about to get all the beans into the throat when single dosing. It also enables you to put some weight (tamper is ideal) onto the beans which prevents "popcorning". It's not a mignon thing, people have done similar with lots of other grinders.
> 
> The original hopper works fine with a decent amount of beans in it but not many people make loads of coffees at a time.


Gotcha,

I find a little nudge with the finger shows the beans where to go, this just all seems a bit much considering it takes a second to swipe the beans into the action


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## jakeapeters (May 20, 2013)

I've jumped on this bandwagon too now. Thanks for the tip, and the links - my camera hoods are en-route! I also ordered a 7cm diameter tea strainer - going to rip that apart and use it in the centre of the 58mm tube to declump the grinds (will probably have to punch some larger holes in it, but it's a good platform, and should be a snug fit). I'll let you know how it turns out!


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## jakeapeters (May 20, 2013)

If I use a tight fitting lid and single dose, is it then feasible that I could clear the chute of residual grinds just by pushing on the lid? Or is there a better solution? It's a little annoying how many grinds just refuse to come out.


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## reneb (Nov 2, 2011)

jake, will be interested to hear how you get on with the tea strainer mod. i'd be concerned that the strainer might clog up if the mesh is too fine, even with wider holes punched in it.


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

jakeapeters said:


> I've jumped on this bandwagon too now. Thanks for the tip, and the links - my camera hoods are en-route! I also ordered a 7cm diameter tea strainer - going to rip that apart and use it in the centre of the 58mm tube to declump the grinds (will probably have to punch some larger holes in it, but it's a good platform, and should be a snug fit). I'll let you know how it turns out!


Did you order from the same place?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-40-5mm-...E:L:OC:GB:3160 For the Hopper.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/58mm-Screw...E:L:OC:GB:3160 For the basket.


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

jakeapeters said:


> If I use a tight fitting lid and single dose, is it then feasible that I could clear the chute of residual grinds just by pushing on the lid? Or is there a better solution? It's a little annoying how many grinds just refuse to come out.


What about topping it off with a collapsible rubber lens hood with a lid (Coffee Chap style)? Just a thought


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## jakeapeters (May 20, 2013)

@reneb: Yeah, I suspect it may clog too, but for a couple of quid it's worth a shot! I'll let you know when it gets here.

@urbanbumpkin: Yep, ordered the exact same two. I had a quick search for alternatives, but couldn't see any immediately obvious ones, so just ordered them. The collapsible lens hood seems like a decent idea - I'll look into it further.


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## totallywired (Jun 25, 2011)

* jakeapeters * Another reason for do this mod is it makes it easy to get the residual grinds from the chute, just pop the lense hood off and with the palm of your hand just bang over the hopper hole, this blows and grinds left in there in to the basket.


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Just a thought regarding this mod for the hopper. Does the lens hood have a screwtread at both ends?

If it does then you could screw something like one of these into the top of the hopper to make a funnel. Plus if you could collapse it to blow any retained grind out

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SCREW-ON-40-5MM-PROFESSIONAL-RUBBER-COLLAPSIBLE-LENS-HOOD-FOR-SLR-LENSES-QUALITY-/190832568686?pt=UK_Photography_CameraLenses_Lens_caps_hoods_adaptors_ET&hash=item2c6e81e96e


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## jakeapeters (May 20, 2013)

At the moment I'm actually just using one of those collapsible hoods as a hopper, and it definitely works to blow the grinds out. I'm waiting on the solid hood though, and hoping it'll just screw together. I'll let you know when I receive it. The problem I've had when just using the collapsible one is that my 19g dose doesn't fit in the central column of it, it spills into the wider edges, which means I have to stop halfway through the grind and knock beans through into the burrs.

Edit: Although, if it doesn't screw on I'm just going to superglue it...


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## big dan (Apr 11, 2012)

Just a thougt as i am now a mignon owner as well:

Could you use a rubber lens cap like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lens-Caps-Lens-Covers-for-Binoculars-Telescopes-and-Spotting-Scopes-/111189682004?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item19e36be754

You could put your beans in the camera hood mod, put the lens cap on and then press the cap to get blow grinds through? Or is just as easy to bang your hand on top?


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## DavidBondy (Aug 17, 2010)

Blimmin' 'eck! And there's me putting these things onto my camera lenses! Well I never!

DB


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## jakeapeters (May 20, 2013)

I've been using a homemade collapsible hood thingy for a while (you can see it in my sale thread), and whilst whacking the top of it does go a long way to clearing out some grounds, there's still a fair amount of retention it doesn't touch (which is visible if you open it up and look).

That said, I think you'd get similar air pressure through it with the lid and with your hand - so I'd stick with pushing it down with your hand! I used to use a lid while grinding, but got bored of using it and reverted back to just holding my hand over it...


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## Tigermad (Sep 7, 2015)

I'm thinking about doing this mod. The plastic ring on eBay is still available but the metal one isn't. What can be used instead? Also what do people use as a lid? Thanks


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## Hairy_Hogg (Jul 23, 2015)

Bit of a bump, but I would also appreciate some links to current suitable parts to construct this if anyone would be kind enough to point them out


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## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

Hairy_Hogg said:


> Bit of a bump, but I would also appreciate some links to current suitable parts to construct this if anyone would be kind enough to point them out


Looks like one of the original links is still live

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-40-5mm-40-5-mm-Lens-Hood-Metal-Screw-in-type-Anti-reflective-Black-/251196054967?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:GB:3160


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