# Compak E10 Help!!!



## Sami (Apr 18, 2013)

A few weeks ago I started getting the following problem:

Get some new beans in.

Find the grind is too fine.

Adjust the grind.

Get the same result.

Keep adjusting the grind to find that there is no change in the output, even after stepping up several times.

Remove hopper and grind out remaining beans in the chamber.

Put hopper back on and pull a shot to find that it's now way too coarse.

This happened about 3 times so decided to remove the top burr and clean out the chamber, only to find that the problem hasn't been fixed.

I'm p**sing beans away like crazy and it's driving me completely bananas.

Surely it's not even physically possible? If you rotate the collar clockwise, the top burr has to move up and away from the bottom burr, resulting in a coarser grind.

Am I taking crazy pills?!!!


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Are you purging between grind changes


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Retention is huge in the e10 is you run with a full hopper


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## Sami (Apr 18, 2013)

Had it for a year now so familiar with the retention. I've also been weighing the the output for a given grind time as this *should* increase with coarseness immediately, but it's staying the same too. It's literally giving the same weight in grinds and the shots are staying the same for 5-6 consecutive adjustments, which it's not done before.


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## Sami (Apr 18, 2013)

coffeechap said:


> Retention is huge in the e10 is you run with a full hopper


Run it with half a kilo with a weight on.


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## reneb (Nov 2, 2011)

this is probably a stupid question, but are you rotating the collar the right way? i think turning clockwise should make grind coarser, not finer.


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## Sami (Apr 18, 2013)

reneb said:


> this is probably a stupid question, but are you rotating the collar the right way? i think turning clockwise should make grind coarser, not finer.


On the contrary it's a very good question! And it has already crossed my mind, which is why I double-checked in the manual. Also to remove the top burr you rotate clockwise so it must be a reverse thread.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

There is a grinder limit screw in the adjustment collar Torx 20, have you inadvertently adjusted / turned this and it is preventing full / complete adjustment. ? This is in addition to the lock screw !


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## Sami (Apr 18, 2013)

El carajillo said:


> There is a grinder limit screw in the adjustment collar Torx 20, have you inadvertently adjusted / turned this and it is preventing full / complete adjustment. ? This is in addition to the lock screw !


Nope.

Just removed the top burr and cleaned out the chamber again. It's now grinding correctly at the setting that I was trying to achieve. Still can't comprehend how opening up the adjustment collar wouldn't result in a coarser grind within a couple of shots, unless it wasn't screwed in - which it was!


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## Split Shot (Sep 24, 2016)

Sami said:


> Nope.
> 
> can't comprehend how opening up the adjustment collar wouldn't result in a coarser grind within a couple of shots, unless it wasn't screwed in - which it was!


 @Sami Did you ever get to the bottom of what was causing the trouble? Was it an issue with the mechanism, or was it pilot error (hope you don't mind me asking that!)?


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## shaunclarke (Nov 30, 2011)

Stuck Bean? This happens on my K3 occasionally.


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## Sami (Apr 18, 2013)

In the end I figured it was a change of beans that was the "issue". With the usual beans around 5 notches on the grinder would be a huge change, with 1-2 notches producing a significant, observable difference. With the new beans, the range was probably around 10-12 notches from too fine to about right. That, and the the delayed results due to retention and my not wanting to flush circa 20g of coffee away every time I made an adjustment. I was just giving up too early!

Finally I decided that the burrs simply had to be moving apart and got aggressive with it, opening up 2-3 notches, pulling a shot then repeating (and gradually reducing the time accordingly as coarser settings grind coffee quicker) until I saw a change, regardless of how much coffee I got through!


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## foundrycoffeeroasters.com (Jun 19, 2014)

I suspect you've stumbled upon the main issue with using a conical grinder at home. You should expect to purge at least 30g of coffee after an adjustment before you'll see changes in the delivered coffee. It's easy to get into that whole 'the adjustment didn't do anything so I'll adjust some more' thing. Then you end up adjusting way too much. On a positive note though (if using the same beans that have been roasted consistently the same), you should fine that you'll need to make very minor, if any adjustments once you're dialled in.


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## mmmatron (Jun 28, 2014)

I found dialling it in from new a frustrating experience, I didn't appreciate just quite how much retention there was.

I was having similar problem so I emptied the beans, dialled into zero then back. Single dosed for a ball park figure then put the hopper back on. I used up all my lovely foundry beans in the process and had to run out for some local stuff


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## foundrycoffeeroasters.com (Jun 19, 2014)

mmmatron said:


> I found dialling it in from new a frustrating experience, I didn't appreciate just quite how much retention there was.
> 
> I was having similar problem so I emptied the beans, dialled into zero then back. Single dosed for a ball park figure then put the hopper back on. I used up all my lovely foundry beans in the process and had to run out for some local stuff


That's a shame and a pretty big drawback for a home grinder for sure. When we're grinding in with conicals we use the flap on the bottom of the hopper i.e. Make an adjustment and then run through the beans with the flap closed. There is enough there to purge any retained coffee. Then open the flap again, fill the chamber and close it again. Your next dose should then be at the new setting. If it's still not dialled, keep the flap closed and run through the rest of that coffee while making another adjustment etc.


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## Split Shot (Sep 24, 2016)

mmmatron said:


> I found dialling it in from new a frustrating experience,


How are you finding living with an E10 now that you've got through that initial learning curve?

Do you think the day-to-day, or bean-to-bean, consistency offsets the initial dialling in trauma?

How have subsequent dial ins gone?

Thanks for your views!


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## mmmatron (Jun 28, 2014)

Split Shot said:


> How are you finding living with an E10 now that you've got through that initial learning curve?
> 
> Do you think the day-to-day, or bean-to-bean, consistency offsets the initial dialling in trauma?
> 
> ...


Yeah I think it does, coming from K10 single dosing (easy to dial in, faff to prepare), I really like it, it's more consistent too using a weighted hopper.

I've just worked through a kilo of beans so not had the trauma of dialling in another bean yet. I'm a little anxious as I tend to change beans every week. That said, I tend to stick to the same type so it should only need a tweak. I'll report back! (I might end up posting in the muppetry thread)


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## mmmatron (Jun 28, 2014)

Split Shot said:


> How are you finding living with an E10 now that you've got through that initial learning curve?
> 
> Do you think the day-to-day, or bean-to-bean, consistency offsets the initial dialling in trauma?
> 
> ...


Just dialled in a new bag, surprisingly trauma free. Tweaked it a little finer while it was running empty based on an educated guess, job done.


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