# Another Grinder Project



## grinderman (Aug 14, 2013)

Hi folks!

Here's a little tease of what I've been working on for almost two years. It'll be a commercial grinder. It's defining feature is it's weight-dosing mechanism and fully digital control.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Hiya, how far away are you from having this as a prototype then? It looks interesting and the idea of dosing a weight is good, a la Azkoyen, but strange how others have lagged a bit on this!

thanks for sharing


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## grinderman (Aug 14, 2013)

I'm about a week or two away from having it sitting and grinding in my cafe. The weight-dosing is really just the tip of the iceberg


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Come on then, you cannot leave us wondering! If you are only a week away then you must be qiuite excited! Is this a commercial venture or purely a one off for you? What else makes it special then


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## grinderman (Aug 14, 2013)

It's a commercial venture.

You can't imagine how excited I am!

Okay. So the fully digital control is key. It doesn't have a direct mechanical grind adjustment; the grind adjustment is controlled by a motor, so when you turn the dial nothing happens until you press confirm. What this means is regardless of any difference there may be in the construction from grinder to grinder, each grinder will have an identical grind setting at, for instance, grind-setting-32. Further, when you control everything digitally, you can track everything digitally. When you track everything digitally, you can repeat things more easily, you can monitor each grinder for maintenance. Oh, and it'll be connected to the web. The possibilities are enormous when you do this.

So that's the gist of it. I'll actually be giving a talk at a tech conference about what we can do with coffee when we plug it into the internet.


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

any pictures? or are aesthetics now secret until unveiling?


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Wow, lots of innovation there. Good luck, looking forward to hearing more!


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Could Brewtus one day be sat next to Brewtal......

Roasters could email grind settings and dose to your grinder at home, with the right machine and software also email you the volumetrics/yield too.

Exciting future ahead.


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## grinderman (Aug 14, 2013)

garydyke1 said:


> Roasters could email grind settings and dose to your grinder at home, with the right machine and software also email you the volumetrics/yield too.
> 
> Exciting future ahead.


Exactly







One possibility is simply having a QR code on the bag of coffee that could be scanned by the grinder or a connected smartphone. Planning for a future with connectivity between my grinder and espresso machines too.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

So long as grind quality is amazing then happy days


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

garydyke1 said:


> So long as grind quality is amazing then happy days


Nah it's got the same burrs as an mc2......


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

wow very impressive!

are you going to apply for a patent?


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## Southpaw (Feb 26, 2012)

Wow this looks good - top job


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Mrboots2u said:


> Nah it's got the same burrs as an mc2......


On that basis , Im out


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## Fevmeister (Oct 21, 2013)

ps id file a patent very very quickly if you havent already done so!


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Any idea on a retail price for this beast


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Mrboots2u said:


> Nah it's got the same burrs as an mc2......


So does the OE Lido Mk1 which people seem to love and praise for the grind quality lol


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## grinderman (Aug 14, 2013)

Fevmeister said:


> ps id file a patent very very quickly if you havent already done so!


Patents have been filed, for this and a few future grinder projects









First run will have Robur burrs, but over the next year I'll be developing new burrsets.

The grinder is designed so that it can be easily upgraded when new components are developed.

Price is likely to be between £2,000 and £3,000... So yeah, not really a domestic grinder!


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## MrShades (Jul 29, 2009)

Looks very interesting indeed... Whilst I'm hunting for a a great new conical grinder I doubt I'd be able to stretch to a £2K asking price - but if you're looking for a beta test customer then keep me posted!

I'm guessing that you will be using this in a cafe that's currently "too speedy"??? ;-)

Shades


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## grinderman (Aug 14, 2013)

MrShades said:


> I'm guessing that you will be using this in a cafe that's currently "too speedy"??? ;-)
> 
> Shades


Ahaha! Nicely done! Yes, you are correct!


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## dsc (Jun 7, 2013)

What about grind retention?

How are you planning to 'zero' each grinder? particle size tests or simply using the distance between the burrs?

Regards,

T.


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## grinderman (Aug 14, 2013)

Grind retention is around 0.1 of a gram - roughly what tends to cling to the teeth of the burrs. There are no passages or chambers between the burrs and the portafilter (I'm guessing much the same as yours?) so there are very few places where the grounds can be retained.

Distance. Each grinder calibrates itself when turned on, automatically finding the "zero" point before then setting to the desired setting.


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## dsc (Jun 7, 2013)

Yeah mine passes straight through, although yours uses screwfeed for the beans, so you'll be running with no bean column on the burrs. This of course allows for calibration via movement vs distance. I'd say calibration on each power up is a bit excessive.

Regards,

T.


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