Spotted it on flea bay, described as parts only... said it was mechanically fine, electrically broken. I thought fine, i can use some of the parts to retrofit a chute on my existing grinder...
So off I rocks last Saturday to the sellers address, wasnt looking hopeful, turned out the mobile I was given was incorrect (last digit was wrong by mistake apparently...). I apprehensively rings the intercom bell expecting some expletive in response but no... Id found the address and the seller.
Upon inspection, it looked horrible, nothing mechanically wrong but absolutely caked in old coffee oils, tar and smelt worse than you could possibly imagine (I had thoughts of some kind of drug being processed...).
Asking whats wrong, im reminded its an ex-usa machine 110v, used to be fine with a step-down transformer but packed up one day.
I was thinking fine, as described but could have mentioned that it needed an acid bath...
So I gets it home and starts to stip it down. Ive got a long electrical/electonics background... lets see whats in here to go wrong.
From an electrical perspective, im seeing (apart from the wiring...) 2 switches, a capacitor (for power factor correction), a thermal trip and a fairly hefty motor. Plenty of spade connectors lets me disconnect each item in turn and check it over
3 hours later, Im perplexed... nothing wrong from what I can see electrically. I cant run it up though because I dont have a 110v supply, but I know someone who does...
Whilst shoving it back together Im removing layer upon layer of gunge from the grinding assembly...
Im looking at it, somewhat irked as to how it could be left in such a state when something twigs... the gunge is so bad its like glue... I reassemble the head, minus the finger protector and shoves a screw driver inside to turn the blades... it doesnt turn! the crud is so bad the motor is stuck in place.
Im truly shocked and amazed that there was so much crap in the device that the motor couldnt turn... no wonder it had an problem, it must have been constantly tripping.
So to bring the story to an end... it took me a good 3-4 hours to clean the components back to brass and steel and having done so Ive now got another grinder for my collection for the princely sum of $40...
So off I rocks last Saturday to the sellers address, wasnt looking hopeful, turned out the mobile I was given was incorrect (last digit was wrong by mistake apparently...). I apprehensively rings the intercom bell expecting some expletive in response but no... Id found the address and the seller.
Upon inspection, it looked horrible, nothing mechanically wrong but absolutely caked in old coffee oils, tar and smelt worse than you could possibly imagine (I had thoughts of some kind of drug being processed...).
Asking whats wrong, im reminded its an ex-usa machine 110v, used to be fine with a step-down transformer but packed up one day.
I was thinking fine, as described but could have mentioned that it needed an acid bath...
So I gets it home and starts to stip it down. Ive got a long electrical/electonics background... lets see whats in here to go wrong.
From an electrical perspective, im seeing (apart from the wiring...) 2 switches, a capacitor (for power factor correction), a thermal trip and a fairly hefty motor. Plenty of spade connectors lets me disconnect each item in turn and check it over

3 hours later, Im perplexed... nothing wrong from what I can see electrically. I cant run it up though because I dont have a 110v supply, but I know someone who does...
Whilst shoving it back together Im removing layer upon layer of gunge from the grinding assembly...
Im looking at it, somewhat irked as to how it could be left in such a state when something twigs... the gunge is so bad its like glue... I reassemble the head, minus the finger protector and shoves a screw driver inside to turn the blades... it doesnt turn! the crud is so bad the motor is stuck in place.
Im truly shocked and amazed that there was so much crap in the device that the motor couldnt turn... no wonder it had an problem, it must have been constantly tripping.
So to bring the story to an end... it took me a good 3-4 hours to clean the components back to brass and steel and having done so Ive now got another grinder for my collection for the princely sum of $40...

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