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  • #16
    Re: Climax Grinder

    FB,

    yes, state of grinding plates/ burrs affects grind consistency, heating of grounds etc.

    However as with everything in life, nothing is ever totally straight forward. The "extra" heating of grinds I think is more to do with the extra friction created between the plates and coffee during grinding when using "blunt" plates, rather than anything to do with heat coming off the motor due to extra torque required to push the blunt plates around...

    In  addition, someone mentioned above that "extra" heating of grounds when using "blunt" plates is probably related to the actual quantity  of coffee being ground and this is certainly true. In home use where  you are grinding only very small quantities on demand my feeling is that you would never in your lifetime need to change grinding plates, certainly on a machine that you bought new, if it is a machine of a certain "quality". I do place the tranquilo in this class. That is, people with commercial grinders at home (bought new) shouldnt need to worry about this. Those with typically domestic quality grinders will need to worry about this some time down the track but this is dependent on individual use and situation...again the grinder will tell you.

    Interestingly...(is that a word?)...whilst everyone goes on and on about the "benefits" of conical burrs, those used in conveniently priced domestic grinders are more likely to "blunt" out reasonably quickly with little use, than any flat grinding plates/ burrs Ive ever seen in service, and this really upsets the workings of home use espresso machines.

    I have a feeling that much of the debate regarding the changing of supposedly "blunt" grinding plates at arbitrary intervals (as set by industry "experts") could be a furphy created to generate sales of spare parts...I recently corresponded with a couple of different technical managers in the employ of 2 extremely well known and respected Italian grinder manufactureres on this very topic (when SHOULD we be changing grinding plates), and they both gave different views (independently of eachother) and avoided answering the question directly. It all depends on the individual circumstances you see.....!!!!!

    Why change plates at an arbitray figure of say, 400 kilos, if in your individual situation at that time the plates may be perfectly serviceable and may have lasted to say 600 kilos? I dont fix anything if it isnt broke.

    Robman, must be my style of writing again....no the plates for the claimax didnt cost $1000.00, I was refereing to my "control" grinder which is a high volume industrial grinder....  ;D.

    We generally just change the plates. With "small" grinders (like the ones in regular cafe and deli grinders, it wouldnt pay you to try and re machine the old plates as the new ones are not that expensive. In addition unless you have a set of spare plates your grinder is out of action while you wait for the existing to be machined. Easier to buy new ones and fit when they arrive, so its a matter of convenience.

    The worm moves the beans over to the grinding plates. The grinder *should*  grind from extremely fine to extremely coarse and if it doesnt something needs cleaning, clearing, adjusting or fixing. It is a relatively simple but effecive machine, and the manufacturer states it grinds 250 grams of espresso grind in 1 minute. I cant confirm or deny as we dont time our work. The speed of delivery / grinding is governed by speed of motor, size & design of grinding plates, density of beans etc and should not be mistakenly extrapolated to draw irrelevant conclusions about heating up/quality of grind. It either wroks well, or it doesnt.

    Incidentally if you compare a set of new plates to "blunt" plates, you will be hard pressed to see any visual difference between them. The plates "crush/cut" the beans, you cannot therefore help heating up under normal circumstances.

    Enjoy your grinder.

    Regardez,
    FC.

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: Climax Grinder

      Thanxs FC. I will pull the baby appart in the next few days and see what is what. Are the blades to fit the Climax easy find,
      I have an Azgyon MO1+ that I just changed the blades in, three years almost to the day from purchase, we use about 16 kg a week through this grinder. The old blades did feel dull when I pulled them out.
      Regards Robman

      Comment


      • #18
        Climax Naked!

        Here you go Robman... I took some pictures last night.

        With the knob and plastic (instruction cover) removed it looks like this:



        Using a 5mm allen-key remove the two allen-bolts (I had some stainless A2-M6 20mm bolts so I have "upgraded" the factory steel ones )  The whole thing is spring-loaded but not in the "shoot parts all over the shed" sense.



        Removing the alloy front reveals the first of the grinder plates...



        Here is the front plate removed (after the rancid coffee grounds have been cleaned off it  ;D ) The two plates are iron cast and should have no trouble grinding up those pesky stones into a nice sand-latte.



        The grinder plates are 86mm high, the opening is 1mm bigger than that.



        I have left the plastic instruction cover off the unit now.  It isnt a safety cover and as far as I can tell is only cosmetic.  I think the naked grinder looks better and can now see the beans in the funnel better too.



        After cleaning the grinder, replace the dob of grease on each end of the shaft and reassemble.  

        Make sure that the grind adjustment shaft is set to very course (ie: turn a couple of turn anti-clockwise) so that you are not putting pressure on the plates while screwing it all back together.

        Once back together you can turn the knob-shaft clockwise until you "feel" the plates touch.  Then turn anti-clockwise 1/16th of a turn so you dont have metal on metal.

        The red arrow in the below picture points to the metal clip that controls how much the knob can turn.  Replace the big plastic knob now, facing the right (finest grind) and check that you have smooth movement through the range of grind settings.



        Set to a course grind and turn the machine-on without beans in it.  Slowly turn clockwise to the finer grind setting and listen for metal on metal sounds.... you want the tollerance to be as close to touching as you can (without getting metal flakes in the coffee).

        Now try some beans.  I can grind to a super fine "talc" that fills my fingerprints.... far too fine for any coffee machine that Ive tried.

        My "normal" setting is about 3 clicks back from finest.

        So... after all that... I recommend that you have a crack as self-servicing.  Not too many moving parts and you will get a better feel for the grinder anyway.

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Climax Grinder

          Excellent! Just one niggly thing however, the calipers look as though they are measuring 86 mm across the grinding chamber, so that means the grinding plate diameter (size) is possibly around say 75mm. The design profile looks reasonably "standardish".

          Incidentally has anyone stopped to consider whether the "sideways" design of this grinder might have any advantages / disadvantages in comparison to the more common straight "up & down" design of grinder?

          Robman, if you need plates get them from Climax!

          Re: azkoyen grinder. This makes for interesting discussion. 16kg x 52 weeks x 3 years = 2500kg in round figures. Why did you change the plates, because someone told you you should, or because you noticed it wasnt grinding properly, or you noticed the coffee wasnt brewing properly etc?

          Do you know what the "recommended" interval of change (in kilos) is for the type of plates it runs?

          Did the change make any noticeable difference to anything?

          Regardez,
          FC.

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: Climax Grinder

            Originally posted by Fresh_Coffee link=1092699175/15#19 date=1106105749
            Excellent! Just one niggly thing however, the calipers look as though they are measuring 86 mm across the grinding chamber, so that means the grinding plate diameter (size) is possibly around say 75mm. The design profile looks reasonably "standardish".

            Hmmm....

            the actual measurement across the chamber was 87mm, the gringing plates are approximately 86mm and the "cutting surface of the plates" is around your 75mm figure.

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: Climax Grinder

              FC, I ran out of adjustment on the grinder. I had the new grinding plates for over 12 months and the grinder did not really need them changed. I ran my fingers over the old plates and there was still a bit of grab so I left them alone. At $380 for a set I was not in a hurry to replace them. I roast my own coffee and keep a very close eye on cup quality. If there had been a problem I would have quickly moved to fix it. I have a azkoyen espresso machine as well as the grinder. They are my favourite brand of machine, fully computer/robot constructed in Spain, sensatioal to work with but expensive. The two bits of equipment working in concert pull a bomb of a shot. Plus the equipment can be controlled to the point where my staff would have to go out of their way to cock things up. It give very consistent results.
              Regards Robman

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Climax Grinder

                Hi Andy, quick question, how do you get the knob off? AnD mate thank you so much for the above post with pictures etc. That has to be the best explaination I have ever seen on any forum on any subject.
                Regards Robman

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: Climax Grinder

                  Thanks Robman!

                  The knob is on a fine spline so it will just pull off (similar to a car radio knob).  The best way is to gently lever it from behind on alternating sides, once it starts it will be easy.

                  The only other tool you will need is a 5mm allen key for the 4 bolts on top and the two on the front.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Climax Grinder

                    Originally posted by robman link=1092699175/15#21 date=1106134198
                    FC, I ran out of adjustment on the grinder. I had the new grinding plates for over 12 months and the grinder did not really need them changed........I roast my own coffee and keep a very close eye on cup quality....If there had been a problem I would have quickly moved to fix it.......pull a bomb of a shot.......very consistent results.
                    Regards Robman
                    Excellent. You have simply reinforced what I know to be true from experience in many applications....that the wearing of grinding plates does not necessarily spell disaster in terms of brew quality...and that plates need not necesarrily be renewed just because they have reached a certain time in their life if they are still grinding well as demonstrated by the quality of brews.

                    Regardez,
                    FC.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Climax Grinder

                      Andy_Freeman, You are the best, I pulled the grinder down today cleaned it out and re-adjusted the grinding points as per youe detailed instructions. It has done no work at all the inside is shinny as and very clean. I just pulled myself a shot of my Iron Horse blend using the re-tuned grinder. Excellent, sensational Blah Blah Blah. Thank you once again, I will try and get a spare set of blades for this machine, just to have them on hand.
                      regards Robman

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Climax Grinder

                        Fellas this is fantastic what you have done here, this has been a very interesting read for this Bean, Great to see the spirit of Co-operation running so well...

                        FB

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                        • #27
                          Re: Climax Grinder

                          i just got my first climax grinder an old red dely type
                          it has no hopper can you still get parts for this type
                          of grinder.

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                          • #28
                            Re: Climax Grinder

                            Heres some contact details from one of Andys earlier posts about the grinder above...

                            Climax Trading Pty Ltd
                            Fy 4d/ 6 Albert St Preston 3072
                            (03) 9480 2133

                            Hope that helps...

                            Mal.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: Climax Grinder

                              is this grinder the same type whereas in a supermarket youd buy your bag of beans then grind them up type deal?
                              havent seen one of those in years, remember my mum making me do that for a machine I can only think of was a percolator, tall jug thing with a long metal tube and a coffee basket thing in the top, mind you that was 29 years ago Im recaling from.
                              So many posts here bring up memories of the weirdest thing...

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Climax Grinder


                                Yeah, thats the one Sullo. Pleany of us would have similar 70s memories of a family dinner party that had and burnt orange or bright green fondue-set and a percolator to boil and re-boil the coffee that you freshly ground in the supermarket isle.

                                Boy, they must have sold plenty of the Climax grinders over the years too. They are built like a tank and can take years of use/abuse. As far as I know Climax still produce them today.

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