Hi,
I recently posed a query here about my La Marzocco grinder. There was some mild interest shown, and I promised to post a few pics. Here they are with a bit of an explanation.


The main machine body is made of chromed brass (I assume), and weighs in at 20kg.

What really drew me to the machine is that the hopper is made of glass, which can be seen in the above pics, with a polished conical metal portion that the upper burr is bolted to. This can be adjusted by a fine thread to the body.


My query was in regard to the type of burr to use. The old ones are on the left. The old ones have been replaced with Mazzers of nearly identical size. The difference in grind ability was remarkable. Instead of it sounding like a hammer mill, the blades grind the coffee with a seductive swishing sound...all in about a quarter of the time it took for the old blades, and a more consistent particle size to boot. Gawd, they mustve been blunt!

One of the interesting features of this unit is the left hand threaded spindle lock nut. Its not just a locknut! LM went to the effort of making a scroll on the outer surface to encourage the beans to make their way smoothly down to the burrs. I love hidden touches like this in a bit of gear.

The chute is also chromed brass, but was unpolished and dull. The grounds hang up in there a bit, so I attempted to address that by laboriously polishing the chute. I then applied a coat of Dry-Glide, a teflon lubricating treatment. Dont worry, it doesnt pollute the beans. Its more like a laquer that leaves a micro thin layer than a standard teflon lube oil; fully cured after 24hrs. All to no avail, the grounds still stay in there! Ive modified a nylon spatula for that purpose; seems to do the job well, but Id be interested to hear of other work-arounds.

Well, thats a short summary of the machine; I hope there are others out there who like the older stuff as much as I do.
Regards,
Phil
I recently posed a query here about my La Marzocco grinder. There was some mild interest shown, and I promised to post a few pics. Here they are with a bit of an explanation.


The main machine body is made of chromed brass (I assume), and weighs in at 20kg.

What really drew me to the machine is that the hopper is made of glass, which can be seen in the above pics, with a polished conical metal portion that the upper burr is bolted to. This can be adjusted by a fine thread to the body.


My query was in regard to the type of burr to use. The old ones are on the left. The old ones have been replaced with Mazzers of nearly identical size. The difference in grind ability was remarkable. Instead of it sounding like a hammer mill, the blades grind the coffee with a seductive swishing sound...all in about a quarter of the time it took for the old blades, and a more consistent particle size to boot. Gawd, they mustve been blunt!

One of the interesting features of this unit is the left hand threaded spindle lock nut. Its not just a locknut! LM went to the effort of making a scroll on the outer surface to encourage the beans to make their way smoothly down to the burrs. I love hidden touches like this in a bit of gear.

The chute is also chromed brass, but was unpolished and dull. The grounds hang up in there a bit, so I attempted to address that by laboriously polishing the chute. I then applied a coat of Dry-Glide, a teflon lubricating treatment. Dont worry, it doesnt pollute the beans. Its more like a laquer that leaves a micro thin layer than a standard teflon lube oil; fully cured after 24hrs. All to no avail, the grounds still stay in there! Ive modified a nylon spatula for that purpose; seems to do the job well, but Id be interested to hear of other work-arounds.

Well, thats a short summary of the machine; I hope there are others out there who like the older stuff as much as I do.
Regards,
Phil

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