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I give up too, maybe wheat might work to clean the rice out of the burrs better, like the garbage flour and wheat husks I took out of my Climax when I got it :
Ok, hoping now that all the BS and the jokes are over, here is my own opinion on this
I am of the opinion it is not a good idea to give members of the general public schematic diagrams that will help them to get into a piece of design engineering and either electrocute themselves or wreck the thing putting it back together, not to mention losing parts or ending up at the end with some parts left over or as has been seen in other threads, snapping things off.
I am of the opinion that members of the general public shouldnt be encouraged to pull these pieces of design engineering apart including taking the top plate off for internal cleaning. God knows enough of them have cross threaded the thing trying to put it back on afterwards, and many thereafter never seem to be able to find the "right" grind again because they dont know enough about the black art before delving inside of the equipment.
How many times have we heard things like....."I just bought this great (insert here machine or grinder) and want to know where / how to start stripping the thing". It is often their first machine, they dont even know how to use it yet or even understand the principles of use and set up, and already they are going to pull it down......
In home use I do not *keep* beans in the hopper as in to empty a bag full of beans in and use it up over time. I just put enough beans in there for a couple of coffees at a time. The grinder then runs out of coffee frequently enough.
When the grinder has spun out all remaining loose grinds, all I use is a small paint brush to brush around inside the throat, then hit it with a vacuum cleaner both from the throat, and from the bottom outlet, and again use the small paint brush or similar to brush grinds away.
"Build up" when using a grinder in this way is minimal, and any grinds that do stick in the nooks and crannies inside the grinder in low volume home use DO NOT I think in most cases affect your cupping pleasure unless possibly you also go by the name "Len Evans". Common sense dictates if they are stuck in there, that means they are not coming out with your fresh grinds ergo are not ending up in your cuppa.
Dont let whats going on inside your brain (fueled by a lot of stuff read in these forums) affect what your taste buds think they are tasting.
Yes when a grinder has had little attention over a period of years or has been bought second hand and is well encrusted, more muscle is required BUT.......not much more than I have described & usually to remove caked gum from the inlet throat by careful scraping and then vacuum out, and often enough to also clean out the dosing chamber if one is fitted. I still do not recommend members of the general public with little to no expertise in the field to go pulling the top off the grinder and you will find that the greatest majority of readers in these forums, fall into that category. If you have had a win and managed to "steal" an old commercial grinder for very little money in some evil site and it looks like its been dragged out of the bottom of the harbour, then maybe you should be getting it professonally serviced. Yes it will cost you but...
Rice....I dont think so.
Grindz.....if you want to atleast it is a proprietary product that is marketed for the purpose and therefore is "safe" to use.
There is enough BS on the broad topics of coffee and coffee equipment out there, to sink a battle ship ;D
Rgeardz to all,
Attilio
very first CS site sponsor
Originally posted by 0C382F39221509252C2C2F2F4A0 link=1292672723/18#18 date=1293141965
I am of the opinion it is not a good idea to give members of the general public schematic diagrams that will help them to get into a piece of design engineering and either electrocute themselves or wreck the thing putting it back together, not to mention losing parts or ending up at the end with some parts left over or as has been seen in other threads, snapping things off.
Ill have to respectfully disagree with you there.
As a member of the general public (MGP) myself, I have found schematic diagrams downloaded from the web to be invaluable when working on many pieces of design engineering. Id certainly have spent much longer dismantling and possibly broken several household appliances without at least basic guidance from the web.
Reassembly is usually far more straightforward than initial disassembly as by that time us MGPs have some previous experience with the item concerned. Many items are designed to be assembled easily, but difficult to take apart, for legitimate safety and manufacturing reasons.
How often have we read on forums such as this, complaints from MGPs who took their (insert here machine or grinder) to an appliance repair shop only to be told it was user error or everything is now fixed, we had to clean/replace XYZ and pay large sums of money only to find it is no better than before, or in some cases worse. They then ask for help and are pleasantly surprised to find they can fix it themselves with little effort and sometimes without even opening the case
Originally posted by 0C382F39221509252C2C2F2F4A0 link=1292672723/18#18 date=1293141965
When the grinder has spun out all remaining loose grinds, all I use is a small paint brush to brush around inside the throat, then hit it with a vacuum cleaner both from the throat, and from the bottom outlet, and again use the small paint brush or similar to brush grinds away.
I recently bought a used commercial grinder and the first thing I did was take it apart - it was truly disgusting inside and the grind exit path needed a good soaking in hot soapy water (all polycarbonate components), the rest needed an internal vacuum/blow clean and a scrub with a modified toothbrush (bent head).
Interestingly, I looked at the grind chamber and decided that spinning it by hand with a vacuum running on the exit path would clean it well enough and disassembling that part before I knew the machine in detail would be too risky. So at least some MGPs have common sense and I suspect, from reading CS, that there are a significant number of us.
Like all else - it is a matter of personal responsibility and taking reasonable safety precautions. Sure there are some that will break things - Ive done it myself on occasions, but if you break it, you fix it, or pay someone to do it and (hopefully) learn from the experience.
Originally posted by 0C382F39221509252C2C2F2F4A0 link=1292672723/18#18 date=1293141965
There is enough BS on the broad topics of coffee and coffee equipment out there, to sink a battle ship
Im in full agreement there. Always read advice on the net with a highly critical eye.
A well thought out reply Who me? and there will always be repairers that occasionally get it wrong, as there will always be a small percentage of DIY home tinkerers.
The problem in these forums in my opinion, is that a small number of home DIY tinkerers encourage thousands upon thousands of readers to get into stuff that they really shouldnt, and there is an awful lot of encouragement for people to go much much further in many instances than they really need to.....
The one place I really see that behaviour on these forums is people encouraging use of coretto roasters. Messing around with heat guns is every bit as risky as opening up a grinder or espresso machine.
Im not sure how much the diy stuff on internet forums affects behaviour though, usually it takes a certain kind of person to research in that kind of depth and then act upon it.
There does seems to be a tendency for people to get a bit carried away and do more tweaking than is really necessary, but if they are having fun and not harming anyone else, who is to say that is wrong.
Originally posted by 49414F47455F5F434F472C0 link=1292672723/23#23 date=1293330575
The one place I really see that behaviour on these forums is people encouraging use of coretto roasters. Messing around with heat guns is every bit as risky as opening up a grinder or espresso machine.
Im not sure how much the diy stuff on internet forums affects behaviour though, usually it takes a certain kind of person to research in that kind of depth and then act upon it.
There does seems to be a tendency for people to get a bit carried away and do more tweaking than is really necessary, but if they are having fun and not harming anyone else, who is to say that is wrong.
As you say, food for thought.
The issue is that MANY over estimate their Skills and often are not aware of many of the risks!
Problem is that some of the risks involved, can mean death and or serious injury.
Even something as simple as drilling a hole in a wall can kill. If you failed to check wiring locations etc. Friends put up some picture hangers with a toggle type screw system for plaster board. Their main power for their Entertainment system was then found to be not working.
Some many $$$ later, it was found that the toggle had caught and damaged the wiring in the wall.
OR
Two large a charge and big nail gun and firing into light pine framing into a course type cement slab with some good size pebbles... He was lucky; the nail bounced and came back up. Ended up in his upper inner thigh and just missed a number of vital bits.
Assumptions and a LITTLE knowledge can be very dangerous....
Originally posted by 1D323B392E113D323D3B39313932285C0 link=1292672723/24#24 date=1293336180
Two large a charge and big nail gun and firing into light pine framing into a course type cement slab with some good size pebbles...He was lucky;the nail bounced and came back up. Ended up in his upper inner thigh and just missed a number of vital bits.
Been there, done that.
Well not done it myself but been in the firing line.
One day at work with dad (a builder) we were having lunch in a garage of a block of flats under construction when a nail came through the wall and ricocheted all around.
Luckily it missed us all, including the boss.
A very large building company today and many iconic Sydney building may never have come into existence if that nail had hit the boss.
Originally posted by 4C786F79625549656C6C6F6F0A0 link=1292672723/18#18 date=1293141965
Ok, hoping now that all the BS and the jokes are over, here is my own opinion on this
I am of the opinion it is not a good idea to give members of the general public schematic diagrams that will help them to get into a piece of design engineering and either electrocute themselves or wreck the thing putting it back together, not to mention losing parts or ending up at the end with some parts left over or as has been seen in other threads, snapping things off.
I am of the opinion that members of the general public shouldnt be encouraged to pull these pieces of design engineering apart including taking the top plate off for internal cleaning. God knows enough of them have cross threaded the thing trying to put it back on afterwards, and many thereafter never seem to be able to find the "right" grind again because they dont know enough about the black art before delving inside of the equipment.
How many times have we heard things like....."I just bought this great (insert here machine or grinder) and want to know where / how to start stripping the thing". It is often their first machine, they dont even know how to use it yet or even understand the principles of use and set up, and already they are going to pull it down......
This seems very condescending. Firstly, I dont think that the frequenters of this board count as the general public. The general public will buy a coffee machine from the Good Guys, and when it breaks, theyll throw it away. (More likely, theyll just stop using it and it will just use up space). I personally consider the fact that these machines are so easy to take apart to be a feature. Ever since I was a child, I have taken apart everything I come across. VCRs, walkmans, CD players, radio controlled cars ... anything which had screws really. And then Ive put them back together again, having learned something about how they work, and how to fix certain problems that occur with them. Ive had Silvia in pieces several times, (PID, leaky pump, replacing steam wand o-rings etc) and much prefer to fix something myself (and gain an understanding of how something works) than just take it to the shop to get it fixed. Dismantling the machine is my decision, and if I cross thread the grinder putting it back together, then its my fault. Having schematics available though or instructions / walkthroughs can only help, else I am going at it blind.
I am sure I am not the only person who likes to take things apart. In doing so I acknowledge that yeah if I break it then its my own fault ... but even if I do break something, well its a learning experience.
The post was never intended to be condescending and it and the other post I placed a couple of replies further down are entirely self explanatory. My ideas, opinions and thoughts are tempered with actual industry experience, and usually adopt the KISS principle. I believe in KISS and it usually helps people not to get themselves into deeper trouble than they can handle. For every person like you that may be capable of tinkering effectively, there are thousands of readers here that shouldnt do so but are egged on to do so through what they read in these open forums.
The references to BS were directed squarely at the tangential discussions re using rice and the petty level (my opinion) they had reached in the discussion. Also, the rice thing is a great example of BS thats done the rounds of the internet (courtesy of endless regurgitation by people with keyboard experience) for so long that it somehow assumes "fact" status OR is misinterpreted in
"the translation". I wouldnt put rice in my grinder.
After that, these are all opinions in a public open forum
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