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portaspresso - Rosco Hand Grinder
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OK, got it sorted, spoke to Ross and he suggested a belt type oil filter wrench, picked one up from Repco in Adelaide, it did the job without effortOriginally posted by Yelta View PostI bought a Rosco hand grinder (for use while travelling) a while back, reasonably happy with it, however, after not using it for about a month have found the grind adjusting ring has locked tight and cannot be moved
, have tried all manner of things to undo it without any luck, any thoughts on the subject, obviously I don't want to resort to methods that will damage the finish.
Re the use of brute force, had over half a dozen "brutes" try to move it, not a snowballs hope in hell.
Alls well that ends well.
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Had a mini hand grinder for over two months now. Flawless tool.
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I have found it difficult to shift the ring on a couple of occasions. Brute force eventually did the trick - as well as not putting too much torque on the ring when I tightened it back up. There is a sweet spot - too much torque and hard to undo, too little and ring comes loose during grinding. I have fairly big and strong hands, it is a rare lid I cannot remove. If you feel you are about to sprain your wrist:
1. put the base in hot water for a couple of minutes and try again, or
2. attempt to tighten the ring up, sometimes this breaks the seal, then loosen, or
3. make up a wooden jig with angled timber pieces and use that to get the grip (useful for very large and/or very tight lids on jars), or
4. use a penetrating liquid on the thread, or
5. absolutely last resort because you will mark the brass - large multi-grips and a vice
As I say, so far my hands have been sufficient.
Best of luck
Peter
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Crikey! 24 hours and no response, surely someone else has been faced with the same problem?
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I bought a Rosco hand grinder (for use while travelling) a while back, reasonably happy with it, however, after not using it for about a month have found the grind adjusting ring has locked tight and cannot be moved
, have tried all manner of things to undo it without any luck, any thoughts on the subject, obviously I don't want to resort to methods that will damage the finish.
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Excellent Thread and a fine little grinder! The photos of grind comparison are wonderful and much appreciated. This looks like my next portable grinder. Right now I have a Pharos, which works well with the ball bearing and catch can MODs, for power failures but it does not fit into a suitcase very well :-)
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Just a quick plug for the Rosco grinder.
I started out with a Kyocera; I used that for a bit more than 6 months and one day came to the realisation that the coffee had lost much of its taste, compared to 6 months ago when I started. I put the Kyocera burrs under a magnifier and noted the teeth looked rounded off, even polished, presumably where the burrs touch each other when the grind is finished and the burrs are no longer forced apart by beans.
I then got me a stainless steel version which has identical inner working parts to the Kyocera, but the fact that the burrs tend to touch each other when the grind is finished bothered me a great deal. So I finally realised that the Rosco Mini was the only one for me.
I ordered one and when I got it, immediately noted the huge difference in grinding action between the Kyocera and the Rosco. Where the Kyocera or its equivalent would take 3-4 minutes to grind through 20g, the Rosco does it in say 40s. The feeling one gets with the Kyocera is that the beans are drawn a few at a time into the burr jaws where they are crushed rather than cut. The Rosco correspondingly offers a great deal more resistance and instead of the intermittent crushing sound from the Kyocera, it emits a continuous grinding/cutting sound. The keenness of the burr jaws evidently captures the beans far more efficiently, grinding wholesale lots instead of almost one-by-one as in the Kyocera. The Kyocera takes so long that very soon I was driving it with a battery screwdriver. The Rosco does not need this, not worth bothering when it does the job so efficiently. (Ross Spencer did point out that high speed operation with a drill or such is definitely not recommended and would not be covered if anything wore out or broke.)
Interestingly, the Rosco grinding time seems independent of the speed at which the handle is rotated. When turning it slowly, the beans seem to be captured more efficiently and grinding resistance increases a lot. But when turning it faster, I think the beans bounce around a bit more and so are drawn into the jaws at a lower rate, so less grinding resistance results but the time duration is about the same. So do it slow for 40s or so and you almost need a shower. But speed it up a bit and you get through the 40s without breaking a sweat.
I tend to use this effect as a sort of party trick -
Me, to unsuspecting victim: "Here, have a go at grinding."
Victim: "Wow that is HARD!"
Me, turning it faster than victim: "Oh I didn't notice."
I have been using it for about 5 months or so, grinding 20+ grams 2-3 times a day every day. It still operates like new, as expected from this superb quality instrument. It never needs adjustment other than perhaps tweaking when changing beans.
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Re: portaspresso - Rosco Hand Grinder
I must say Andy,
You have some cool toys...
Id love to see your toy-room
Thanks so much for that report, it was really interesting...
Fair Weather be with you...
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Re: portaspresso - Rosco Hand Grinder
Sorry for the delay, getting ready to return to my jobas a marine engineer.
The feel is quite different between the ceramic grinders and the, still new, steel burr Roscos.Originally posted by 1B101E14333932353636295A0 link=1317732517/78#78 date=1341404494Great test Andy,
I browse on my iPad to chill out in the evening and any link to your hosted photos doesnt work, never mind.
Just wondering if youd like to draw any comparison or conclusion from your testing?
Id certainly like to hear your opinion on a comparison?
Cheers,
OG
The Roscos feel like they are "cutting" the beans, a very subjective feeling, as apposed to the ceramic burr grinders the feel like they are "crushing" the beans.
But to move on to measurable things, I found my USB microscope to try and get some finer images.
All the following are at 50X
Mazzer mini.

Large Kyocera grinder

Cheap hand grinder

Small Kyocera grinder

Mini Rosco grinder set at 0.8mm

Hario grinder

Rosco grinder, set at 0.8mm

Rosco grinder, set at 0.2mm, turkish type grind

I think that there is evidence of more small pieces associated with the "non-sharp" or ceramic burr grinders, and with the Mazzer mini which is steel flat burrs, so who knows?
The "feel" of grinding differs with the Roscos seemingly cutting through any "tough" beans, while the same situation with the Kyocera will see the body of the grinder slipping in the hand, until the bean is crushed.
Another feel difference is when the last bean is ground, the Roscos seem to go from "Normal" handle resistance to free spinning in less than a turn, while the ceramic burr grinders seem to tapper off over at least three turns.
The last bean has never been a problem with the Roscos, but a bean of just the "wrong" size has been a problem with the ceramic burr grinders often, with the learnt fix being to turn the ceramic burr grinder handle very slowly to "persuade" the bean to enter the burrs.
I am taking my mini Rosco to sea with me, so time will tell, but I have just returned from a family trip to Brisbane, and the Rossa Rosco combination performed well.
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Re: portaspresso - Rosco Hand Grinder
The cutter halves can be adjusted so that they touch, so you can grind as fine as you wish. Also, the burrs are hardened steel like those used in most commercial grinders, except they are smaller. The cutting faces are uninterrupted to the edge, which allows a cleaner cutting action for fine grinds. The ceramic burrs Ive seen have a lip on the bottom that prevents very fine precision grinding. Not sure if theyre all like that, but it is something you might want to check if you go for a grinder that uses a ceramic burr.Originally posted by 615D544C59380 link=1317732517/80#80 date=1341448861Im seriously contemplating a Rosco grinder for Turkish coffee, will it grind fine enough?????
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Re: portaspresso - Rosco Hand Grinder
Im seriously contemplating a Rosco grinder for Turkish coffee, will it grind fine enough?????
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Re: portaspresso - Rosco Hand Grinder
It is a bit hard to see much difference, what is your conclusion? it would be interesting to compare the taste too.Originally posted by 4B646E73274D6B6E6D6F7E0A0 link=1317732517/77#77 date=1341353115This thread made me think on how the various hand grinders I owned compared, so I made an attempt at doing a side by side test.
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Re: portaspresso - Rosco Hand Grinder
Great test Andy,
I browse on my iPad to chill out in the evening and any link to your hosted photos doesnt work, never mind.
Just wondering if youd like to draw any comparison or conclusion from your testing?
Id certainly like to hear your opinion on a comparison?
Cheers,
OG
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Re: portaspresso - Rosco Hand Grinder
This thread made me think on how the various hand grinders I owned compared, so I made an attempt at doing a side by side test.
All grinders were set at about 0.8-0.9mm, which is the setting I use on both my Rosco grinders, incidentally the Roscos are the only grinders that the grind gap is directly measurable, all the others are empirical.
If you click on the image, you should end up at my photo hosting site, Smugmug, and if you change the resolution to "original" you should see the differences.
All grinders were fed two beans of Oomph beanfair, except the Mazzer mini, which is loaded with Oomph Romeo, and was just given a brief grind.
All photos were taken on my G12 Canon.
The grinders, from left, small Kyocera, Hario, Large Kyocera, Mini Rosco, Rosco, Cheap hand.

Rosco, steel burr.



Mini Rosco, steel burr.



Small Kyocera, ceramic burr.



Large Kyocera, ceramic burr.



Hario, ceramic burr.



Cheap hand, steel burr.



Cheap hand grinder set course.

Mazzer mini, steel burr.

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