What's this grinder?

[cbrshadow]

A friend of mine is considering buying a grinder but isn't sure what it is based on the picture. I believe it's a Compak K6 with doser and maybe a tamper?
Can you help identify it? Also, what would be a reasonable price for this?

[noidle22]

Looks like a K6, might be Wega branded one. I had one at my shop a while ago from a local pub, needed new burrs. Standard 64mm burrs fit, they were around $75 I think.

They retailed at around $1000 new so expect to pay somewhat close to that depending on it's condition and history.

[cbrshadow]

Thanks Noidle! I can't find anything online that has the same tamper connection in the front. It looks like you dose and then slide the portafilter back to the tamper area and press the top. Was yours this way? Strange that there aren't any to be found online with this design!

[TC]

It's a very, very old (and filthy) Compak- probably K6.

What's it worth? Close to nothing. A new one retails at $915. I wouldn't pay more than a 1/4-1/3 of that. It's probably been 'round the clock 50 times.

[cbrshadow]

Yikes - good info Chris thanks for the heads up! I was wondering why I couldn't find anything about it online. Must be too old! I'll tell my mate to hold off on this one.

[noidle22]

Yes the tamper is unique, looks like it can be turned around to suit a different basket size, that's pretty cool.
The tamper isn't there to replace a proper tamper, it can be used to settle the grounds into the basket so you can dose a bit more.

If he can pick it up for a hundred bucks or something, as long as Chris's assessment is correct and I'm going to assume it is, it could be a fun project. Alternatively, if he doesn't want it and it's still cheap, I would be interested depending on the location.

[cleanCup]

Could it possibly be a K5 I think they have a steped grind adjustment ?

[TampIt]

Yes the tamper is unique, looks like it can be turned around to suit a different basket size, that's pretty cool.
The tamper isn't there to replace a proper tamper, it can be used to settle the grounds into the basket so you can dose a bit more.

If he can pick it up for a hundred bucks or something, as long as Chris's assessment is correct and I'm going to assume it is, it could be a fun project. Alternatively, if he doesn't want it and it's still cheap, I would be interested depending on the location.

Hi noidle22

At the risk of showing my age, that tamper arrangement was an aftermarket one which fitted a lot of 70's / 80's commercial grinders. The only time I saw a new one, it had a few tamper disks of different sizes (49 / 52 / 58 from memory) to suit different baskets. FWIW, I think it was well made and quite expensive. Nothing to do with the rest of the grinder as such.

Also, there were many different brands / similar looking grinders around at that time. Generally solid enough and with a "universal supplier" of spares (may be a different story nowadays) so it was easy and cheap to keep them going. If you can still get spares, probably overkill for home use.

TampIt

[noidle22]

Hi noidle22

At the risk of showing my age, that tamper arrangement was an aftermarket one which fitted a lot of 70's / 80's commercial grinders. The only time I saw a new one, it had a few tamper disks of different sizes (49 / 52 / 58 from memory) to suit different baskets. FWIW, I think it was well made and quite expensive. Nothing to do with the rest of the grinder as such.

Also, there were many different brands / similar looking grinders around at that time. Generally solid enough and with a "universal supplier" of spares (may be a different story nowadays) so it was easy and cheap to keep them going. If you can still get spares, probably overkill for home use.

TampIt

This one might have been modified to fit the custom tamper then as it doesn't look much like a 1970's or 80's model.
Not a lot going on in a grinder, can't imagine it'd be too hard or expensive to repair with the right suppliers and skills.

Could it possibly be a K5 I think they have a steped grind adjustment ?

Hard to tell from the photo but it looks stepless and somewhat different to the K5.

[ausdb]

I looked at an old Compak a while ago, the data plate had been cleaned off long ago but it was stepped and had a push down tab for the grind adjustment lock on the left side. Maybe this one is similar? Btw that one was going for$100 if you want any idea of used prices.

[MorganGT]

Compaks of this shape are different from the newer, rounder bodied models.
I know burrs for the current model K8 do not fit the older K8, and I suspect the same is true of the K6 but cannot be sure since I haven't serviced a K6 that old for quite some time.
The doser mechanism is also different, and parts aren't interchangeable - a while ago I had to repair an older K6 where the doser handle did not spring back after use, and I had to modify a spring for a Rossi grinder to do the job, as a Compak spring was entirely the wrong shape to do the job.