Coffee grinder build?

[Chris152]

After reading some of the posts in the recent coffee bean thread, I decided I need to give beans a go. A good quality grinder is expensive, so I think I might have a go at making one. First step was to buy a cheap hand grinder to see how they work. I got this one a couple of days ago.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B083QC7G51?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
It actually does a decent job of grinding a fine powder but is painfully slow. So I end up attaching a drill to the top and it still takes a good while.
The build quality is just about ok, tho you could cut yourself on the edges as the metal is so thin.

So - my plan is to take it apart (once I've used up the bag of beans I bought for testing) and build a nicer one in stainless.

Couple of questions:
1. Has anyone else built one?
2. Is the very slow rate of grinding typical of hand-powered ones, or just this cheap one? If it's typical, I'll make a powered one.
3. Any recommendations on where to buy the burrs from? I see some are very expensive, others not so bad, but I have no idea of quality.

I'll post more once I've made a start.

 

[Etaf]

look forward to seeing it finished - the Burrs are quite an important part of the grinder - rather than the spinning knife things - mine is all part of the coffee system and with a lot of adjustment
How do you adjust the grind - mine has about 20 settings , and i use them all the time between about 4 and 12 depending on the coffee i'm using , even the same fresh 1kg packet needs some adjustment , as used

 

[Chris152]

look forward to seeing it finished - the Burrs are quite an important part of the grinder - rather than the spinning knife things - mine is all part of the coffee system and with a lot of adjustment
How do you adjust the grind - mine has about 20 settings , and i use them all the time between about 4 and 12 depending on the coffee i'm using , even the same fresh 1kg packet needs some adjustment , as used

I think adjustment would be the same as yours, but less precise (no indicators of which setting on this one) - it's a plastic dial/ screw that tightens the cone from beneath. First go, I tried grinding beans at various settings, but it took so long I put the beans in my old, cheap blade-cutting one to break them down initially, then transferred to the grinder to finish. Still took ages!

 

[Beau]

As for is hand grinding slow I would said it doesn't have to be. My folks used to have one of these and it didn't take long to grind the morning coffee https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/35636142...aDDYCvWly-JkYOMR5tpnMqiYoMgf4WscaAm0fEALw_wcB

 

[Etaf]

but it took so long I put the beans in my old, cheap blade-cutting one to break them down initially,

I would not do that personally - you will get over/under extracted coffee and will taste bitter
Mine grinds very quickly - its a SAGE machine (UK) Breville (US)
Maybe its the ceramic burrs - dont know

 

[sploo]

Decent quality burrs are pretty expensive (and they're the "key" to a good grinder).

The Mazzer Super Jolly is a very popular grinder (used in small/medium coffee shops), and they're built like tanks. You can often find a used one on eBay for £150, or much less if it's missing parts that as a home user you don't really need. E.g. this one (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256766170718?_skw=Mazzer+Super+Jolly&itmmeta=01JGK4NK1A0FS2DWDJXEZ2243D&hash=item3bc874d65e:g:tUAAAOSwnItncZM4&itmprp=enc:AQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx+KZ9MfhVJKkxmdZqm3UXpA9NazadXKLZGeCvHLvRlPqAgBkzmqU3VPnhOqrg3wR0f2ZOX+h4SBG0MVL9QgzLeOv08qBn3GvSkI6ACmssaRLzycnaot5uqX47RT7jqnfV35M7d/+j+L2mGmU2oQtSpFQDjoY7sJgQ9krobvDeKpv4FCr3DFtHMTHKyrLhy+azI1+tuueIkeNLE198g36hEWULhlA6xd/XNytKCMctL9wxt0242MYU2agsrntPdjxIhNBgwQ+oFSRF23OPEHyGcdVjUbnfa+HUaKQKQ5SaJ7p5vf41hqRDVA==|tkp:BFBM4rDW5IRl) is almost identical to what I picked up. Remove the front basket and you have the basis of a very capable single dose machine for literally the cost of just a new set of burrs.

 

[sploo]

That's mine; modded for single dose.

After removing the front basket, I added a 3D printed front panel, spout, and shelf. Where the hopper would usually go there's now a TPU (again 3D printed) bellows/cap. The small hole in the spout is for a rocket air blower (or similar).

Put beans in top, grind, a couple of presses of the bellows and a "puff" into the spout hole with the air blower and there's very little retention.

It's basically a DIY copy of Daniel Wong's commercial mod (https://home-doserless.com/)

 

[AJB Temple]

I agree with sploo. Good quality coffee beans are expensive and are wasted if the grind is uneven, too fine or too coarse. Uneven mix doesn't tamp well and the water runs unevenly through the filter basket. Some people get very into this, I don't, but I have learnt that poor grind gives bitter or thin coffee and crema suffers too.

Grind in a proper machine takes maybe 6-10 seconds for an 18gram dose. Especially if you do half and half as many do.

 

[RobinBHM]

That's mine; modded for single dose.

View attachment 195242

After removing the front basket, I added a 3D printed front panel, spout, and shelf. Where the hopper would usually go there's now a TPU (again 3D printed) bellows/cap. The small hole in the spout is for a rocket air blower (or similar).

Put beans in top, grind, a couple of presses of the bellows and a "puff" into the spout hole with the air blower and there's very little retention.

It's basically a DIY copy of Daniel Wong's commercial mod (https://home-doserless.com/)

Ive got a Mazzer mini with an auto doser on it -I need to do something like that.

I bought it years ago but never really got into espresso (Ive an old Fracino Little Gem but it takes far too long to heat up and too massive so its banned to the garden office and never gets used, Im looking at getting a Profitec Go this month and need to sort out the mazzer or buy a new grinder.

 

[Chris152]

Thanks fellas, still mulling this over. If I can, it'll be hand cranked, and it's for a cafetiere (I'm not likely to get the espresso machine working in the near future). Does anyone have a recommendation for a conical grinder that's moderately priced (about £50?) - if I can find the right one, the rest will be made in relation to that.

 

[Jake]

The Hario hand grinders are pretty good, but any hand grinder will take a minute or so to produce 4 cups of filter and cafetiere is less efficient.

I moved on to a Fellow Odes because it is smallish and neat and I don't need espresso/expresso finicketyness of grind because it is a terrible way of making not that good coffee extremely expensively.

 

[sploo]

Ive got a Mazzer mini with an auto doser on it -I need to do something like that.

I bought it years ago but never really got into espresso (Ive an old Fracino Little Gem but it takes far too long to heat up and too massive so its banned to the garden office and never gets used, Im looking at getting a Profitec Go this month and need to sort out the mazzer or buy a new grinder.

I love the Mazzer, despite it (well, coffee in general) being a dusty endeavour.

Being too cheap to buy a "proper" espresso machine (and only drinking one cup a day) I got a used Flair Classic from eBay. IMHO the pressure gauge is a must, and it produces a decent coffee (at least to my admittedly uneducated palate).

Thanks fellas, still mulling this over. If I can, it'll be hand cranked, and it's for a cafetiere (I'm not likely to get the espresso machine working in the near future). Does anyone have a recommendation for a conical grinder that's moderately priced (about £50?) - if I can find the right one, the rest will be made in relation to that.

I believe the KINGrinder range are considered decent. I understand that grinding coffee for espresso is the task that's considered difficult, so if you don't need espresso grinds then you likely have more (suitable) options, as espresso capable grinders tend to be the more expensive models.

 

[Rodpr]

I used to use an old Spong hand grinder which I inherited from my mother. It could produce a pretty fine grind if properly set up - cafetière grind would be straightforward. They can be screwed to the wall or clamped to a worktop and they provide a bit of exercise!