earlds Said:

Hello M,,..Im not sure that my Solis Maestro Plus is the same as your Maestro T classic .If not this may not help..But I use my Maestro for my wifes drip coffee.I have noticed that some store beans come with a great deal of chaff mixed up in them..this is when I get a little mess.But I would try a different brand before taking drastic measures.I havent felt like static is a problem with mine..Home roasting helps of course but you may not want to do that..I think that grinding coffee is going to be a bit messy anyway you slice it.Im sure you will develope a system of controling the mess with practice. Tell me this please..Is the Technivorm as good as they say...Earl D.....

Posted April 29, 2005 link

PJK Said:

Hi M,

Sorry I got a bit distracted by the static talk in Jim's Rocky and what I did to improve mine.  The dosing chamber and doser shaft are parts of the infernal doser on the Rocky.  A canning funnel is a funnel intended for getting fruit into a jar during  canning.  It turns out that it is one of my very useful coffee tools.  I had one modified to fit into my Rocky.

OK back to the Solis.  The grounds hopper which I refered to is the receptical into which the ground coffee falls.

I think you want the inside of that container to be electrically conductive to drain off what charge may be on the coffee grounds.  Covering the outside of the container with foil can make the situation worse since the plastic is a dielectric (insulator).  

I think Jim's suggestion of connecting the foil which is to line the inside of the grounds hopper to the frame of the machine is a good one.  That way the inside of the grounds hopper will be at the same potential as the inerds of the machine.  It may be a bit difficult to do and will make the construction of a metal grounds hopper more attractive.  Also the machine has a two wire cord.  If you connect the now conductive grounds hopper to the inside of the machine you should replace the cord with a three wire cord with the green wire connected to the machine frame.  This is for safety.

I would try lining the inside of the hopper with foil first.  If that makes a sufficient improvment, I wouldn't mess with the inside of the machine.

Phil

Posted April 29, 2005 link

Schwa Said:

I wet my fingers and play with the beans before grinding. Works like a charm.

Posted April 28, 2005 link

PJK Said:

I have pondered this question myself with regards to the *$ grinder which is basicly a Solis166 rebadged.  What I was leaning to was to cut some rectangular sections out of 1/8" mild steel and braze them together into a rectangular box.  The plastic box in the Solis 166 has a curved front and rear but a rectangular box would fit the cavity in the machine and the grounds would drop into it.

The grounds box on the newer Solis is different.  I don't know if a simple rectangular box will fit without the machine in front of me.

The problem in my *$ isn't all that bad so I never got around to it.  

If I had thought about the sticky back foil at the time I would have done it.

This weekend we are going to my daughter's house where I have a Melitta POC
Van de Graff burr grinder.  This thing is second only to the Braun KMM30 in its ability to spread coffee grounds over the kitchen.  It is also close in its ability to cause hearing loss.
I will take some sticky back aluminum foil and an Exacto knife with me and see if I can civilize the nasty thing.

Phil

Posted April 29, 2005 link