mattscottoline Senior Member Joined: 9 Oct 2011 Posts: 7 Location: Philadelphia Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Oct 9, 2011, 3:45pm Subject: Broken Hario Mini Mill?
Hey guys,
I just signed up here, though I've been reading for a while as I got deeper and deeper into my coffee brewing mania. I did have a question though.
I have been using a Hario Mini Mill for all of my home grinding (using it for a v60 02) for the past year or so.
This morning, while I was grinding, I felt the grinder kind of lock up, and it stopped working. I emptied the beans and attempted to loosen the burr, but instead the plastic nut just unscrewed right off, and the burr itself stayed tight. It seems immovable at this point.
Glancing down into the burrs, I can't make out any large object lodged inside or anything like that. I just can't even get the thing to come apart like it normally would had I removed the nut.
Any ideas? I've googled extensively and found no mentions of anything like this (or of these really breaking to begin with).
Posted Mon Oct 10, 2011, 4:57am Subject: Re: Broken Hario Mini Mill?
That's the first I've seen it completely lock, but I had something similar when I had a small (~1mm) stone get into the burrs. I wonder if this is what's happened.
I simply cranked the opposite direction (counterclockwise) and disassembled it to find the pebble, but I think you said the plastic nut came off? I think you simply tried to remove the burr but if it's a pebble the burrs are mechanically locked together - you'll have to "unscrew" the burrs by reversing the direction of cranking. Turn it upside down when you do this, if it dislodges any debris, you'll want it to come out the input part of the burrs.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
mattscottoline Senior Member Joined: 9 Oct 2011 Posts: 7 Location: Philadelphia Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Mon Oct 10, 2011, 7:24am Subject: Re: Broken Hario Mini Mill?
Thanks for the reply. I'll give that a shot.
I reversed cranked for a bit yesterday, but not upside down.
Basically the wingnut you usually use to adjust the grind just comes off, and the burrs don't react. However, they do move when I spin the handle like I do normally when grinding. They just will not open or close anymore, and when I put beans in, nothing grinds.
What an odd problem. It's also a bummer because this is my only home grinder, so right now I am coffee-less. Which obviously is a terrible thing.
Posted Tue Oct 11, 2011, 5:27am Subject: Re: Broken Hario Mini Mill?
Ok, so how far can you disassemble it?
Can you get the central shaft out or is that locked in?
Any pics you can post?
Whatever you do, don't throw it away if you decide to replace it. If all attempts to unlock it fail, I'll take the mill and see what I can do (I'll pay for postage).
I just looked at mine this morning. Remove the tri-wing nut, and if I understand you correctly the center shaft will turn but the burr will not, right?
I can't figure out how this happens, the center burr is keyed to the shaft - unless the plastic center clip for the burr is completely rounded out.
Can you get a couple of drift pins and try and "tap" the center burr out the bottom? If/when you do this, try to do it by applying a bit of counter spin. (yes, the ever-present percussive maintenance)
It's likely you have some sort of debris stuck and it's locked the two burrs together - just can't figure out why you can spin the shaft but not the burrs. If I lock my burrs together, the center shaft becomes completely immobile.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
mattscottoline Senior Member Joined: 9 Oct 2011 Posts: 7 Location: Philadelphia Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Tue Oct 11, 2011, 7:55am Subject: Re: Broken Hario Mini Mill?
Okay, so upon your advice, I used the "pin" method, and I managed to loosen the inner burrs, and take the grinder apart. There was no visible debris really, but I gave it a cleaning, and put it back together. I reattached it with the wingnut, and it seemed okay.
The only strange thing I noticed, however, was that it no longer "clicked" when tightening/loosening the burrs. I assumed I must have just messed something up while I was hitting it to loosen it before.
But when I just tried to grind a few beans as a test run, it has the same problem again. I believe what is happening is that turning the crank to grind the beans is just tightening the burrs. So as soon as I begin to grind, the burrs just tighten and seal together. Does that sound possible?
I could take pictures if you'd like, but I'm not sure what to focus on.
Any advice or ideas after hearing this? I am positive this tightening has been the problem all along, I just didn't have the perspective on it in the beginning to identify this.
Posted Wed Oct 12, 2011, 5:05am Subject: Re: Broken Hario Mini Mill?
I *think* I might know what's going on.
If somehow the center burr is no longer "locked" to the center shaft, then once it gets resistance, it will simply screw in the wing nut (making it tighten up to zero de-clicks). I think it's a good possibility your nylon clip on the center burr is worn out (the black plastic clip with the key slots in it). Or maybe the keyway part is actually broken.
Another possibility is that the little nubs on the plastic part of the center clip are worn (the part that creates the adjustment "clicks"), but usually the fact that the center burr is supposed to be locked to the center shaft is enough to make this not an issue.
The spring - you do have one, right? You might try "stretching" it to increase the force that pushes the center burr out along the shaft.
Unfortunately, there is no way to get replacement parts for these things. You can try disassembling the mill completely.
the picture is labeled with all the components. It shows the center burr, but without the nylon portion removed - try popping it out and seeing if it is somehow broken or inop. The center spring in the picture is still on the shaft in the black hopper (with the arrows showing the bearings are part of the assembly). This provides force for the wing nut to work against.
I guess in fooling with it, I'm having a hard time seeing how the motion of the center burr can be separated from the motion of the tri-wing nut.
I'll have to dig up exploded pictures of my HMMS - might take a couple of days.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
mattscottoline Senior Member Joined: 9 Oct 2011 Posts: 7 Location: Philadelphia Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat Oct 15, 2011, 8:02am Subject: Re: Broken Hario Mini Mill?
I was having a hard time even getting it opened again.
I think I am about ready to just give up on the thing. I've been having to use an old electric blade grinder in the meantime, which is obviously not so great.
I am not sure what my next grinder will be. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
I'm not opposed to another hand grinder, but I would like something where I can do a bit more at once. Maybe the larger Hario model?
Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011, 7:44am Subject: Re: Broken Hario Mini Mill?
I sent an email - first, don't throw the mill away if you give up on it. I need an extra set of burrs for some puttering around.
I can't comment extensively on the Hario Skerton - I don't own one, and I've only tried it in a coffee supply shop around here, it seems to suffer from same grind inconsistency as unmodifed Hario Mini Mill Slim. I have stuck with my Mini Mill Slim.
If you didn't have an issue with the Hario Mini Mill, you probably won't have an issue with the Skerton, and the throughput is a bit better. The one I used didn't have a "lid", so there was a bit of tossed broken beans out the top. Not a major issue, but it didn't look like it had a lid like the Hario Mini Mill.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
jpender Senior Member Joined: 11 Jul 2011 Posts: 402 Location: California Expertise: I like coffee
Grinder: Kyocera CM-50 Vac Pot: S/S Moka Pot Drip: Aeropress
Posted Wed Oct 19, 2011, 1:35pm Subject: Re: Broken Hario Mini Mill?
Netphilosopher Said:
The one I used didn't have a "lid", so there was a bit of tossed broken beans out the top. Not a major issue, but it didn't look like it had a lid like the Hario Mini Mill.
I have the Kyocera CM-50 which appears to be identical to the Hario Skerton. Mine doesn't have a lid either so I made one out of a thin piece of cardboard with a slit so I could remove it when cleaning the grinder without having to take off the grinder handle. The lid is sized to "float" so I can pull up one side to add beans. It's a little cheesy but it works.
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