nikil511 Senior Member Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 15 Location: Greece,Athens Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat Mar 5, 2011, 12:43pm Subject: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso
Background info: I'm new in this espresso experience, still in the process of understanding how to make a decent cup. Following everybody's advice I went for a grinder, but due to limited budget and even more limited options (here in Greece/Europe) I bought the Bodum Bistro.
It was clear from my first test that the "finest" setting was not fine enough for espresso. See photo, comparing it with typical cheap IKEA espresso, which seems is quite fine for my machine. (IKEA is the dark coffee on the right)
nikil511 Senior Member Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 15 Location: Greece,Athens Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat Mar 5, 2011, 12:56pm Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso
So had to open the grinder and try to modify it so the burrs are as close as possible. First problem was with the screws at the bottom. TORX SCREWDRIVER with the TAMPER PROOF HOLE was required.
I have torx but not the ones with the hole in the middle. So I used an ordinary flat screw driver, twisted it with extra force, and broke the "nipple" in the middle of the screw hence an ordinary torx could be used.
It was abit tricky to take the top of, cause the switch cables (initially) are not long enough, but after applying some force, the cable gets "un-glued" from a middle point, and it becomes long enough to allow removal of top.
nikil511 Senior Member Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 15 Location: Greece,Athens Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat Mar 5, 2011, 1:09pm Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso
(Its difficult to describe the following components due to lack of proper vocabulary/terminology so apologies for that, I will try to give the components descriptive names)
First we see the "top white ring" that controls a safety micro-switch. Underneath is the "nylon inner-threaded ring" that controls the position of the inner-burr.
This ring can be unclipped and rotated so that the starting point is "earlier" I recommend moving it 6 holes to the left, however the mod does not end here! (it actually starts here, cause in order to do that you have to "cut" a few "stopping/obstacle parts"
nikil511 Senior Member Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 15 Location: Greece,Athens Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat Mar 5, 2011, 1:15pm Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso
this is the first "stopping" obstacle (photo) so I had to cut 1-2cm so that the nylon-ring could rotate further, hence move the inner-burr lower (closer to the outer) You can see the part I had to cut, "flying" there, just before removing it
nikil511 Senior Member Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 15 Location: Greece,Athens Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat Mar 5, 2011, 1:25pm Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso
also had to reduce length to this tube cause it was hitting the spring-ball. (I know it does not make sense reading it, but it will once you reach this far :-)
nikil511 Senior Member Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 15 Location: Greece,Athens Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat Mar 5, 2011, 1:41pm Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso
and this is the result. I know its not as fine as the IKEA one, but it is definitely better than when I started. (IKEA is the dark on the left) The grind is not very consistent I guess due to way the inner/top burr is placed in to position. It has a lot of "play", which is not reduced/effected by this mod.
With this mod, my (cheap) espresso machine, gives normal results (30ml at 25sec, with normal tamping)
I played a bit with the grinder while operating, without putting the top back, and it seems that at this settings (moved 6 holes ) it is the tighter it can get, because if I slightly touch/press the top burr while operating, it touches the bottom.
I have this mod about a month now, using it daily, and after inspecting the burrs, I did not see any "damage" so I assume the material is hard enough to work at this setting without self-destroying :-)
I just googled "mod for a bodum bistro" and your mod is at the top of the search results. Based on that alone, I would say it will be very useful for many people in the coming years.
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