Posted Sat Apr 28, 2012, 9:26am Subject: Fiorenzato T-80 Parts
I was lucky enough to find a Fiorenzato T-80 on Craigslist for $149, even though it was far away the gentleman agreed to take Paypal and ship it for me. I am beyond excited. After reading posts on here till my eyeballs wanted to fall out I still didn't have a pat answer as to which one was the favorite so I picked one I really loved the looks of and started searching.
Now I want to admit, I have never done much with grinders (my claim to fame was the mod on the Cuisinart) no laughing please.
This one coming is in pretty rough cosmetic condition and I know will need the burrs replaced along with a new doser container and new feet so I started searching for parts. Stephano has the burrs but I didn't see anything else.
I found all the parts on Cafe Parts but it left a really sour taste in my mouth that they wanted over $14 to ship a set of burrs and 5 tiny rubber feet. That would pretty much negate any other savings on those items.
Does anyone know of a source for parts for my new baby? I'm sure I will need more but won't know until it gets here and looked into.
Also, while I'm here, does anyone know of a source for parts on the old Quickmills? I REALLY love the way they look with the glass hopper.
If you want to experiment a bit, I made a few simple mods to my T-80 and it now retains very few grinds.
The main problems I had was that the lower burr has a large space underneath that will pack up with grinds (a lot of them). I got some large washers at the hardware store that would just fit in the large hole center of the burr. I stacked those up under the center bolt (bolt that holds the burr carrier to the motor shaft) and now no grinds can get underneath the burr. It also gave the whole beans a smooth path into the burrs.
Another problem was that the whole beans (and partially cracked beans) will bounce around if you single dose. If you plan to leave the hopper full, this won't be a problem. But if you want to dump in one dose worth of beans this is something that will be a bother and I have a simple fix for that.
The last issue is that the space in the grind chamber is HUGE and the blades that sweep the grind chamber don't come very close to the walls or floor or top of the grind chamber so a lot of grinds will get stuck there. I fixed that by gluing some small cardstock paddles (I cut a business card) onto the sweepers so they sweep the grind chamber really well now.
The doser sweeps really cleanly ... so not much needed there ... but it does throw to the left like the Mazzers do. I used some epoxy putty to re-shape the exit of the doser and it now doses centered.
Posted Sat Apr 28, 2012, 12:47pm Subject: Re: Fiorenzato T-80 Parts
Thank you so very much, those sound like simple fixes for really frustrating problems. I will absolutely do them as well.
I will be single dosing but I am considering an alternative hopper. I have seen pics of someone using a thermal tumbler and I was thinking, why not a stainless tea holder? The lid is very easy and it will shorten it a lot. I'm still not quite convinced though.
My next thought was a storage jar that will fit from the hobby supply. Depending on the size I have diamond hole drills from the bathroom tile job. Any other ideas?
Posted Sun Apr 29, 2012, 8:47am Subject: Re: Fiorenzato T-80 Parts
This is what I'm using now. I got it at Chipotle (take away salsa or guacamole) but most fast food places have these in various sizes.
It is glued with a tiny bit of clear epoxy at the bottom and the bottom is cut out.
Originally I cut down the top until it would just slide into the hopper.... that way I used the hopper but the slick sides of this plastic funnel prevented any beans from sticking on the ledge going into the grind chamber (you'll see, the first time you try single dosing from the hopper, you'll have several beans and broken beans sitting on that ledge). With the little plastic funnel I would single dose into the hopper, then slide the release at the bottom of the hopper to let the beans drop down into the funnel and into the grind chamber and then slide it closed again. The beans then would hop around (popcorn-ing) and hit that sliding door so they couldn't jump back into the hopper (maybe that's why they call it a hop-per? hehe).
But then I realized since I always single dose, why not just use the lid on the plastic funnel? So I glued in a new funnel and didn't cut this one down. Sadly, I have not been able to find a size that allows me to do both - to use the little lid and that is still small enough (without cutting) to fit inside the hopper throat for those rare times when I want to make many espressos.
Posted Sun Apr 29, 2012, 9:18am Subject: Re: Fiorenzato T-80 Parts
Here is what my grind chamber looks like. Note the washers in the center of the lower burr. Note the (very old and grimy - probably due to be replaced except still working great - two years of use) card-stock paddles on the sweepers. Also notice how few grinds are remaining - this is after grinding single dose shots.
Prior to the paddles there would have been grinds caked on the walls and bottom of the chamber and also on the underside of the upper burr carrier (the adjuster). With these mods it sweeps very clean and I only need to brush a few grinds out of the chute into the doser to get the full weight back that I put in.
There are some grinds packed around the three screw heads and in the screw head slots. But otherwise pretty clean in there.
Posted Sun Apr 29, 2012, 9:26am Subject: Re: Fiorenzato T-80 Parts
That picture is invaluable! I had a good idea about the washers but I was imagining the paddles as MUCH bigger.
I am on ebay right now trying to find a nice hand blown bottle that I can cut and use for the hopper. Trying for octagonal to match the body. Cut the neck down and cut off the bottom. Has anyone tried that with a wet saw?
I am so excited for it to get here, not till Friday the tracking says.
Posted Sun Apr 29, 2012, 9:45am Subject: Re: Fiorenzato T-80 Parts
The local hardware store had a section with bulk screws/nuts/washers in sorted bins (rather than just sealed bags like smaller hardware stores). I found these washers as "Fender Washers" and they were a perfect fit, a little tight so I just barely had to sand the edge a tiny bit until they would fit inside the burr. Take your old burr with you to the hardware store to get the fit. I can't remember if I used two or three washers to get high enough.
Posted Sun Apr 29, 2012, 9:52am Subject: Re: Fiorenzato T-80 Parts
TamiP Said:
I am on ebay right now trying to find a nice hand blown bottle that I can cut and use for the hopper. Trying for octagonal to match the body. Cut the neck down and cut off the bottom. Has anyone tried that with a wet saw?
I would wait until you see the grinder in action. It really "popcorns" a lot! It works the best with the hopper filled so the weight of the beans above keeps the beans in the grind chamber. When you single dose, the beans will jump around for a really long time ... the last two beans will dance around and around for ages before they finally go through the grinding burrs.
The stock hopper works very well because it has the sliding door at the bottom so the beans can't jump very high.
Even with that tiny hopper I show in the picture .. the beans jump around enough to be annoying. So I really think you would not like single dosing into a large, glass hopper.
Another alternative (that I used at first) is to simply put the beans into the throat of the grinder and set something on top or down in the throat so they can't jump around. The mazzer grinders have the perfect size throat so a 58mm tamper fits. But the T-80 is an odd size and shape.
I know that a nice looking glass hopper is appealing ... but when you see the way a single dose grinds, I think you won't like using it that way.
Posted Sun Apr 29, 2012, 9:58am Subject: Re: Fiorenzato T-80 Parts
What I'm intending is to cut off the bottom of the original with the stopper and use the glass in that piece so I can still close it.
I may be all wet and it may not work but I come up with all sorts of wacky ideas.
I will do some serious measurements when it gets here but I want to keep the closing mechanism on the original. I only ever grind single doses and roast only SO, until I get to the bottom of the ground beans then I throw them all together and have a monkey cup.
Posted Sun Apr 29, 2012, 11:06am Subject: Re: Fiorenzato T-80 Parts
If your hopper looks like mine, the sides are cylindrical except for the very bottom where it changes to a funnel shape. You could cut the plastic hopper down just above the transition from cylindrical to cone ... just enough of the cylindrical shape for the stock lid. That would be a very small hopper with the sliding door intact and the lid too.
The lid is nice because you can pump the lid up and down when grinding and it helps puff the grinds out into the doser. You don't really need to do that if you plan to brush out the chute into the doser (like I do) but pumping the lid makes it so you almost don't even need to brush the chute (then you could leave the lid on the doser too).
I haven't cut my hopper down, but I've thought about it and I think it would look good and be pretty easy.
If you use the bottom part of the hopper (as you've described) ... still consider gluing one of those fast food containers into the upper burr carrier ... if you cut the top of that plastic funnel down just a little, you will still be able to set the hopper in place but now the beans will slide right into the grind chamber and won't have any way to bounce up onto the ledge. I found this to really work well and gave the best of both worlds - you can single dose using the sliding door on the stock hopper .... and you can also load up enough beans in the hopper if you are entertaining.
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