Monday, Feb 3 2020
Last night while grinding a batch of decaf coffee my not-that-old grinder stopped grinding. It didn’t make a good sound when turned on with no beans. Add beans and the conical burr ddin’t rotate. Today I took it apart to see if it was something I could fix.
Top/back shell removed
Chewed up drive gear
Side view
Grease and plastic grit
Split bearing cage
The drive pinion was in pretty bad shape and there were bits of plastic and finely ground coffee mixed with the lubricating grease. A bearing cage was split, but it may have been made that way. The split did not look like a break.
That’s about what I expected to find. I’d studied the parts list Sunday and figured out I’d need a new motor/gearbox/burr assembly as the parts I wanted were marked as only available as part of that assembly. What I didn’t see on the Baratza web site was the motor assembly listed as an available part. I sent Baratza support an email explaining my fears and asking about a replacement part Sunday evening.
They responded today. The response said I’d probably diagnosed the issue correctly and if I felt comfortable installing the assembly they’d ship me one. Fantastic. I sent them my shipping info.
Thursday, Feb 6 2020
The replacement assembly arrived in the morning mail.
New Motor/Gearbox (top)
Drops into place
Motor power
Connect cover switch
Ready to grind
It only took about 15 minutes to re-assemble the Grinder and put it back where it belongs. The first grind was pretty close to the way I like it. I’d expected the need to fine tune grind settings. A pleasant side effect is that the grinder now seems a little quieter.
As to why the grinder failed: Most of the time we grind one shot at a time. However, my wife doesn’t drink caffeine after about noon. After dinner we have a shot of decaf. I grind about 180 grams of decaf – the result of roasting half a pound of green coffee beans – every 6 or 7 days. That is what I was doing Sunday when the grinder failed. I suspect I was a) grinding too long; and b) not letting the grinder cool down enough before grinding some more. I’ll be more patient in the future.
Monday, Jul 19 2021
Update: it failed again. The same way, I think. It’s making the name noises. It’s also not grinding. A replacement grinder – the Eureka Mignon Specialita – is on order.
I see that Baratza now supplies a gearbox replacement kit on their parts page. I may be able to fix it, again, for $40, a bit over $50 with shipping and tax. I may do that then keep the fixed grinder around as a spare.