Grinder

[analogdino]

Hi All,
I want to replace my electric burr coffee bean grinder. While the present one works, the motor runs too fast giving rise to what I'll call "impact grinding" in addition to the burr grind size distance setting,. Result: too many fines.
I have been unable to slow down the motor... it looks like a 2-pole AC shaded-pole type. As an EE I've looked into variable-frequency AC sources... in addition to technical issues (torque, over-heating), none are economic.
So, either I find a variable speed electric grinder (unlikely!) or I find a manual burr grinder that I simply control myself.
Any ideas?
Cheers,
Roger
PS I am looking on Amazon for manual grinders... many are there!

 

[Kudzu]

"...or I find a manual burr grinder that I simply control myself.
Any ideas?"

You might find something of interest in James Hoffman's comparison of manual grinders, HERE.

 

[analogdino]

Many thanks.... an amazing analysis!
Downside... all are well over my price point. I thought I could get a manual grinder for less that CAD$50 (about US$35.) Not going to happen!
Project on hold...!
Best to all!

 

[froze]

Depends on how scientific you want to get with coffee, if you really want to go scientific you would need 3 quality hand grinders because one grinder cannot excel at all grinds.

If you want to keep it simple, and cheap, there is a grinder that I love called Timemore Chestnut C3 ESP PRO, it sells for around $80 on AliExpress. The reason I chose that grinder because it's one of the few that can grind Turkish fine powder type of grind, and since I've used it for that I can tell you it's pretty easy to grind that fine, but it does take about 75 seconds to do. Then it has 120 steps to it's course setting. I find the grind to be uniform, but again I'm not a coffee scientist examining every single piece of grind, but it looks good enough for me. It feels heavy duty and should last a very long time. After a year of owning it, it still works great. When the S2C burr set wear out they are replaceable from Timemore, and they have a few other parts.

There are quite a few reviews on various Timemore grinders including the one that I have.

I'm not saying it's the best grinder in the world, but it is better than my old electric grinder was, I'm sure if you spent $400 for hand grinder you should get a better one, but I seriously doubt you could taste the difference in the coffee between the two...unless you have professional coffee tastebuds, even then I'm not so sure.