Solis 166 Mod's (aka Starbuck's Barista, Saeco GT-1, Baratza/Solis 166

Coffee Grinder Mod's to
Solis 166 - Baratza/Solis 166 - Starbuck's Barista - Saeco Titan GT-1 - Peets's Burr Grinder
Mod's = Finer Grind, Momentary-Push-On-Button, Ground Strap/Wire

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Coffee
• Grinder
• Baratza
• Solis
• Barista
• Saeco
• Peet's

[GravityRoller]

snowboarder27118,

NO, you are not supposed to "cut" anything. If you stop the vid at 2:30 you will see that I have highlighter the indexing pin on the disk RED. What you are doing is rotating the movable bur, effectively closing the gap between the two burs. Closer the burs are together, finer the grind before it falls past the grind-burs. If you watch the video and pause selectively to read everything that I wrote into the video, think everything will be obvious. Make sure burs do not touch!

[NukePilot]

I have two of these branded "Saeco Titan" bought from Fry's ($79 BTW) at different times. One creates huge static electricity, the other does not. Go figure. I took the one in my office apart, and found the pin 5 holes from the red paint. It would not grind fine enough for the commercial espresso machine in the office. I reset it so the red paint mark and pin line up now (ie, 5 clicks finer). The resulting grind is finer, but I can hear the burrs clash more now.

[GravityRoller]

@NukePilot,

PLEASE - anybody who changes the factory indexing of the movable grinder bur, please confirm the burs do not make contact BEFORE you re-assemble your grinder. I thought I covered this in my vid ... If you run the grinder with the burs in contact, the teeth will grind metal to metal contact effectively ruining the burs the first time and forever after. This is BAD!

[GhibliFan1]

@GhibliFan1

Where did I comment negatively? Follow the thread, I was addressing someone who was having difficulty with this mod, so rather than letting them carry on with too coarse a grind, I suggested the simpler, more established mod as an alternative. If you want really to force a negative comment from me, well, I still find mine grinds coarse enough at the other end of the scale for cafetiere with the easier, quicker mod - which is more established for good reason.

[GravityRoller]

@GhibliFan1

At 0:18 into video I specifically address your comments, then again at 0:26 I support my position for why I choose not to use your suggestion (pause and read to understand a bit more b4 you comment negatively as you have on my work here). :)

Additionally, static charge to the ground coffee and a momentary switch are also part of the mod's to the grinder.

[GhibliFan1]

@snowboarder27118

You could just stick with the more common hack on the net, which is simpler (i.e just moving the internal ring counter clockwise). Google 'Starbucks barista grinder hack'.

[snowboarder27118]

I'm confused. I've got the whole thing disassembled and don't quite get what I'm supposed to acutally be doing to get the grind smaller. From the vid it seems as I'm supposed to actually cut the white-disk ring to make it rotate more. Correct? Will someone that's done this please explain what I'm supposed to do here.

[aikidokamks]

Nice video and interesting alternative for getting a finer grind on lower cost grinders. I'm drooling over a Baratz Vario but my pocket book is freaking out so I'm considering a Bodum Bistro Grinder which looks to be an improvement over their Antigua model. I have a Gaggia Carezza on the way so not going high end. I'm thinking if my pocket book wins the argument I can modify the Bodum grinder in a similar fashion.

[jetman127]

@GravityRoller So I thought it was a simple case of being clogged but, after further investigation, it looks like the flapper was stuck down, causing the clog. I removed the flapper for now (I ran out of time) and the grinder is working for me. I need to see what is causing the flapper to get stuck and reinstall it.

Any ideas?

BTW - We have had our grinder for about 5 years and never cleaned it before now. We usually use medium beans, we used to use dark quite a bit with our other maker.

[GravityRoller]

@jetman127

Kinda what I assumed (simple cleaning cured).

Now that you see how easy it is to remove the adjustable bur; it will be a simple maint. procedure for you to do. FYI, I clean my grinder at least weekly. Near the end of a grind cycle, I ususally lift and tap the grinder on the counter to help dislodge clumping grinds. Dark beans - means more frequesnt cleaning as opposed to lighter roasts because of oils on the the beans. Finer grinding also = more frequency of cleaning.

Regards,