Compak K3 to K10 upgrade?

[Dante]

I got my K10 in a group buy with Peter sometime ago. Like the Warden, I also had a Macap M4 before the upgrade virus hit us both. I have used the K10 with a La Cimbali Classic M30 and a Quickmill Vetrano. Was the upgrade worth the $$ i paid for the K10? Yes. Flavors jump out at me in a way that I wasn't getting from the M4, even if the visual pour appeared to be the same.

I single dose all the time, and I change coffee at least 3 times per brewing session, and most days 4 times per session, with no problem. Chute and doser retention are not a problem for me because of my Rocket Blower technique! Rocket Blowers are hand held bulbs that blow a strong burst of air onto anything you point the nozzle at. They're good for my camera lenses, and good for my K10! I blow air out of the grinding chamber while pulsing the grinder, then use the blower in conjunction with the sweeper in the doser to literally sweep and blow the coffee out of the doser into the portafilter.

[kaotep]

i don't have a k10 but ditto on the rocket blower. it's like having a can of compressed air on your hands

[BozemanEric]

I wish you all would stop this talk of grinder upgrades. I have been pondering upgrading my espresso grinder for a while now in these conversations are giving me a push I just don't need. I have been leaning towards the HG one but every time I look at their site they are sold out. The K10 looks pretty dang intriguing, and it is in stock.

[GC7]

Eric- group buy?

That blower looks cool. I use compressed air cans sometimes to clean the hottop or flush the grinder insides on e a year but that toy looks way more convenient and. It's effective.

[Dante]

Eric- group buy?

That blower looks cool. I use compressed air cans sometimes to clean the hottop or flush the grinder insides on e a year but that toy looks way more convenient and. It's effective.

And cheap. $7.50 on Amazon. 

[BozemanEric]

Eric- Group buy?

I would be interested.

[peter]

Eric- group buy?

That blower looks cool. I use compressed air cans sometimes to clean the hottop or flush the grinder insides on e a year but that toy looks way more convenient and. It's effective.

And cheap. $7.50 on Amazon. 

Just snagged one.  I had them send the commission to Don Dante.

And I snagged a container of Urnex Grindz.  Juker got me thinking...  last night I opened up my K10, first cleaning of the burrs and grind chamber in a couple years.  Nothing smelled rancid, probably due to most beans going through it are FC to Light Vienna, and everything was relatively clean. 

I'm glad I opened it up, as it gave me an accurate picture of what goes on in there.  Under the bottom burr is a three-armed rotor of sorts, some call the sweeper.  The sweeper sits in a solid aluminum 'cup', which is threaded at its top for the burr carrier to thread into, and has a half-inch high slot in front of the sweeper for the grounds to get into the doser chute.  The sweeper is so closely machined to the sides and bottom of its housing that there might be .1gram in there, at the most; it's very clean.  The burrs themselves also were very clean, so much so that a simple brushing w/ an old toothbrush has them like new again.

The main area that needs a much better design is the doser chute.  I cannot fathom why ever dosered grinder I've ever seen should have a horizontal doser chute.  If this pathway would simply be canted at a 45degree angle, coffee wouldn't hang up there as easily.

[GC7]

Eric- Group buy?

I would be interested.

Eric

Lets see what we can do.  I'm stuck without my computer in the blizzard here but I will try to work with you and anyone else here to work out a strategy to get the best price.

[az erik]

With the K6 and the k3 the burr arrangement allows build up "HERE" "Here" and some "There".
The sweeper on the k6 is similar to the k10 in that it's a vertical set of bars that actually fling rather than sweep the grounds to the chute. Bigest issues I've seen with at least all of the Compaks is the sweeper bars fling grounds to the square horizontal chute, that has additional cranny's for crap to build up in. On the 6's the bars arn't very tight and allow grinds to build up above them, filling the upper burr where those 3 setting prongs are.
This pic I have below is the top burr on the carrier and the bottom burr in my hand, looking for the sweeper pic, I know I have it somewhere.

[mp]

I got my K10 in a group buy with Peter sometime ago. Like the Warden, I also had a Macap M4 before the upgrade virus hit us both. I have used the K10 with a La Cimbali Classic M30 and a Quickmill Vetrano. Was the upgrade worth the $$ i paid for the K10? Yes. Flavors jump out at me in a way that I wasn't getting from the M4, even if the visual pour appeared to be the same.

I single dose all the time, and I change coffee at least 3 times per brewing session, and most days 4 times per session, with no problem. Chute and doser retention are not a problem for me because of my Rocket Blower technique! Rocket Blowers are hand held bulbs that blow a strong burst of air onto anything you point the nozzle at. They're good for my camera lenses, and good for my K10! I blow air out of the grinding chamber while pulsing the grinder, then use the blower in conjunction with the sweeper in the doser to literally sweep and blow the coffee out of the doser into the portafilter.

That looks interesting. Would that work for cleaning leaked toner out of a laser printer?

 

[juker]

GC7
Your avatar reminds me when I was young I had a large poster of A. Einstein on the wall at my workplace. On the bottom corner I wrote: “To [my name]-from grandpa”.
Once we had a high ranked visitor who was shocked to meet Einstein’s grandson, despite my desperate attempts to ‘explain’ that my grandfather gave me the poster of The Genius.
Couple of days latter my angry boss brought me a huge poster of Claudia Schiffer and asked to put it instead…

To the topic:
K10 is a number one in my books. Peter’s excellent description of the burr chamber confirms it for me even further, but K10 does not need MY endorsement – its reputation speaks for itself and speaks clear and loud. I have no doubt it will give you enjoyment of great espresso it is capable of.

Peter

Nothing smelled rancid

I shouldn’t have used the word ‘rancid’. Like you I never experienced a foul smell from the grinder.
What I wanted to hear from you (I trust your opinion here) is: do you find a difference in taste after the clean-up?
I NEED to know is it crazy me or there is a merit for a routine clean-up. With my B. Vario I felt need for a clean-up every 3-5 weeks.

If this pathway would simply be canted at a 45degree angle, coffee wouldn't hang up there as easily.

And most likely in that case you’ll experience static issues (is it true that K10-FRESH is prone to static issues?).

Apologies to CG7 for OT

[smico]

And cheap. $7.50 on Amazon. 

Just 21.00 + taxes on Amazon.%&$*#(@)!@_#(@#*!.ca 
http://www.amazon.ca/Giottos-Aa1900-Rocket-Blaster-Large/dp/B00017LSPI

[kaotep]

there's always eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Giottos-Rocket-Air-Blaster-Manual-Air-Blower-with-Bulb-AA1900-/370706238651?pt=Digital_Camera_Accessories&hash=item564fd04cbb

[BozemanEric]

Eric

Lets see what we can do.  I'm stuck without my computer in the blizzard here but I will try to work with you and anyone else here to work out a strategy to get the best price.

How do these group buys work? I understand the concept but do not quite understand the logistics.

[peter]

Eric- Group buy?

I would be interested.

Just snagged two from Amazon.  Figure I'll use one at work.

I think their group-buy was focusing on the K10, which for some reason, I don't think that's the two items you just snagged.   

Eric

Lets see what we can do.  I'm stuck without my computer in the blizzard here but I will try to work with you and anyone else here to work out a strategy to get the best price.

How do these group buys work? I understand the concept but do not quite understand the logistics.

The group-buy we did direct from Compak probably doesn't fit a strict interpretation of a group-buy; Compak wanted 10 units to bring them down to wholesale, but did take a little over $100 off the cost of my grinder.  I just mention that so that if you contact them, you're not expecting too much.

The idea would merit starting a new thread and asking for soft commitments, so that you can get an idea on what numbers you'd be asking Compak to deal on.

Peter

Nothing smelled rancid

I shouldn’t have used the word ‘rancid’. Like you I never experienced a foul smell from the grinder.
What I wanted to hear from you (I trust your opinion here) is: do you find a difference in taste after the clean-up?
I NEED to know is it crazy me or there is a merit for a routine clean-up. With my B. Vario I felt need for a clean-up every 3-5 weeks.

If this pathway would simply be canted at a 45degree angle, coffee wouldn't hang up there as easily.

And most likely in that case you’ll experience static issues (is it true that K10-FRESH is prone to static issues?).

Juker, to be frank with you, so far today I've only used shots for lattes.  And even if I was to pull a shot and examine it, I'd have a hard time (I think) evaluating pre- and post-cleaning flavors.  Because I rarely roast anything specifically for my own consumption, I'm always drinking different coffees I roast for customers, which means I don't have a coffee or blend that I'm so familiar with I'd recognize any difference unless it was very stark, and I don't think there was enough crud anywhere to make that stark difference.  As I mentioned above, I did buy some Urnex Grindz to use every so often, but I'm still of the mind that the fraction of a second any coffee bean spends in contact with the burrs would have unnoticeable, if any, effect.  Sorry, I can't give you any scientific results, but I'm so planted in the 'lazy' camp that I didn't see enough build-up to convince me that cleaning should happen very often at all.

I haven't used a K10 Fresh, or even read enough to know about how it might be plagued by static.  But mine is not, and maybe you've struck on why not, that the way coffee is congregated in the doser chute gives it a chance to dissipate static.