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Grindmaster 500 Deal?
allenb
Top  #21 Print Post
Posted on 12/08/2010 10:27 PM
This is one of my favorite grinders.

I rebuilt/refurbed many of these several years ago for the roastery I worked for. Very durable units and the burrs go forever. One thing to remember with the grindmaster burrs. Even when sharp from the factory they don't feel sharp. I knew people who bought new burrs thinking they were worn beyond repair only to find the new ones no different than the original.

These are the preferred grinders for french press coarse grind as they produce the least fines/powder than any other burr design I know of. We used a $25,000 roller mill for large runs and it produced more fines than the grindmaster. It runs circles around a Mahlkonig in this regard. I never had much luck trying to get near an espresso grind but that's not what they were designed for.

Great find

BTW, if you ever shear the shear disc, a penny works fine. Also, you'll probably want to lose the bag switch.

Allen
Edited by allenb on 12/08/2010 10:29 PM
1/2 lb and 1 lb drum, Siemens Sirocco fluidbed, presspot, chemex, cajun biggin brewer from the backwoods of Louisiana
 
Randy G
Top  #22 Print Post
Posted on 12/09/2010 12:15 AM

Quote

allenb wrote:...
BTW, if you ever shear the shear disc, a penny works fine. Also, you'll probably want to lose the bag switch.


When I opened mine I found that the shear had failed as designed, but some "Dumas" had welded the parts together, bypassing the need for the safety shear. I cut the weld off and used a piece of aluminum to replace the shear.

Life's too short to drink bad coffee.
 
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dja
Top  #23 Print Post
Posted on 12/09/2010 7:30 AM
Char if you will measure the shear tell me what you want one made out of, I'll cut you a couple extras to have on hand, on the grounds that if you find another ginder like this one that you ran on to, I get a chance at buying it.Grin
Edited by dja on 12/09/2010 7:32 AM
I pour Iron and roast Coffee BeansThumbsUp
If life seems normal your not going fast enough Mario Andrette
 
seedlings
Top  #24 Print Post
Posted on 12/09/2010 9:04 AM
David, if you see anything on craigslist kansas city, let me know!

Allen and Randy, thanks for the help! I think these burrs will work fine for the ounces of coffee I'll be running through it every day. I would like to bypass the bag switch. How do the switches work together (push button + bag switch)?

CHAD
Roaster: CoffeeAir II 2# DIY air roaster
Grinder: Vintage Grindmaster 500
Brewers: Vintage Cory DCU DCL, Aeropress, Press, Osaka Titanium pourover
 
Randy G
Top  #25 Print Post
Posted on 12/09/2010 10:09 AM
Mine does not have the manual switch - it is an older model than yours. It only has the bag switch.

Life's too short to drink bad coffee.
 
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JETROASTER
Top  #26 Print Post
Posted on 12/09/2010 10:40 AM
Hi Chad,
Yours looks like mine. The on switch is intermittent, the bag switch kills the cycle.
I spring loaded the bag lever 'up'. When the grind is done, I just push the bag lever down briefly to kill the cycle, then it returns to the up position.
Cheap, easy, no real modification involved.
That was a fine deal, and your still a nice guy. Win-Win.
-Scott
 
allenb
Top  #27 Print Post
Posted on 12/09/2010 6:28 PM
Scott has mentioned a nice easy fix.

If you want to trim a lot of the extra parts/pieces out of the way, many have just gutted them and gone with a simple bat switch (on/off). This requires getting rid of the ice cube relay and bag switch and installing the bat switch where the black push button is. Might require a little plate to fill in if the hole's too big.

Allen
1/2 lb and 1 lb drum, Siemens Sirocco fluidbed, presspot, chemex, cajun biggin brewer from the backwoods of Louisiana
 
jedovaty
Top  #28 Print Post
Posted on 01/30/2013 1:34 AM
Soooo.. I have an opportunity possibly to pick up one of these Grin

Are they able to grind single doses (some like the lpg will popcorn pretty bad)? Are they loud (can I insulate the sound)? Okay for manual pourover (mostly hario, maybe some siphon, I read they are great for french press)?

What to look out for?

I don't have room for something this big, but come on. It's giant, red, and called the GRINDMASTER. roar
 
Dan
Top  #29 Print Post
Posted on 01/30/2013 8:41 AM
lol! Sounds like you've alerady made up you mind!
1 pound electric sample roaster, 3 pound direct-flame roaster, both handmade; modified Mazzer Mini grinder, LaSpaziale Vivaldi II automatic espresso machine. When the electricity goes out I make vacpot coffee from beans ground on my Zassenhaus hand grinder, and heat the water with a teakettle on the gas range.
 
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jedovaty
Top  #30 Print Post
Posted on 01/30/2013 10:07 AM
Here's the real reason I want it: I received one of those picture lcd frames last christmas as a repackaged gift from a client. Imagine attaching the LCD to the GRINDMASTER after hacking it in order to display this animated t-rex whenever the grinder turns on.roar

Now if I could only get that Jeremy Clarkson fellow from TopGear to say "GRINDMASTER" for me, then I could have it complete with audio. The ultimate pimped GRINDMASTER.
 
jedovaty
Top  #31 Print Post
Posted on 01/31/2013 6:35 PM
Oy, to say this thing is large would be an understatement. It's also practically new.

I broke me "rule" of not having coffee after 4pm, just couldn't wait. Set to auto-drip, and it seems to be a consistent grind. Drawdown on my hario v60 01 was too fast, only "fine" and "espresso" settings remain. I'll play with it more later.

There are grounds retained, I put in 16g coffee and got out about 11.5 (I was aiming for 12g).

I'm surprised how QUIET this thing is...

It's also kind of big.

The ad was, "Vintage 1980's grinder". I'm sad that 1980s stuff is considered vintage... Anyway to tell actual age of the grinder?

Man, this thing is huge. What on earth am I doing?! Shock
jedovaty attached the following images:
20130131_161128_resized_1.jpg 20130131_161102_resized_1.jpg
 
allenb
Top  #32 Print Post
Posted on 01/31/2013 7:17 PM
On the retainage issue, as soon as it's getting close to the end of the grind and past the end by a few seconds you need to flip the chaff breaker cover lid back and forth rapidly which will allow a good portion of what you've found to stay behind to drop out. The cover will actually bounce back to the closed position on it's own with each rapid flip outward. Without doing this the discharge mouth stays fairly full of grounds.

Most of the bulk grinders I've dealt with in the past needed the grind adjust tweaked a bit to be able to grind as fine as I wanted for cone.

Allen
1/2 lb and 1 lb drum, Siemens Sirocco fluidbed, presspot, chemex, cajun biggin brewer from the backwoods of Louisiana
 
jedovaty
Top  #33 Print Post
Posted on 01/31/2013 8:27 PM
That worked! Thank you! But I keep tweaking my finger.. I may tape a string, or drill a hole or something to make flapping easier.

You weren't kidding when you said this thing has minimal fines.

Did I mention it's nearly as large as my dishwasher?
 
Randy G
Top  #34 Print Post
Posted on 02/01/2013 12:12 AM
if you open it up and examine the way the grind adjustment works you can adjust it finer so the "espresso" setting is about right and the rest will fall in line as they should be.

Life's too short to drink bad coffee.
 
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jedovaty
Top  #35 Print Post
Posted on 05/30/2013 1:10 AM

Quote

Randy G wrote:

if you open it up and examine the way the grind adjustment works you can adjust it finer so the "espresso" setting is about right and the rest will fall in line as they should be.


Is it the big nut at the top of this picture?
http://home.surewest.net/frcn/Coffee/grindmaster/grind_5.jpg

If so, does turning it righty-tight make the grind finer?

I am inspired to get it a little finer based on the discussion at HB. But, I really like where the current setting is, I'm concerned once I fiddle with this, it'll be hard to return to exactly this setting; would it be as simple as drawing a little line on the nut and adjustment, then align it when I wish to return?

Hrrm.
 
Randy G
Top  #36 Print Post
Posted on 05/30/2013 10:33 AM
iirc, yes. The nut is a lock nut, then you turn the center shaft/bolt/thing for the adjustment, then, while holding the shaft you then re-tighten the locknut.

Life's too short to drink bad coffee.
 
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jedovaty
Top  #37 Print Post
Posted on 05/30/2013 12:26 PM

Quote

Randy G wrote:

iirc, yes. The nut is a lock nut, then you turn the center shaft/bolt/thing for the adjustment, then, while holding the shaft you then re-tighten the locknut.


Yup! Thank you.

I loosened the nut, and turned the screw clockwise. Slight adjustments appear to make a huge difference; 1/16th turn resulted in powder grind at espresso setting haha.
 
snwcmpr
Top  #38 Print Post
Posted on 05/30/2013 1:37 PM
Add my name to list of those that want one.

Ken in NC
--------------
Backwoods Roaster
"I wish I could taste as well as I wish I could roast."

As Abraham Lincoln said "Do not trust everything you read on the internet".
 
chilechipotle
Top  #39 Print Post
Posted on 10/29/2014 1:33 PM
I have one of these bad boys. Does anyone have a detailed diagram of all the parts?
 
chilechipotle
Top  #40 Print Post
Posted on 10/29/2014 1:39 PM
I have this diagram, but nothing for the exterior parts.
chilechipotle attached the following image:
img_4555_1.jpg
 
chilechipotle
Top  #41 Print Post
Posted on 10/29/2014 1:42 PM
The last pic here is of a screw for trying to get the ground coffee out of the grinder. Checking to see if that is what's supposed to be there?
chilechipotle attached the following images:
img_4557.jpg img_4556.jpg img_4558.jpg
 
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