My coffee grinder died today. In fact, it had begun to slowly
deteriorate the past couple of weeks. It served me well... I had used
it every single day for the past two years. It's a beautiful KitchenAid
A-9 - one of the new models. I have to say that I expected a good 5
years out of it.
When these grinders act up, they are very
irritating. The motor is a direct drive 200W model that spins a tad too
fast. There's no auger, so there is nothing really to help break up the
whole beans before they reach the burrs. When the beans have trouble
getting down into the burrs (maybe they're afraid?) the motor just
spins faster and faster and spews the last of the ground coffee all
over the counter.
I opened it up to try to figure out what might
be causing this, and to be honest I can't really tell. I guessed that
something might have loosened up (bearings perhaps?) causing the burrs
to vibrate and not allowing the beans to flow in. Turns out there's not
even any bearings! The rotating burrs rest on a plate with a fair
amount of play, so while the burrs can be replaced, that's not any
guarantee they will remain lined up.
Reluctantly, I started to
seal the think back up... The motor is held to the cast alloy body with
two tapered screws. Disaster! I stripped the soft alloy and now the
motor won't mount up at all.
It's unfortunate, really, that
something as over-engineered as this has such weak points. Little
things like this are what make the difference between professional gear
and pseudo-industrial-looking home gear. My favorite grinder to date is
the
Zassenhaus Grain Mill, but it's a little labor intensive for morning brew.
I
found a larger KitchenAid Pro Line on clearance for $150. It's got gear
reduction and an auger, so opefully won't grind itself into oblivion.
If it does, my next choice would be a Rancilio Rancho (at a whopping
$300)
Well, wish me luck. I guess I could just go back to the $20 blade grinders!