somellama Senior Member Joined: 6 Mar 2012 Posts: 3 Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Tue Mar 6, 2012, 2:15pm Subject: How broken is my grinder?
I've had a Baratza Maestro Plus for about three years now, and this morning the machine made a very uncharacteristic loud, grinding/whirring noise, as if the motor was jammed or someone had stuck a metal rod into the burrs. The burrs stopped turning, and even after emptying out the beans and trying some gentle pushes of the pulse button, they didn't move. It was time for a good cleaning anyway, so I took apart as much as I normally do, but observed nothing that could explain the burrs or motor being stuck. Behind my timer dial however (which has been falling off for ages, so unrelated to this issue), I noticed a small heap of metal... shavings, partly stuck to the plastic interior.
How screwed is this grinder (and by extension, my coffee needs in the immediate future)? I've read before that grinders may produce some metal filings/dust on their first few operations, so is this likely to be leftover from when I first used the machine? What could have possibly gone wrong to make the machine go from 100% to 0% in the middle of a grind? Any thoughts or "debugging" suggestions are most welcome.
CraigJS Senior Member Joined: 8 May 2011 Posts: 66 Location: Minnesota, USA Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Baratza M plus Drip: filter cone, FP, Moka
Posted Tue Mar 6, 2012, 8:47pm Subject: Re: How broken is my grinder?
I have the same grinder, perhaps pictures would help us, help you.. Check out the Baratza web site they have some trouble shooting info I think. Also I've heard their customer service is very good. Please keep us updated. CraigJS
Posted Tue Mar 6, 2012, 11:11pm Subject: Re: How broken is my grinder?
somellama Said:
I've had a Baratza Maestro Plus for about three years now, and this morning the machine made a very uncharacteristic loud, grinding/whirring noise, as if the motor was jammed or someone had stuck a metal rod into the burrs. The burrs stopped turning, and even after emptying out the beans and trying some gentle pushes of the pulse button, they didn't move. It was time for a good cleaning anyway, so I took apart as much as I normally do, but observed nothing that could explain the burrs or motor being stuck. Behind my timer dial however (which has been falling off for ages, so unrelated to this issue), I noticed a small heap of metal... shavings, partly stuck to the plastic interior.
How screwed is this grinder (and by extension, my coffee needs in the immediate future)? I've read before that grinders may produce some metal filings/dust on their first few operations, so is this likely to be leftover from when I first used the machine? What could have possibly gone wrong to make the machine go from 100% to 0% in the middle of a grind? Any thoughts or "debugging" suggestions are most welcome.
Hi Ross, you have a worn out/stripped aluminum burr gear inside the white transmission housing. There's a pdf on the Baratza website that explains in detail how to go about changing it out here.
somellama Senior Member Joined: 6 Mar 2012 Posts: 3 Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Mar 7, 2012, 9:33am Subject: Re: How broken is my grinder?
Thanks for the replies, all!!
If it is the aluminum burr gear, is that what's included in the Maestro "rebuild kit" (labeled there as simply a "metal gear") Click Here (www.baratza.com) or as a "mean gear" on its own? Click Here (www.baratza.com)
Or is it another piece entirely?
I'll update again once I get home and get a chance to (attempt) disassembling the plastic casing to see what's going on inside.
Posted Wed Mar 7, 2012, 10:16am Subject: Re: How broken is my grinder?
calblacksmith Said:
It's Craigs day job to work on this stuff, he knows what he is talking about.
Thanks Wayne! {;-)
somellama Said:
If it is the aluminum burr gear, is that what's included in the Maestro "rebuild kit" (labeled there as simply a "metal gear") Click Here (www.baratza.com)
You have Virtuoso rebuild kit selected, but it's the same parts, yes.
The rebuild kit is a good value though & always good to have the extra parts available & save some money, you're saving $3.50 over the rebuild kit outright price versus the parts separately.
somellama Senior Member Joined: 6 Mar 2012 Posts: 3 Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Jul 8, 2012, 10:07am Subject: Re: How broken is my grinder?
Thread resurrection!
Thanks very much for all of the earlier responses; I really found them helpful, and immediately followed up on your advice to get the replacement gear for my machine. Through a series of events (not worth getting in to) however, it's taken until now for me to sit down and try to fix my poor aluminum-filing-spewing Baratza Maestro Plus. I have the GB2.0 "upgrade kit" (since the replacement kit was superseded by this new stuff headlining inside the new Baratza Encore) and the upgrade guide PDF: http://www.baratza.com/wp-content/uploads/GB2.0.pdf
But lo and behold, upon cracking open my case to try the upgrade/repair... I find that my motor is the one type that the GB2.0 upgrade does not support. :(
The Johnson 771 motor sits obstinately within, and now I feel I'm stuck. I suppose I could shell out $40 for a replacement motor, assuming the one on the Baratza webpage is a non-771 model Click Here (www.baratza.com)
But now I'm looking at a trickier upgrade process in trying to install a new motor *and* new gearbox stuff, as well as an overall $60 pricetag, all to get a Maestro Plus up and running. At this point, it's becoming an attractive alternative to just outright buy a new Encore or Virtuoso and saving myself the effort.
Any advice on proceeding with this? Is there anything I can do with a Johnson 771 motor aside from replacing it? Is the installation of a new motor difficult for a complete newbie to coffee-grinder repair? Is the $100 difference between a fixed Plus and a brand-new Encore worth it?
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