Rob666

I very much doubt the burrs are worn or "going". It's more likely to be an issue that for some reason the moving burr is going out of alignment when on coarser settings. I'm not sure how this could happen but it seems possible to me. Is it tight to the shaft or can it wobble?

Are you sure you have the burrs aligned as well as possible? It's a lot of trial and error to find the optimum. When you have the burrs touching, do they touch all or most of the way around evenly? If they only touch over a small part of a revolution you will need to improve the alignment.

It's sad. I've donated for a few years but I'm disinclined to do so now for all the reasons stated above. It's now a commercial enterprise and that has materially and seriously altered the dynamic. Now there is the whiff of commerce about it and I don't like that. I value and trust many of the contributors and contributions here (you know who you are) and some have led me to spend a lot of money.

The burrs should be OK for 100 kg let alone 10kg! It may need aligning. That is fiddly but the Orphan videos walk you through it. From the pics this is either a modded one or a later one. Around 30 turns should get you 18g of espresso grade grounds. It may well need cleaning. Other than that, I can see no reason why it would take 100 turns.

It's a while ago now but when I had this last I upped the dose to 20g for 35g out in 30 seconds. Didn't like it at 18g into 35g in 30 seconds. The grind needed to be finer to keep the time constant and we quite liked it then.

Used to be something like that. Now they are made elsewhere. For all I know they may be excellent. But I'm not about to part with my original.

A used earlier one with the VooDoo Daddy mods at £200 is considerably less than I would sell mine for. Make of that what you will. The current ones are no longer made in the USA, which could be good or bad. I'd prefer to stick to the original. (And no, I'm not selling, so have no vested interest.)

Welcome dennishan, I'm sure you will find much to interest you here. What style of coffee do you like? When you have a few more posts you will be able to access our members "For Sale" section. Unfortunately you have missed a lovely two group Pontevecchio which was advertised recently.

Generally the coffee equipment suppliers don't do anything for Black Friday. If you do fancy a Mignon you will get better value second hand. There isn't a lot to go wrong with grinders so buying one from a member here is a pretty safe bet.

Love this! Real K.I.S.S. engineering. Look forward to hearing from Niche so I can try it out.

Please post links to the review and to the source of the mod.

Hi Rick, "light" means lighter roasted beans which generally have fruity and or floral notes to the flavour. They are lighter in colour too. As others have said, you should be able to find a decent used Gaggia and either a commercial grinder or a Eureka Mignon within your budget. Please make sure you understand both the size of a commercial grinder and the compromises that they bring. There are lots of threads on here which will explain. A Mignon is a good match for a Gaggia, a lot smaller and prettier and they hold their value if you should wish to upgrade later. Cannot emphasize enough how important the grinder is. Good hunting.

Welcome Rick! You will get plenty of advice here. Edgcumbs is a bit light for our taste so I won't recommend any coffees. £500 is a bit of a challenge but you should be able to pick up a good used Gaggia Classic and a half decent grinder for that. If you haven't already realised, the grinder is, if anything, more important than the machine. Please explore the various forums here and ask anything you like. Rob

Please add prices to your original post.

Reading your subsequent posts and seeing your budget is approximately £500 narrows your options considerably. I would still think about a used grinder, the commercial ones are pretty bulletproof and can be bargains second hand. The machine is more difficult. You will struggle to get anything decent which is easy to use. That said, a Sage might well be the best option if you want to buy new. Best of luck with your deliberations.