Thursday, October 10, 2013

Mazzer Major/Kony/Robur "interlock" mod

When you ask around in the coffee environment, the grinder is often pointed out being the essential part of achieving a good espresso, but the average home sets limits for which grinder you are able to choose, due to the height of the kitchen cabinets.

Therefore some buyers are bound by the height of the grinder, which is quickly inserted as below, 
Mazzer Major - 61 cm.
Mazzer Kony - 65 cm.
Mazzer Robur - 72 cm.

Due to this problem, I have received some questions about the Mazzer grinders - especially is the Mazzer Mini extra short bean hopper, will fit on the Mazzer Major?

Well lets start with the interlock modification. The Major, Kony and Robur grinder has an interlock collar, where the back of the collar has a tab that enters a slot on the grinder - if the tab isn´t slotted, the motor doesn´t run.

I will demonstrate below how to remove this interlock and thereby be able to use the grinder without any bean hopper at all.


1. The interlock assembly is held on with two screws, simply unscrew them - as shown on the below picture.


2. Lift the plate up off the body - the switch is attached to the outer plate. The red contact is the actual interlock and if its press down, the grinder will run.


3. Put a chunk of something in there to hold the switch down - I use a piece of eraser, because its elastic and can be cut into a appropriate size, but you can also use other pieces.



4. Now simply place the plate back onto the grinder and screw the screws back. You are now able to grind without a bean hopper and can therefore also attached a smaller hopper without an interlock collar - read more below the picture.


So back to the question regarding if the Mazzer Mini extra short bean hopper, will fit on the Mazzer Major? Well, it will fit, but note that the diameter of the short hopper throat is smaller than the Majors collar opening, so it will rattle around when grinding. To solve this problem you can wrap the Mini hopper with a band of electrical tape, so it will hold everything tight. So the answer is yes :)

The Mazzer Major height with a Mazzer Mini extra short bean hopper is 51 cm.!

Hope this guide was helpful.

// Hendrup