Hopper Adjustment Slipping on Rocky
Grinder
How to put some
extra spring in your locking lever.
If your Rocky grinder hopper is not securely locking into place during operation (the hopper moves while grinding) then follow these simple steps to give the locking lever more spring. This ought to make the pin fit more firmly in place and hold the hopper (and burrs) at a consistent grind. This fix may not work if the brackets holding the weight of the grinder have been bent or damaged.
Tools you will need: Phillips Head Screwdriver (medium sized), Flathead Screwdriver (small, thin blade), a small nail, and a tiny piece of rubber (part of a sink gasket will do the trick)
Step 1 - UNPLUG THE MACHINE! Remove the hopper
from the grinder by taking out the three phillips head screws inside
that hold down a triangular
black plastic fastener/bean guide. Now
lift the hopper off the machine. Note that on the underside of the hopper
is a long screw sticking out to keep the hopper from being adjusted too
far. Keep
this in mind when reattaching the hopper after this fix! It is IMPORTANT
to put the hopper back on just as it was in order to have the full grind range
available.
Step 2 - Locate the black locking lever on the top
front right corner of the machine. The lever consists of 4 parts:
the plastic lever itself, a silver pin, an elastic metal washer, and
a spring underneath the pin.
Step 3 - Grasp the black lever firmly in your fingers and push the pin downward with the tip of either screwdriver.
Step 4 - Once you have loosed the pin from the lever
, use the blade of a flathead screwdriver to hold the pin
down—it
works well to hold the screwdriver on the edge of washer on the pin and
push down. This
will allow you to easily slide the black plastic lever up and off the
pin and then out of the machine.
Step 5 - Pull the pin out of the machine. The metal washer should be attached to the pin in a groove that keeps the washer from sliding up and down.
Step 6 - Turn the machine on its side and use the small nail to fish the spring out of the hole where the pin was. This is a little tricky but just keep putting the nail in and pulling it out while putting some pressure against the side of the hole until the spring slides up and out.
Step 7 - Now, you are ready to put that little piece of rubber gasket in the hole. The piece of rubber will just add a new “floor” to the pin hole so the spring can really push the pin upwards to lock the hopper. We used scissors to make a little nub of rubber about the size of the nail head—just make it small enough to fit in but not so small that the spring will go around it. Use the nail to push the rubber piece into the hole and all the way to the bottom.
Step 8 - Once you have a put the rubber in the pin hole, put the spring back in the hole followed by the pin.
Step 9 - Again, using the blade of the flathead screwdriver, hold the pin down and re-install the black plastic lever. When you have the lever lined up with the pin let the pin spring up into place. Now the lever is set to go —good job!
Step 10 - Before you replace the hopper make sure and turn the exposed brass burr wheel clockwise until it locks up. Now back it up a hair counterclockwise and reattach the hopper with the long screw underneath the hopper to the right of the black plastic lever. The “0” mark will be at the front.
Step 11 - Reattach the hopper by tightening the three phillips screws inside--do not overtighten these screws as the hopper can crack.
Step 12 - Test the functioning of the lever and hopper locking system now. The locking mechanism should be improved by following the above procedure. If it is still not locking securely, the problem may be structural so contact us and we will arrange to replace/repair the unit.
Here is the Rocky
This fix was performed on the Rancilio Rocky No Doser model - but it would work on the mill with the Doser as well.
Keep in mind that you are removing the hopper during this fix and will need to put it back on the grinder with the burrs in the correct position. If when you reattach the hopper, you find that the full grind range is no longer available to you - back up and follow Steps number 10 and 11 again.
You can check the bottom of the hopper to make sure there aren't any cracks or adjustment holes that have been stripped out or damaged. Forcing the hopper to turn with the pin engaged can damage it.
Be sure not to overtighten the hopper when reattaching it as the plastic could crack. A crack is not a huge problem - but it could spread maybe over time. Just make the screw nice and snug, don't crank on 'em.
Any questions about this fix? Let us know if you encounter problems.
