HOW TO ALIGN YOUR GRINDER: Shim Alignment Tutorial 

Hey friends! Please like, subscribe and maybe leave a comment if you found this video helpful! Thanks so much. Oh! I read every comment and try to respond to them all in a timely manner, do let's chat!

Wow. This is a good and informative video but after watching newer stuff, it's clear how much better your new stuff looks.

Shall be doing this again soon for an ek43, and watching your vid as a reminder - you have some key points in there that I'd not been aware of before, so this vid is huge! Thank you for this

For the people asking about the need to align both burrs.. essentially... When you align the moving burr.. your actually aligning it to the burr carrier.. so ie spins consistently even to the carrier... Once that's done.. you then align the fixed burr.. which then brings both burrs into alighnment.. ..👍

A wonderfully clear, precise, and easy to follow explanation. Well done! Just need to get an expo marker so I can get to work on my grinder.

Informative, helpfull and entertaining like most of your videos. Thanks for the great content. Just ordered an DF64 hope I can get it to run smooth.

You set a new standard for coffee related videos. Whenever I need to understand something I go to your channel and search your videos because I know you are going to answer things much more thoroughly than other people. Thank you so much. Subscribed, liked and commented.

Your videos are so helpful! Thank you Lance!

Great Vid. Practically usefull on most flat burrs. Have fun Peepz and keep it safe.

I've been delaying burr alignment for some time now. I'll definitely do it after this video. Great content as always

Thanks mate, this was really easy to watch and really informative for me.

Amazing movie. It gave me so much clarity and perspective!

This was so helpful, thanks Lance!

Lance, thanks for dropping this knowledge! Just aligned the burrs on my 64mm Ceado. One small aluminum foil shim on the static burr and it's an even wipe. Seems to have solved the spritzing I was getting on harder beans as well as improved the cup!

Trying to get this right on an EK43 has taken all my will to live, it drains life from me. On a serious note, great video. I just discovered your channel and I'm loving it.

Great wipe 🤝

thanks for the brief explanation Lance! Now İ know. Delicious wipe. Haha.

Saving this for later - if I pull the trigger on DF64.. Also well done to Jason for some crisp focus pulling there

Dude is a coffee legend

Hey I was just thinking about how I was gonna go this! Ty Lance!

Great tutorial. Thanks

I’ve been hating you for the last 90 minutes Lance!! 🤣 This better be worth it.

Great job. Exactly how The Wired Gourmet does it. Red marker and all ;)

Delicious wipe.

Hey! Just one note about changes in touching point. Yes, it will be lower but only if your recalibrate your zero point where burrs lock. Otherwise, you're moving burrs closer together and so your touch point with the same calibration might become bigger. Another thing I'd tell viewers is that, in general, if you previously dialed in your grinder and did a great job for alignment your grind setting should be a bit higher (coarser) after that. It's because you got more uniform distribution and water will flow faster through more uniform grounds.

Thanks Lance

Dang! I'm glad I have a conical burr grinder.

It would be interesting to see exactly what the difference, in weight the of fines, actually was before and after the adjustment. Intellectually the alignment makes sense, but would love to see the real difference. Love your passion and enthusiasm for geeking out on all things coffee!

thanks you so much.

Thank you

Delicious wipe. Thanks for bringing joy to my life, Lance lol. I need to align my Fellow Ode. Just picked up some SSP burrs and I feel like I’m getting way too many fines.

Well.. after 12 years of coffee game... its time for my frist alignment on the monster Mazzer Stark . Lets go

Hey lance,thanks for your useful videos,would you please make a video for Mahlkoenig AE80 shim alignment .

Thanks Lance. A bit nervous to try this on my flat burr df64 Since I am not having any issues. I actually get out what I put in. If and when I upgrade my burrs to ssp I’ll definitely use this video!👍

Another great video Lance! So, you leave the shins in and they don’t come Off flying? Thanks for creating good content.

Hey Lance, just subscribed. Very informative video. Any thoughts on making a comparison video on Amazon grinders? Thanks

YOO HOO you just got a mention in James Hoffmans new Flair vid.

My Eureka Mignon was misaligned, and Thomas Greene video I ran into first, and this made all the difference to get finer shot to get a 20-30 second shots. FYI, the safety on the grinder is our brains. Its not a child's toy. Fyi, you didnt have to wipe the marks to remark them on your final test.

Between these kinds of things and the cost of having a warranty, you can really see where the hundreds of bucks go to get a more expensive machine. Great vid. When I read the thumbnail I was like, no way I'm doing this. Totally doing this now!

Lance, don't know if you still monitor this post. FYI , I figured out a simple mod of the Urbanic 070 to be "stepless" like. The mod involves leaving the spring in the grinder and instead, bending the ribs on the "Step Disk" slightly down to increase the pressure on the spring. I found that this allowed the setting of the grind steps in-between the "Spring stopped settings". The downward bend of the ribs created enough pressure on the spring so that it keeps the "disk" in place. For me anyway, the "in-between settings" hasn't perceptually drifted from these in-between steps. (and has never drifted to the spring stops). I bent the ribs slightly by "hammering them ever so gently.

You make really useful and entertaining content, Lance 👌

It’s probably been notes on here I. The comments. I’ve done this before on my older grinders, but I’ve found out that a better way can be using aluminum or copper tape. That way the shims don’t move around when adding or subtracting them.

"That's a delicious wipe". ~Lance Hendrick

Just did this on my Ode with SSP. Game changer

Thanks for the vid as always! How do the 'gevi' burrs help to improve the grind? Thanks!

After watching your previous video and this one here I'm tempted to make a purchase on one of these bad boys! I don't necessarily need one as my BBE has the built in grinder, but I'm curious to taste the difference in clarity between flat vs conical at an affordable price point! Thanks again for your uploads and sharing your expert advice with the rest of us coffee heads! Cheers!

G'day Lance, I did this today and at the end noticed the carrier has movement that throws the top burr out on my single dose mazzer super jolly. I might try a bit of thread tape and see if that fixes the issue.

If I'm not getting any chirping at zero point on my DF64P would shimming all around the fixed burr be an option to torqueing down the 1/2" bolt on the base of the grinder, and then do alignment on other burr? Thx Lance, great stuff on ur channel!

Checking my Rancilio Rocky. Thanks for explaining this. The aluminum foil makes me wish I'd thought of that when adjusting headspace on my single shot TC Pro Hunter Encore rifle. Thought my reloads were hot, even though they were on the low side of published data. Turned out I had a headspace problem. Took me forever to find 0.001 stainless steel sheeting to make shims. A company premakes them, but at a high cost. I could have raided the kitchen for aluminum foil and saved a few bucks. Great job on exposing shim material already in the home.

Hey Lance, have one of these on order after watching your review video. Just wondering how you know which burr is out of alignment? When you do first wipe, how do we know if it is stationary or moving burr (or both) that need alignment?

Thank you for this very informative video. I got the 070S and "engaged" the burrs (I do hear a grinding noise and backed out the grind size) only to find there are no "cleaned" spots on my burr wheel. I did paint the outer teeth of the burr but nothing was "wiped". The grinding noise was not just a gentle chirp and I could feel the burrs engage. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for this video. Has anyone ever tried to shim a p64? Not sre its necessary , but i've always been curious about if lagom p64s could benefit from shimming the burrs

G'day Lance, have you come across a mazzer with excessive play in the thread which can cause slight movement in the top carrier? Aligning my burrs revealed this to me.

Do you think you could do a video trying out different milk frother/steamer alternatives for people wothout a coffee machine? 🥺🥰 Love your videoos 💛

Just aligned the brew burrs for my Ode gen 2! Out of curiosity, is it better to align before or after seasoning a new set of burrs?

Great video as always Lance! I bought my 070s a year ago. It worked fine for espresso at first. Ever since I opened it up to clean it, it's never been the same. Now I pulling turbo shots even at the lowest settings. The burrs don't chirp at the minimum setting. I think the torque is off or something. Do you have any suggestions?

Hi Lance, I bought the Urbanic 070s based on your last video with the titanium burrs. It is working great and producing tasty espresso. I tried this alignment technique and even with the knob removed, I cannot get the burrs to touch. Any pointers? I guess I could shim the back burr to get it to touch but I am wondering if I am missing something.

Hey lance, is it best to align the stationary burr first on the rotational burr/ what is the rational for this. Thanks for the awesome guide though!

I use a digital caliper to make sure the stationary burr is perfectly flat in the bore. Then I shim the outer burr accordingly.

Do you recommend alignment on a new grinder or wait until there has been a run-in or break-in period of time? Thx.

what a great (delicious) WIPE

Welp, I am defeated. I easily spent 5 hours over a few days to align even only the top burr, but to no avail. Best was close to a half swipe. I give up, the grinder has won. I will now despise grinding with it, knowing how badly aligned it is and therefore having a very good guess at where that bitter aftertaste comes from. AND I BLAME YOU, LANCE HEDRICK! YOU DID THIS TO ME!

Hi Lance, love your videos and all the work you do for the coffee community. I am having an issue aligning my SSP MP burrs on my Atom 75. After applying the marker and reaching chirping point, I don't see any ink rubbed off.... The outer edge of the burrs have little teeth instead of being flat, is that the problem?if so, do you have a work-around?? Thank you

So is this a reason to just go with a conical burr set; no alignment issues? Or do they also have alignment issues? I ask as a Baratza Preciso owner who saw grind uniformity go downhill after years of great results. Communicated with Baratza and sent it in, got it back and the problem was worse. Then communicated with Baratza, sent it in and bought a new Preciso burr set as an upgrade. Got it back, mixed results and am not wondering again if there is a problem or if the new burrs need to season? Much help would be needed, I am very close to saying goodbye to Baratza forever and would be torn between buying a niche (conical) or D64 (flat). I know, I know, Baratza support is legendary in the industry; yet the problem is not willingness to support and is instead the idea of a grinder causing so many problems to your daily living. Sometimes you just don't want to deal with certain things. Also, since Breville took Baratza over I wonder how things have changed from a support standpoint as it seems far less personal now; processed the support ticket with no confirmation of fixing anything and same problems. So this video matters to me personally right now. Great tutorial, I appreciate any further advice in response...

Hey, not sure anymore if this grinder has standart dc in (america) or if I would also need a power translator whatever thats call! Planing on buying it as a first grinder to learn!

I was definitely here cuz of the thumbnail

Lance!! I got a request video to you! It has been bugging me recently, i do cupping regularly so i purchase quite a lot of beans and also doing home roasting so theres plenty of unconsumed beans for like several months and i dont wanna just chuck it away so i still have it, do you have an idea or tips to brew nice cup of coffee using old beans apart from storage/canister(longer store)? Those extraction was normally watery and sour and very weak crema on espresso,,,, even filter brewing was fairly disappointing. So my question is if you have old enough beans how do you brew? Which brew method would you choose? And whats your tips to brew it delicious? Thx 😊 sending big love as always!

Lance; you really need to make a video on the fixed SSP burr alignment...

delicious wipe is tight! 😂

Thank for your tutorial. Just suscribed to your chanel😁. What is the make of your coffee grinder please?

I touched the zero point of my specialita just when I first pluged it, good to know it's not a horrible thing to do lmao

Hi Lance does it matter in which order you shim the burrs? I tried to do my Mignon Specialita and done the moving shim first, but just couldn't get the static one right, I gave up in the end!

Can one use edible ink markers? I am loath to have the toxic chemicals of a regular marker in contact with my food.

This video is probably the most helpful in understanding this process for me, but I have a few questions. When getting a full wipe after aligning one burr, doesn't that mean that the other burr is inherently aligned as well? Wouldn't you only be able to get a full wipe if they are both parallel ( even if you only aligned one to get that result)? Couldn't realigning the second Burr cause the result of the first alignment to become misaligned? I'm asking all this because I'm new to this process with very limited time on my hands and trying to find the most time efficient way to get the best result out of my grinder

12:23 Those same words were also said right after the morning coffee.

when finished, do you then go in with an alcohol wipe or something and clean off the rest of the dry erase marker?

14:05 What would we do it to the stationary burr ? If one is aligned doesn’t it means that everything is already good to go ? Thanks a lot i will now check on my X54 ^^

Good morning Lance I have a question and a case to think about it Do you ever thought that maybe some times a non perfect aligned grinder is better for espresso, maybe imitates the grind of a conical grinder?

I can't get a perfect wipe on my 807 Lab Sweet. The closest is both North and South have a wipe but east and west don't...is it possible due to the burr being cast that it isn't machined as precise to be level within the thickness of a sheet of aluminum foil? I can get the bottom half rubbing by itself, top half by itself, and just now settled on most of the top and most of the bottom with some gaps on the left and right, but never the full circle.

does this work with the cast lab sweets from ssp on df64 set up. Thanks!

Can you align conical hand grinder burrs? From a 1zpresso j ultra for example

This technique should be applicable to the Fellow Ode (with SSP MP) too right?

when u get a clean wipe do u really have to do it with tge stationary burr also? i mean bec theyre alrdy perfectly flat, if u start fiddling with the other variable ( the stationary one) wont it give it a chance to get misaligned again?

Does your grinder used in this video same as feima n600?

Lance don't you have to do the fixed burr first and then the moving burr? Isn't the fixed burr the reference point and then we align the moving burr to it?

Say you got the moving burr aligned, by the time you change the alignment of the stationary burr wouldn't the moving burr be misaligned again?

I highly recommend the tesa 50565 Aluminium Foil Tape as it makes the whole process a lot easier!

Well, I have an interesting challenge ahead of me. I found an old Chemex coffee grinder from the 1980's at a garage sale, opened it up and was surprised to find out it is a flat burr grinder. I wonder if it's worth trying to align the burrs. It looks kinda cheap, I didn't even know Chemex made these.

Kitchen foil shim may not last long enough to hold the grinding burr well aligned. Burrs are moving so fast and grinding each other. Owners manual does not mention about this. 😂

How much of a difference do you think a torque screw driver makes, for aligning?

I have the early v1 ssp brew burrs in my ode. When looking for ode alignment info, I read somewhere that because of the slightly raised outside edges/teeth that the marker test would not work. Have you ever performed this test on those specific burrs?

Does this alignment stuff work on ghost teeth burrs as well?

Please help, we have a grinder based off Mazzer Major's design...I couldn't for the life of me get the burrs aligned with shims :/ under the lower burr is a plate that appears bent deliberately to accommodate a tension ring. Could this be the cause of my frustrations? The contact point at the moment is about a 1/2 inch length section and I just can't seem to improve upon it.

Do I need to align the burrs on my Eureka mignon Specialita ?

Do you clean off the marker completely when you're done? If yes, how?

I’ve seen so many recommend shims only near the screws to prevent warping. You’re not in that camp so curious to hear your thoughts on it.

Wouldn't burr touching cause damage?

Does the Urbanic come aligned?

In all the videos that have this grinder, we never get to see it actually grind coffee. I was hoping to see it to get an idea of it's pitch/volume. I'm planning on buying one, any idea how long it takes to get to the US from Korea?

I got the bottom burr for my specialita to rub completely. Then the top burr only rubs off 2/3 with two 12 micron shims. After 3 hours I gave up!