Lyn Weber EG-1

Wednesday evening I had the pleasure to attend the Canadian unveiling of the newest high-end grinder on the market. This grinder is known as the EG-1 and is made by a company called Lyn Weber Workshops.‎

Photo from: lynweber.com

A big thank-you to Graham and Karri at the Berlin Bicycle Cafe for the invite to this event. I was graciously whisked away to Toronto with them and enjoyed a backstage pass to the world of a coffee-bike enthusiast and business owner.

The event took place at Propeller Roasters in Toronto. ‎ The co-inventor of the grinder, Craig Lyn, was at the event to give a talk on the grinder.

One of the most popular points of trivia surrounding the grinder is that his co-inventor, Douglas Weber, was one of Steve Jobs' work horses (not a bad thing) and was chiefly responsible for executing Jobs' last-minute impulse to swap the early IPod device’s plastic screen to one made of glass. So if you are into the coffee scene and appreciate the art of design, this grinder could be for you. Be prepared to take out a bank loan because currently this grinder costs $3,295 USD

‎As a Mechanical Engineer I want to be able to give you a deeper insight into this machine. I will try to do just that but I must admit I do not know exactly how the grinder is assembled. I am really a hands-on learner and obviously I have not taken the machine apart and I so I can not for sure the way it all comes together.

Here are a few features which caught my attention from reading early articles and feeling it myself.

Unimodal titanium carbonitrided flat burr set

• So the unimodal refers to the size distribution of the grinds that are produced. If you took all of the particles and counted how many of each size there are you would find the data to normal gaussian distribution and there would be one peak or modal. Personally I have not come anywhere close to noticing the difference that a unimodal distribution makes on the taste but some say that "the flavor is cleaner and you can really target the ideal grind size without having to work about 'the fines' skewing your results towards bitterness and over extraction". Here is a quick post on the topic and the EG-1 is not the first to claim this grinding attribute, the EK43 is usually mentioned when people discuss unimodal grinding.

• The titanium carbonitriding refers to the deposition of a very thin and hard layer of TiNiC on the surface of the part. Now this isn't something like paint that just sticks to the surface, this process is a complicated science where the part is often placed in a vacuum and then hit with Ti and N in a sublimed state using a process that raises the temperature of the part locally to accept partial diffusion of the elements into the chemical makeup of the part. The layer that is deposited is very thin- about one ten thousandths of an inch but it is really hard so good luck wearing it away with a coffee bean. That is exactly why they added the coating- to resist wearing. Drill bits, pocket knives and machine tools are examples of components which also receive a coating. LWW states that the coating reduces static and heat causing friction. The only drawback of the coating is that having it increases the dose time of your grinder from about 7 seconds to 10 seconds. My hypothesis is that the beans are not gripped the same way within the grinding cavity (because of the lower coefficient of friction) and there are fewer beans being ground because there is more slippage. The sharpness of the burrs could be a factor but the coating is so thin that this would be hard to prove. In any case, they are offering a non-coated burr set eventually.

• The flat burr set terminology means that the array of cutting teeth that the beans come in contact with is flat. I think I have geeked out enough about the burr set for today- and many of you would have more knowledge than I on this topic.

Photo from: lynweber.com

Variable speed motor drive

• Craig Lyn mentioned this and touted that this gives the operator another variable to control when they hone in on the perfect grind. Temperature is an important factor in grinding beans and the variable speed potentially helps to reduce an increase of temperature- lower speed means lower temp. Craig stated that the burr set rose in temperature only a few degrees above ambient during tests they performed.

Precision Burr Positioning

• This is pretty much why the machine looks like a telescope (good observation Kerri). At the top of the machine is the DC variable speed motor. Just below that is the burr drive shaft which is coupled to the motor using a shaft coupler. The shaft would be supported by a bearing near the top and then below the burrs. Lyn mention something about taper bearings to me when I asked him about chatter so I suspect the top bearing to be a spherical roller bearing which allows the shaft to have some non-perpendicularity and thus allowing for adjustable burr axial alignment. Having the bearings so far apart means a very robust structure with no play. Somewhere in the mix and attached to the grinder housing I suspect is the lead screw adjustment with a 5mm thread pitch that Lyn states allows for micron accuracy of grind size. That I actually believe.

Photo from: lynweber.com

Low Grind Retention

• The EG-1 has been designed as a single dosing grinder with very low grind retention. They say that if you put 20g of coffee beans into the machine, you will get the same amount +/-0.2g out. They say the EG-1 achieves low ground retention through a variety of methods, the first being design. The EG-1 is a direct path grinder that offers minimal contact between the ground product and the surface of the grinder. Pre-dosed beans are added to the top of the grinder and are gravity fed down to the burr set. Once the beans pass through the burrs, the grounds emerge into a funnel and are then whisked directly out of the machine. Less surface contact reduces friction resulting in less heat being introduced into the product.

Photo from: lynweber.com

All in all it seems like a very attractive grinder. Obviously right? With big names designing it and supporting it, how can it not be a sensation? I think it is going to be a really sought after grinder for some really boutique shops. However, as Graham Roe from the Berlin Cafe has mentioned, it may not be the most practical item to have in your shop given that you have to pre-measure each dose ahead of time.

The experience was very unique to me and I think I will remember it for years to come. Who knows, maybe I have to try to design my own some day.

As always. thanks for reading.