【Famous KOL Recommended】KINGrinder K6 Manual Hand Coffee Grinder with Straight Handle for French Press, Drip, Espresso with Assembly Consistency Stainless Steel Conical Burr Mill, 35g Capacity

This is a surprisingly fun unit to use once I got it up and running. Seems very well built, I really like using it and I’m not even a coffee drinker! I got it for a friend. However, the in-box instructions are TOTALLY ABYSMAL, not thorough at all and extremely confusing. So here are my tips, observations, and recommendations:1) DO NOT GRIND ON LEVEL 1, AND 0 CLICKS!! YOU COULD DAMAGE THE BURR BIT: You need to dial to at least Level 1, and 16 clicks to use the grinder. You could theoretically grind as low as Level 1, and 1 click, but I’d personally avoid it and only go as low as Level 1, and 16 clicks. You can observe that if you set the dial to Level 1, and 0 clicks, the crank handle will not swing freely, so I suspect the cone burr is grinding against the outer ring-burr and possibly damaging the cutting edges.2) DO NOT REGRIND PREVIOUSLY GROUND COFFEE. Meaning, if you grind some coffee into large particles, do not re-insert that ground coffee into the hopper to grind it finer. If you do, small coffee particles could lodge in the inside grooves of the dialing mechanism or in the axle mechanism and clog its operation. So only put whole coffee seeds (beans) in the hopper.3) EACH LEVEL AFTER LEVEL 1 = 60 CLICKS:Level 1, and 0 clicks = 0 clicks. (Don’t grind on that level, you could damage the burrs. You should be at, at least 16 clicks to use grinder).Level 1, and 16 clicks = 16 clicks (super fine grind, for espresso).Level 2, and 2 clicks = 62 clicks.Level 3, and 10 clicks = 130 clicks (used for pour over coffee).Level 4, and 55 clicks = 235 clicks (coarsest grind possible, used for French press coffee).The larger the level number (e.g., 3 or 4, the coarser the grind).The smaller the level number (e.g., 1 or 2, the finer the grind).(though I am not entirely sure about my “level” calculation. There might be a “level 0” and I am counting level “0” as level “1”)4) GRINDER LID HAS TWO POSSIBLE CONFIGURATIONS: The grinder ships in the “Drill Bit” configuration where you can use the grinder with a cordless drill. Even though I suppose most people would not be using a drill, I think the manufacturer ships it in this configuration because to ship it in the “Manual Grind” configuration would require the crank handle to be attached to the plastic hopper lid and the handle would not pack efficiently that way. You can also grind coffee manually in the “Dill Bit” configuration, but it is harder to remove the plastic hopper lid to insert the coffee seeds (beans). The “Drill Bit” configuration has a large black “O” ring on the inner lip of the plastic hopper lid. This is so the hopper lid stays firmly in place when using a cordless drill. The hopper lid will NOT rotate if it has the black “O” ring on it.The “Manual Grind” configuration, on the other hand, requires you to: 1) REMOVE the black “O” ring from the plastic lid (I used a small wooden toothpick, but you can use any non-sharp object so that you don’t cut into the “O” ring since you may want to use that “O” ring later. 2) Insert the crank handle into the plastic hopper lid, inserting the end that looks like a ratchet-socket into the plastic lid. 3) Remove the small white “O” ring from the plastic bag that is attached to the instruction card and slip the white “O” ring over the end of the ratchet-socket end of the crank handle from the inside of the plastic lid and allow the white “O” ring to fall into the pre-cut groove located approximately 1 centimeter from the opening of the ratchet-socket. The small white “O” ring will now act like a locking pin or locking clip to keep the crank handle “permanently” connected to the hopper lid. In this way you can easily remove the hopper lid and the crank handle together as one unit. In the “Manual Grind” configuration, the plastic hopper lid must freely rotate with the crank handle. If you forget to remove the black “O” ring, then the plastic hopper lid will stick to the canister body, and you will not be able to grind any coffee.5) DISASSEMBLE AND CLEAN OUT FACTORY DUST PRIOR TO USE: The instructions do not say anything about pre-cleaning, however I noticed quite a bit of what looked like residual factory dust in the hopper, coffee canister, and even on the cleaning brush itself. So, I disassembled the unit, blew out the dust with a compressed air machine, and then wrapped a large 70% alcohol cloth on a wooden chopstick and wiped out all the residual dust I could see. I gently wiped the burrs in the direction of the cutting edges (so as not to cut myself), however this may result in strands of alcohol pad being left on the burr edges. So, I then cleaned the cleaning brush with the alcohol wipe and then used the brush to brush off any fibers left on the cutting burrs and then used my compressed air machine to blow out any debris. I did not clean the axle with alcohol, nor the ball bearing donut-ring since I did not know if there was any lubricant on those parts and I did not want to wipe it off in case any lubricant was there.6) DO NOT USE WATER TO CLEAN THE UNIT: It seems any water that enters the unit may cause the parts to rust. Hence the manufacturer recommends only using the included brush to clean the unit. I used 70% alcohol wipes to clean it, but there was nowhere that I saw where alcohol was recommended or prohibited by the manufacturer, so use alcohol at your own risk.7) THE “PC” IN “PC LID” MIGHT STAND FOR “POLY-CARBONATE”: I’m just guessing that is what it means…It just bothers me to see abbreviations and not know what they stand for. “Poly-carbonate” is my best guess.8) FOR DISASSEMBLY, TWIST TO LEVEL 4, AND 55 CLICKS AND USE AN OLD, SMALL PLASTIC CAP TO HELP PUSH UP THE AXLE: Twisting the grinder setting to maximum “coarseness” causes the cone burr to protrude from the bottom of the unit. Do not go beyond Level 4, and 55 clicks. When the cone burr protrudes, you can then push it up so as to remove the retaining clip from the axle at the top. To easily push up the cone burr, I used an old plastic, circular cap (like something from an old medicine bottle or a juice bottle. It should be no more than 1.5 inches in diameter and can be 0.5 inches tall). I placed the cap on a hard surface and then put the grinder over the cap and pushed down. This allowed the axle to pop up where I could remove the “C” clip (or “U” clip) with a wooden toothpick. Take care not to let the “U” clip fall into the burrs, so you may want to tilt the unit upside down or use some plastic tweezers to remove the “U” clip and let it drop out.There are disassembly instructions and care instructions on the KINGrinder website, but they are so dang hard to find. They should have put a QR code in the shipping box so customers could go straight to the instructions on the website as the in-box instructions are ABYSMAL! But even their website instructions are poorly written. I don’t think Amazon allows me to insert the links to their website though. If you have questions or want more photos, just post a question on the Amazon page and I can provide more detail.Otherwise, it is a great unit and I am glad I bought it.