frame
After the old forum software breaking in a way that we were unable to fix, we've migrated the site to a new platform.

Some elements aren't working as we'd hoped - some avatars didn't survive the transition, and we're still having issues with attachments that weren't added as inline images, but we're hoping to have that all sorted out soon.

Identifying Compak? grinder

edited January 1970 in Grinders
Hi all
I had a look at a second hand grinder today. The data plate has been cleaned off over the years but by the looks of it I think it's a Compak K6? I've attached a couple of photos of it, the height to the top of the hopper was 590 mm and the base 395 mm.
I couldn't work out how to adjust the grind there seems to be grind adjustment latch on the left side of the body as you are looking at the grinder. But even when I pressed this down I couldn't get the adjusting collar to undo.
I'm presently using a rancilio md40 that I've de dosered and de hoppered but always looking to upgrade, however I'm not sure if I'm going to get WAF on this as it seems pretty big.


Comments

  • I can't help with identification, but if your wife cares about the quality of the coffee you need to make her a cup before she sees the grinder on the bench. WAF is much more easily gained if the results in the cup are obvious! :D
  • Explain it in terms they understand This works for me - It's Kitchen Aid quality  yada yada yada KK
  • on 1413850174:
    Explain it in terms they understand This works for me - It's Kitchen Aid quality  yada yada yada KK
    Lol!M
  • It's easier to beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission.  :D  Not that I ever do either. I want it, I buy it.
  • Thanks guys, it's not that she doesn't understand you need to have good tools. There's a Kenwood chef titanium major on the other side of the kitchen she bought me for my birthday a few years ago. The main problem is the lack of bench space. I recently upgraded from a 6910 to a Dalla Corte Mini because I happened to spot it on gumtree by chance and it's perfect as its not a lot bigger than the 6910 was. The rancilio as modded is pretty compact as you can see how much space I am currently allowed. So the question should maybe, do I really need to upgrade? On the original subject I did some reading that suggested the K6 and K8 share the same size casing and it's just the burrs that get bigger. So does anyone have any suggestions on how you unscrew the adjustment collar so I can look at the burr size?
  • on 1413899948:
    So the question should maybe, do I really need to upgrade? On the original subject I did some reading that suggested the K6 and K8 share the same size casing and it's just the burrs that get bigger. So does anyone have any suggestions on how you unscrew the adjustment collar so I can look at the burr size?
    Not enough emphasis is given to the importance of the grinder in ones setup To see the size of the burrs is a similar process to the Rocky Unscrew the top burr carrier counter-clockwise until it's off - not sure if there is a spring lock pin that needs to be pressed ? KK
  • Ahhh, I see the problem. You have been backed into a corner. Spread it all out along the bench and you'll have heaps of room  :thumb: :D
  • It's not just the K6 & K8 sharing the same housing, the K10 too. It'd just made the identification much harder without looking at the burrs. But by far, the most commonly available second-hand K series is the K6 (90% of the time?). I can almost bet this is too. K6 wouldn't neccesarily be an upgrade to the MD40, which is a decent grinder itself. But the burrs may need replacing if you find its performance deteriorating. It shares the same burrs with Rocky which reportedly wear out sooner (compared to Super Jolly). The size of K6 is probably bigger than MD40 too. If you're looking for an upgrade, I don't think the K6 is the one (at least not a very significant upgrade). To look at the burrs, you need to unscrew the top adjustment collar as mentioned above. There's a grind locking nut (located normally at top,instead of side which is the hopper locking nut) that needs to be removed before you can do so. I noticed there're some variants to the K6 depending on the model years, so it may be a little different. Closer pictures would probably help. To adjust the grind, you need to unscrew (not press) the grind locking nut located at top adjustment collar
Sign In or Register to comment.

Coffee Forum

@ 2026 The Coffee Forum, All rights reserved.

Policies

Social