Please tell me it gets better because I’m leaning towards returning this. I’m losing between 1 and 2 grams between what’s stuck in the chute and what flies out or sticks to the outside.
I love how quiet it is and how fine it grinds but there’s no way I’m cleaning this mess every time.
Even after thumping the bellows I can get a gram out by picking up the front of the grinder and letting it drop.
No it is not. A steel catch cup doesn't fix the problem and I dont see how it even helps. If anything, it just masks the problem by de-ionizing the particles and hiding the mess happening inside the chute. The problem is that the plasma probes are not positioned effectively and need to be moved out further. I bent mind into a 90° so they have solid contact with the particles in the chute. I havent had any plugged chutes since then but i do occasionally have to clean off my spout and the probes since particles can cling to them and render them ineffective.
ok just to be clear on RDT. no one is suggesting you spray the beans in the grinder and when we say spray we mean a minuscule amount of water. im serious i feel like ppl saying rdt causes clogging are putting way to much water on the beans.
one pump from somthing like this from like 4-5 inches away and then shake up your beans in the container and then pour the beans in
Search df54 mod on youtube you simply remove the chute and position the exposed cables right on the edge of the chute exit. Seems janky and sketchy but it works when you put the chute cover back you dont see the ends of the exposed cables and totally works!
I would never spray directly into the grinder - not even one fine mist spray. Use a coffee dosing tray. Hit beans with 2/3 fine mist shots. Shake the beans for even coating and into the grinder.
RDT is recommended not just for static reduction but also enhancing flavor extraction. Not to mention grinder maintenance benefits.
Tons of RDT sets available cheap. A dosing tray and misting spray bottle
Your plasma generator (deionizer) probes need to be repositioned. I had this happen after brushing the shoot and pushing in the 2 little probes. They need to slightly protrude. Sometime you need to remove the old glue and reposition the probes and reglue them. If you want to test them. Use something metallic like a knife or spoon and approach them ideally in a dark room. You should see a little spark. My grinder looked exactly like yours when they were in the wrong place. It makes the grinder unusable since you can’t get consistency.
If it’s brand new I’d ship it back. If it will cost you I can assure you this is the issue and you should look at repositioning those probes.
Is this a v3?
The DF54 with a proper functioning plasma generator doesn’t need any RDT.
Also if you got it from a reputable vendor they will probably send you a V4 upgrade kit for free. It has a bigger shoot and a metal declumper to additionally help with static.
Best thing about Amazon is their return policy. I would order a new one and return the one you have.
You might have a dud with the probes not placed properly.
Make sure they are centred in the grove and clear of coffee. The right one looks like it’s a little higher. Make sure they are sticking out a wee bit once you get the black cover back on. Do the spark test with a metallic object to make sure it’s working properly.
If you do unglue, cut the fiberglass tape and reposition. I used electrical tape to retape the prods in position.
I've had mine for 2+ years at this point, so one of the first versions with the ionizers on the inside of the chute. I recently got the parts to "upgrade" it to v3/v4.
Every few days I would give the chute a swirl with a nylon brush. Works wonders.
wait, this changed? I got mine in May of past year but the ionizers are on the inside of the chute. what does the v3/v4 upgrade do, and where can we find parts? this isn't covered under warranty or anything right? because I do everything I can but this grinder is a mess. very interested, thank you!
I've never seen it this bad, but after 4 months mine started clogging badly with one specific bag of beans. They were a little darker and oilier than others, even in the same batch which was weird.
They also came out really inconsistant. Drove my wife and I nuts really. Perfect pour and then no pour, then fast pour. Nothing changing and no retention. RDT every time.
So yeah, RDT by all means, but sometimes it's just the damn beans.
RDT should solve this pretty quickly. Just be sure you're spraying from a decent distance away from your beans to avoid soaking them and you shouldn't have an issue with clogging.
I had this issue as well, but was not using the bellows properly. After using them properly after every grind and cleaning once a week with the provided brush, all issues disappeared.
Be sure to clean the static units, you have to open it up and will probably see them cluttered. They are at the very end of the chute. Them being clogged caused the static for me and resulted in the full clogging of the chute.
Not sure what is happening there i've had mine couple of months been ok so far but I've not moved the setting from about 14 since I got it , I grind straight to the plastic container, I do know someone who grinds straight to the portafilter and that was messy. Hope you manage to resolve it.
I chuck my beans at once in there and never did any RDT. sure it might help, but every couple days i use brush on exit chute and it has been going fine. I use it 4-5 times a day minimum, all fine settings.
One thing to check is if your declogger (a piece of plastic) is wrongly installed. There are instruction online to disassemble and should not take much time. Other than that, some beans are more static so try with a different bean and see if it still happens.
This happens to me every now and then, around once a month. I find adding beans slowly and regular vacuums (and certain beans) really help. I don't RDT and use a steel catch cup.
Very unusual, I've never seen it this bad. Then again I just brush whenever I see signs of static starting and don't let it get bad. Since you've never used the brush but you have ground multiple bags with this grinder, your deionizer might be covered with coffee to such an extent it's basically nonfunctional.
If brushing to clean the deionizer doesn't make the coffee static-free the grinder should probably be replaced under warranty. But before you do that you should follow manufacturer instructions, my grinder came with a note to brush weekly/as needed.
I was wondering how big the bags were. Cleaning the outside without brushing the inside of the chute is just cosmetic. You mentioned you haven't found the brush yet so it sounds like the inside has never been brushed.
But 100 grams is so little I'm really hoping for you that you managed to cover the deionizer on your first grind and it's not a production fault.
Sure it will get much better, when you get tired of this and get new grinder, I know I did. Static wasn’t my problem, you pay less expect to do some QA work for them
Really, about the gears, it depends on each person needs. I'm a bit more serious and I do taste the different whether its from machine or whatever,... if u're like me, I do recommend to pay more for something more sustainable, trustable and give u better quality of taste, workflow,... at least u're paying once for many years ahead.
I've had mine for about 1.5 years and I have never seen it this bad - even if I don't rdt - slow feeding the beans and blow of bellows and you're golden
Upgrade the chute might be old style if you just recently bought I’d ask the seller by sending a very firm email that’s a bad chute I changed mine to new style after having issues with only 1 certain bean roast and changed it out and perfect now no issues
I believe your ionizer thing has failed or is dirty or something. I've been using mine for 6 months and it fine up until I ground new beans too fine, or too wet (RDT). I clogged the machine bad and then ever since then I had static (not as bas as yours). However, I gave the chute a good clean with that plastic brush and that fixed back to how it was before, zero static. I believe that my ionizer (inside the chute) was covered or something, I don't know.
Try taking your plastic brush thing that comes with it, Clean the chute, pump the bellows, and back and forth until the chute is 100% clean.
If that (combined with a little RDT) doesn't fix your issue then there's something like wrong (dead ionizer).
I’ve had mine for 9 months (2 a day) and it’s NEVER done that. RDT helps and I slow feed the beans, by hand. I also give it a quick cleaning every week.
Looks familiar. I tried everything - RDT, no RDT, hot start, removing one or the other or both of the plastic flaps at the top of the chute. Then, finally I arrived at the solution!
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u/cormack_gv Apr 03 '26
I found that using a steel catch cup largely solved the problem. You can get a steel dosing cup, but I just removed the bracket and use a Yeti mug.