I'm having trouble keeping my hopper (7 pounder) attached to the base of my mill. I've tightened it down 2 or 3 times and it keeps getting knocked loose from the bump and grind of brew day. I've used some aquarium glue on the outside hoping to help secure the hopper, but I'm still skeptical. Anyone else having this problem, or know of a good way to fix it?
I remove the hopper after each use for easier cleaning. Stupid question, did you try tightening the nut and bolt really hard? It's not really a strong connection...just a bit of sheet metal on each side between a nut and the body of the mill. Might have to be nicer to it.
Just to be clear, it's the hopper that detaches from the metal bock. Two nuts hold it in place. They are the type with plastic ... err.. inner washers to hold them in place. Not sure why people have issues. Maybe you could get a washer and put in between the nut and hopper. Well there are two ways to go. My first thought was to get a star washer. It's made more for a grounding wire. As you tighten it the points that flare out are angeled and will press into the metal. But before I'd try that maybe a larger washer to give you more surface area. It's just that I'm not sure how big of a circumference you could use before the edges would hit the rollers. Also it's angled there. All in all it's not the best crusher. If the hopper is compatible with the better ones I would hate to see anyone glue it and make it fixed if it could be swapped out later. I hate to ask, but are you using the correct wrenches and screw driver? I can get mine pretty snug. What else could it be? The hopper has cut out slots. Maybe you slots are wider and you have less surface contact with the nuts?? Is the 7-pounder the smaller one? I have the larger one. Maybe there is an issue with the smaller one.
Do you have enough threaded portion on each end to use a double nut? That's what they do in construction to keep columns connected to the anchor rods. They can't loosen once the two nuts are tightened against each other.
Did I tighten the bolts? Yes. I stripped one of the screws over-tightening. Will I be nicer to my hopper? No. I think a double nut would work, but defeats the purpose of the phillips-head screw on the bolt. Maybe a washer in there somewhere would help grip the inner sheet metal. If I had to do it again, I'd probably use less glue. It doesn't look pretty, and doesn't have to. Thanks for all the ideas guys.
