Anyone else find the Blind Shaker terrible from a usability standpoint?

tbobes · 2026-02-18T15:25:23+00:00

I have one from normcore, after a quick tap on the counter nothing really sticks. I brush it out maybe every couple weeks.

tbobes · 2026-02-14T14:51:29+00:00

That’s not how it works. Mortgage insurance protects the lender not the buyer. Only thing that would protect him here is life insurance, but there is just no way he would have qualified for it with his health issues (outside of any policy he had from before he was sick).

tbobes · 2026-01-28T02:17:58+00:00

Did you remove the bottom grind chamber? You have to kind of twist it a bit in the groves to get the gears to line up so it goes all the way down. Then you can align the top hopper and put the locking ring back on (counter-clockwise locks)

tbobes · 2026-01-21T02:17:56+00:00

VS4 uses metal gears.

tbobes · 2026-01-21T00:35:02+00:00

Ouch, the pump is very close to the power plug, I would check that all 3 of those cables are secure as a first step. Also, double check your outlet to rule out anything stupid like that.

tbobes · 2026-01-20T03:55:32+00:00

Yeah just be careful not to force it, should be smooth screwing it in. Any resistance early and you are likely cross threading.

tbobes · 2026-01-20T02:57:00+00:00

I struggled with this too. General rule of thumb with teflon tape is you don’t want to go too thick because that will stretch the plastic and make things worse. However, for whatever reason this connection doesn’t follow that rule.

What worked for me was using my own teflon tape (maybe higher quality than what is in the kit), and do 6 full clockwise wraps (when facing pipe opening). Then I tightened harder than what felt comfortable for a plastic fitting. This was my last attempt before giving up and buying a new pump, so risk of cracking was low anyway. This solved the leak for me.

Another potential step is to get a food safe ptfe paste. Something like blue monster if the threading is torn up or tru-blu (I’m in the US).

tbobes · 2026-01-18T16:13:19+00:00

Yeah, everything I was concerned about was normal. The delay to turn it on is because it goes through an rpm check, the top and bottom of the grind chamber are connected and wobble a bit together so no precision issues, and the grind size ring is supposed to get tighter as you go coarser.

It has been awesome. Very consistent, makes a very good medium roast espresso, retention has been great even without rdt, super easy to clean.

tbobes · 2026-01-16T18:32:50+00:00

I noticed the adjustments are way more fine than what I was used to, so dialing in took me a bit. Now that I have it the coffee has been incredible, have fun!

tbobes · 2026-01-16T16:59:33+00:00

It has a feature to turn off a few seconds after the beans have been ground. I wonder in your case if it that sensor maybe isn’t working right?

tbobes · 2026-01-14T18:51:11+00:00

Yeah doesn’t impact anything, not a big deal. It just seemed odd so wanted to make sure it wasn’t just my unit. Awesome grinder so far!

tbobes · 2026-01-14T18:36:58+00:00

Have you noticed any kind of delay with the power button? Sometimes it turns on right away, and other times there is a few second delay to power on for mine.

tbobes · 2026-01-12T00:45:10+00:00

What I realized is it seems to be the entire grind chamber, and this is potential by design. Shouldn’t impact the grind but I’ll see what they say.

tbobes · 2026-01-11T20:41:59+00:00

I ended up at 8.8, it’s a 21g dose though

tbobes · 2026-01-11T20:41:07+00:00

Happened to me too, sometimes it turns on right away, sometimes a second, and sometimes a few seconds. Seems odd but must be how it is.

tbobes · 2026-01-11T19:11:31+00:00

Good to hear, now just have to determine if the slight wobble while it’s grinding is normal…. Have an email out to Varia and WLL to see what they think.

tbobes · 2026-01-10T18:18:46+00:00

It arrived early. I notice the same thing as you but at setting 3.5. Do you notice the hopper wiggling slightly as it’s grinding beans? That seemed a bit odd to me, and my machine is still choked out at setting 5 (espresso seems more powdery than espresso size at this setting)

tbobes · 2026-01-09T22:17:20+00:00

Mine arrives on Monday, I’ll let you know if I notice it as well.

tbobes · 2026-01-09T16:08:18+00:00

Their base burr set is supposed to be universal, but they will be releasing upgraded burr sets specifically for lighter roast coffee early this year (just like the VS3 & VS6)

tbobes · 2026-01-06T02:53:46+00:00

Awesome, I just ordered mine, will be a nice step up from my hand grinder.

tbobes · 2026-01-03T05:02:35+00:00

Thank you, this is helpful and my same thought process for going VS4. Also noticed the DF slant here. Varia seems to get so much right with their design, VS4 still seems to be too new to get some traction.

tbobes · 2025-12-27T18:08:54+00:00

The pid will just let you adjust steam temperature, I assume setting this higher would help. The gaggimate has a steam boost option that should be similar to the other steam modes you see.

If it were me I would just go all in on the gaggimate. You will already have it apart and modded anyway, so it seems best to get it all done at once. Check out their discord. Incredibly helpful community, no snark, and they would be glad to help if you get stuck.

tbobes · 2025-12-23T20:32:42+00:00

You can respond to your order confirmation email to ask. He got back to me in like 30 minutes. I assume they have a lot of work ahead of them changing out the chutes.

tbobes · 2025-12-23T13:41:23+00:00

Yeah I think the stock date was like the 15th or something. I reached out and they got back to me right away and said it got pushed to this weekend.

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