Perfex Pepper Mill Problem
I bought my wife a set of Perfex Mills for Christmas based on different reviews I saw on the net. The problem is despite my attempts to adjust the nut on the bottom, the mill does not grind. If I screw it too tight- nothing, too loose and a few flakes for a lot of work. Has anyone else had a similar issue? Can you disassemble the whole thing and reallign things inside? If so, what am I looking to re-set? Thanks for any advice.
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I bought the 4.5" Perfex pepper mill based upon the recommendations on this site. It is pretty great, worth the cost, maybe but the course grind is inconsistent and for the price I think everything about the mill should be perfect. I have a much less expensive mill which mills the pepper fine to course beautifully. But the Perfex is a gorgeous mill.
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I have the Perfex pepper mills in the small (4") and large (8"?) sizes, and they both have a similar problem: the setting nut on the bottom is loose, and the mills "auto change" from fine grind to coarse grind. I haven't experienced the problem that you have, but I suspect that there are a lot of problems with the adjustments on these mills. They look good, are easy to fill and clean, but the user shouldn't have to adjust the grind several times part way through the grinding process.
Disassembly is quick and easy because there are almost no parts to worry about. There is a shaft from the grinding handle on top, and there is the grinding tool that engages the bottom of the grinder, and there is the nut that you can hand-tighten or -loosen, and that is about it. Oh, yes, there is a spring in there, too.
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re: Germantowner
Hi. I'm new here, and recently bought a "Perfex" peppermill on eBay, to match my Perfex salt mill. It doesn't. I took it apart to see why it doesn't grind as well as the salt mill, and discovered that the lower mill wheel is NOT steel, as should be, but nickel-plated brass. It's a knock-off, a fake.
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re: gadzooks
Gadzooks!
Is it obvious, easy to see, when the lower mill wheel is not steel, but nickel-plated brass or something else? I recently found a few pepper mills on eBay for cheap that look like vintage Perfexs and I'm curious to examine them and see if I in fact got lucky ,,, or not.
I've used the real thing in the past and loved it, but I don't have one on hand to compare directly.
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foodiesf
Feb 9, 2008 05:35 PM
I have two separate salt/pepper sets of Perfex mills -- four in total. And I've never had the problem that you are talking about. In fact, I've never heard of it either. You shouldn't have to do anything other then open the little hatch, pour in your whole peppercorns or sea salt, then turn the handle...and out comes perfectly ground pepper and perfectly-sized salt crystals. You can change the courseness by swiveling the large nut underneath -- just hold the mill in your left hand and turn that nut clockwise for a smaller grain and counter-clockwise for larger grains. But that's it. You definitely shouldn't have to "realign" anything inside the machine. And if you try to, you'll likely void the warranty. I'd take them back to the retailer and get a pair that work. You'll know when you have a pair that works -- they are absolutely perfect.
