Monolith Flat Burr (75mm and 98mm

MAX) Espresso Grinder

Operating Instructions
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v1.95
Dear Customer, thank you so much for purchasing Monolith Espresso grinder. Design and development
of Monolith product line started in 2012 and it went through 3 versions before being offered for sale. It
is designed as strictly single dosing espresso grinder for minimal coffee waste and high precision of grind
fineness adjustment. In case of any problems or concerns please do not hesitate to contact:
hello@kafatek.com

IMPORTANT: Read all safety precautions and instructions thoroughly before attempting to operate or
service Monolith grinder.

SAFETY OVERVIEW: Any machine is potentially dangerous. This manual provides guidance on safety
precautions and techniques, but because the specifics of any ones usage environment or other local
conditions can vary greatly, KafaTek LLC accepts no responsibility for any damage or injury caused by its
use. It is your responsibility to ensure you understand the implications of what you are doing and
comply with any legislation and codes of practice applicable to your city, state or nation.

Safe operation of the grinder depends on its proper use and precaution taken by the operator. Read and
understand this manual.

The appliance is not to be used by persons (including children) with reduced physical, sensory or
mental capabilities, or lack of experience and knowledge, unless they have been given supervision or
instruction.
Safety
Please carefully read and observe the following safety instructions. Failure to do so can result in damage
to the grinder and danger to the user.

Symbols
The following two symbols are used in these operating instructions:

Safety Instruction:
Imminent accident danger if you fail to observe.

General Instruction:
Failure to observe can result in damage to the grinder and optimum operation cannot be guaranteed.

Safety instructions
Only whole roasted coffee beans may be ground in the Monolith grinder.

Never operate the grinder in damp or wet surroundings.

Always remove the electrical plug from the outlet or back of the grinder prior to conducting
maintenance or cleaning work on the grinder. Never operate a grinder with a damaged electrical cord.
Inspect the grinder regularly for damages of the electrical cord, plug, etc.

Any required repairs may only be conducted by authorized service personnel. For this reason, please
contact a customer service repair facility, your dealer or us directly as the manufacturer.

Do not operate the grinder without top cap which covers the bean funnel.

Do not exceed the maximum allowable continuous grinding time of 20 min. Afterwards, allow the
grinder to cool off before the next operation.

Do not make any modifications or alterations to the grinder. The manufacturer assumes absolutely no
liability for damages occurring from failure to observe these instructions.

Children cannot appreciate the dangers that can exist in the operation of electrical grinders. For this
reason, never leave children unsupervised with electronic appliances such as this grinder.

Never submerge the grinder in water and never operate with wet hands.

Never place hands or clothing into the bean funnel.

Never operate grinder without exit chute attached or place hands or clothing into the exit chute.

We recommend turning grinder OFF using the power switch on the back when not using it.

Usage purpose
Only whole, unground, roasted, cleaned coffee beans may be ground in the Monolith grinder. Never use
the grinder to grind other products or objects.
Personnel requirements
No special requirements are necessary for the users of this grinder. Nevertheless it is a prerequisite that
these operating instructions have been carefully read and understood and that all instructions provided
are observed. In addition, safety-conscious operation is expected.
1

1. Safety Cap
2. Bean Funnel
3. Magnetic Exit Chute
4. Portafilter Fork
2
5. Purge Button (on Monolith Flat only)
6. Motor On/Off Switch, green lights when 3
main power is on
7. Motor Speed Controller 4 7
8. Main power switch. We recommend
turning off the grinder when not in use 5
9. Power cable inlet

8
9
Safety Devices of the Grinder
Thermal overload circuit breaker
The motor of the grinder is protected by a built-in safety features: Overcurrent, Main circuit
overheating, Overvoltage, Undervoltage, Sensor error, Overload, Overspeed, EEPROM error, Initial
sensor error, Initial operation inhibition, External stop. Thermal protection will trip when the motor
heats up significantly. The grinder cannot be started again. Let it rest for approximately 30 minutes. The
thermal switch will re-connect the motor automatically.

The user has no influence whatsoever on these circuit breakers. If the circuit breaker trips repeatedly
contact KafaTek (hello@kafatek.com) for consultation as the motor’s winding may be damaged.

Grinder is also protected by Fast-Blow Fuse rated at 3 Amp which will burn out in case of overload. The
backup fuse is included in the grinder power inlet. Please contact KafaTek (hello@kafatek.com ) for
consultation if your grinder is not working.

Set-up and Basic Adjustments

Monolith ships with the motor cable detached to prevent damage in shipping to attach follow procedure
below. The cable attaches to the motor in this orientation:
Each Monolith grinder is thoroughly tested individually before it was shipped to you. The extraction test
report for your grinder was emailed to you before grinder was shipped so you can be confident that high
extraction yields are possible with the grinder which is indicator of good alignment and burr quality.

Grinder is shipped already adjusted for grind fineness in espresso range at 18g dose with VST baskets. If
grind setting has changed during unpacking of the grinder you can find setting we used to dial in your
grinder in Monolith test report that was sent before grinder was shipped. You should use this as starting
point to dial in grinder for your coffee and your machine.

Usage Location
Place the grinder on a level, vibration-free surface. Never operate the grinder in moist, or even worse, in
wet surroundings!

Electrical installation
Protect your device with separate pre-fuses (not included in the scope of delivery) Pre-Fuse 16 A-slow.
Make sure that the pre-fuse is not overloaded by other devices (e.g. fan heaters, deep freezers). Check
whether the main voltage and frequency correspond to the information on the rating plate. Insert the
plug into the corresponding grounded outlet.
Grinder Usage
Monolith is a single dosing grinder. That means that you only grind premeasured amount of coffee so
waste and stale coffee are minimized. Monolith ships with two very useful tools that you might want to
try to use:

1. WDT tool, which is stirring, ground coffee distribution tool

2. Small glass water spray bottle to mist beans before grinding with water to reduce static
electricity and retention in grinder

We use WDT tool all the time and rarely spray bottle, but we have learned that customers like both or
either so we include both.

So to make espresso with Monolith follow these steps:

1. Measure coffee beans in suitable container on scale, use 18g (grinder as shipped is in espresso
range at 18g dose). Optionally mist the beans with one spray from water spray bottle included.
2. Lift top-cap and pour the beans into the bean funnel then place the top-cap back on.
3. Place your portafilter with basket and optional stray grinds containment funnel onto portafilter
fork. Ensure that your portafilter forks are adjusted so there is some friction when portafilter is
inserted. This will ensure that portafilter does not wiggle out due to grinding vibration.
4. Ensure that grinder main power switch is on, and the motor On/Off switch has green light on
5. Press the motor On/Off switch to start the grinder
6. When all coffee is ground and stops coming out of exit chute, press PURGE button and keep it
pressed for couple of seconds. Purge button bumps up the motor speed to the maximum RPM
while its being pressed. After you release Purge button press On/Off switch to turn off the
grinder. Detach the magnetic exit chute and tap it with one finger into the basket to release any
coffee that was stuck to the walls due to static electricity.
7. Place exit chute back onto the grinder
8. Using included WDT tool stir ground coffee in the basket. For demo video please see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uezfF0aaL2A
9. Tamp coffee using KafaTek tamper ;-) and pull your shot.

Note that due to very tight tolerances and rigid construction of grinder if you grind light hard grown
beans its possible for one of them to lodge itself perfectly into the burrs and motor might not have
power to overcome since there is no play in burrs or shaft. If that happens just loosen the Adjustment
Lock and pulse grinder on and off. That will unlock the burr and then you can tighten the Adjustment
Lock. If this occurs again its recommended to start grinder before pouring beans into the bean funnel, or
lower grinder speed to give motor more power then pour beans and immediately place Top Cap back
on. In most usage cases this will not be necessary.
Adjusting Grind Fineness
Monolith uses precise step-less grind adjustment. To adjust grind fineness simply turn the Bean Funnel
clock-wise to make grind finer and counter-clock-wise to make grind coarser. i.e. you are moving the red
triangle mark on Bean Funnel towards small bean on left hand side to grind finer and to the right hand
side to grind coarser.

Rotating the bean funnel for one whole number, say from 4 to 5 is large adjustment and when you are
hunting for range its good to move from whole number to whole number. The fine tuning is then done
between the numbers. If you own both conical Monolith and flat burr Monolith, note that changing
grind fineness on flat burr grinder will have greater impact on shot flow than exact same change on
conical grinder.

Please note that these numbers and red triangle marker are arbitrary. Meaning that marker is placed in
approximation of the middle of the grinding zone for the standard 9 bar pressure profile. If you for
example use Slayer with slow pre-infusion and Slayer style shot profile, you will have to grind
significantly finer. Its of no concern, once you find the starting point for that pressure profile simply cut
the new triangle indicator arrow from different colored self-adhesive vinyl or even paper and place it to
indicate 5 on the grinder scale and you have yourself new range for that pressure profile.

Please note that if you open up grinder to clean it, the grind setting might not be at the same position as
before if you have not made absolutely sure that mating surfaces are all clean and that plastic gasket
between funnel bottom and top of the burr carrier is clean of coffee and actually installed.
Coarse Grinding
If you decide to grind coffee for other brew methods which require coarse ground coffee you might find
that you cannot turn the funnel back to finer position. This is normal since some coffee fragments from
coarse grinding might be left between the burrs and they physically prevent burrs from closing the gap.
Simply run the motor of the grinder while you adjust toward the finer side. This will allow burrs to grind
any particles left which were preventing them from closing the gap.

Changing Motor Speed

Monolith Flat includes DC motor speed controller which allows you to change grinding speed from 20-
800 RPM’s for Monolith Flat and between 5-400 RPM’s for Monolith MAX with 98mm burrs. Changing
grinding speed can be done while grinder is running or while motor is off. To change grinding speed,
turn the wheel on the side of the grinder while watching at the display which shows the motor speed.
The display will blink to indicate that non-default speed is used. If you want to save the indicated speed
as default speed, simply push the wheel and display will stop blinking to indicate that speed was saved
as default speed.

Speed change
Wheel Current Speed
Display

Speed controller
state, RUN or
Motor turning
Stand-By. Should
direction switch,
be set to RUN.
clock-wise, FWD
default for MAX
REV default for Flat
Adjustment of the portafilter fork
Monolith is designed with rails on side so that portafilter fork height can be adjusted in wide range. You
will need hex socked wrench to perform this work. For Monolith Flat you need 3mm key for MAX you
need 5mm hex key. Proceed as follows to adjust the portafilter fork height:

1. Turn off grinder power using the Main Power Switch

2. Unplug grinder power cord from back of the grinder base
3. Locate the socket head screws on the back of the side arms:

4. Loosen the screws slowly using hex wrench.

5. Once they are loosened you can move the Portafilter forks up and down.
6. If you need to adjust space between forks that can be done using Philips screw driver from
front.
7. Once done, fasten the socked screws. Finger tight is enough, there is no need to overtighten.
Cleaning the grinder
Monolith is designed to be easily cleaned inside by taking off the top plate and gaining the access to the
grind chamber. We do not recommend cleaning grinder often, maybe once or at most twice a year.
While performing cleaning you must make sure that all mating surfaces are absolutely clean since this
might affect burr alignment.

1. Turn off power using Main Power switch on the back and unplug grinder power cord from
back of the grinder base
2. You will need 5mm hex key to unscrew machine screws on top plate while taking care not to
damage the finish. You need to unscrew top bolts on top for Monolith Flat and total of 4 bolts
on Monolith MAX 2 on top and 2 on bottom.

3. While holding the bean funnel wiggle up the top plate and funnel. If it appears that you cannot
at all get them off, slightly loosen the 4 machine screws on the side arms and try wiggling out
the top plate then. Usually this is not necessary.
4. With top plate off, you can lift upper burr carrier and brush out the ground coffee inside and
from the burrs surfaces, we recommend vacuuming everything well to get all ground coffee out.
5. Make sure that all surfaces are clean from coffee.
6. Ensure that top plate, bottom of funnel, top of upper burr carrier and plastic gasket are all clean
and without any coffee grounds.
7. Make sure that 2 alignment pins which align top plate and burr chamber are in place.
8. Ensure that grind chamber mating top is clean and without any coffee grounds.
9. For this next step it is helpful to tip grinder backwards so the top is flat which allows you to
simply place the plastic gasket on upper burr carrier so it stays put. You can place a book or
suitable object under front side of grinder to tip it back.
10. Attach top plate back until its completely mated to the grind chamber and fasten the top
machine screws. There must not be any space between top plate and grind chamber. Make sure
to verify this. Also make sure that you install plastic gasket which goes between funnel and
upper burr carrier and that this gasket is not folded or kinked.
11. Optionally if you have loosened the side arms screws fasten them as well.
Changing the burrs
Follow this procedure and be extremely careful when working with burr bolts. Do not force anything:

1. Turn off grinder using Main Power Switch and unplug grinder power cord from back of the
grinder base
2. Using procedure described under Cleaning The Grinder section above, detach top plate and
funnel.
3. Vacuum and brush inside of the burr chamber to get most of the coffee out.
4. With top plate off, you have access to upper and lower burr, use flat head screw driver to loosen
burr screws and take off and replace the burrs. Later versions of Monolith use socket cap bolts
which need 2.5mm hex key for Flat and 4mm hex key for MAX. Make sure that hex holes on the
bolts are absolutely clean and without coffee. If you do not see shiny metal inside of the hex
sides and bottom, its not clean and you are risking stripping the bolts once you try to unscrew
them. You can use metal pick or needle to loosen coffee inside of the hex holes then you can
vacuum or blow them out. Bolts are tightened to 2.5Nm torque.
5. If there is radial play (side to side) when you install the burrs onto their carriers you can use
shims at 3 points around the burr for the top burr and inside of the burr for bottom burr to
center the burr while you tighten the bolts. Once bolts are tight shims are removed. Metal foil
and even paper can be used as shims. Image below shows how shims are used (shims in blue):

6. Follow the steps under Cleaning the Grinder to install top plate back on.

Replacing Fast-Blow Fuse

In rare case that your fast-blow fuse burns out due to grinding very hard beans and perhaps catching a
stone in coffee, there is a spare fuse included in the power-inlet. Follow this procedure to replace it:

1. Unplug grinder power cord from back of the grinder

2. Pull out the fuse drawer just under the power cord inlet:

3. Once you pull out drawer you will see main fuse and backup fuse:

Backup
Fuse
 4. Carefully replace the fuses, they are fragile and if you put too much force on them they might
break so wear gloves and be careful. They are easiest to push out gently from the bottom but
you can also gently press them on the side from top to tilt them and pull out.
5. Close the drawer and plug in the power, Monolith is ready to go.

Detaching Mounting Side-arms, removing DC speed controller,

detaching grinder body
Following procedure describes what is required to remove the Monolith side-arms, remove DC speed
control and detach the grinder body. Before doing any work make sure to unplug grinder from AC
power and wait for at least 10 minutes to let capacitors drain.

1. Using Phillips head screw driver remove the 6 screws on the grinder sides (3 per side) which
hold top and bottom part of grinder base.
2. Place grinder on its side on top of the soft towel. Place it on the side so DC speed controller
faces up.
3. Detach bottom side from top side of the base very carefully so to not rip the wires out which
connect bottom and top parts. There is just enough slack to be able to do so and keep bottom of
base on the side. Base might be harder to pray apart and its easier to work from the back of the
base to open it.
4. With bottom of the base on the side, disconnect all connectors from the DC controller, 2 DC
Motor connections, one AC power connection and one connector which goes to the switch on
the front. You will need a right angle Philips screw driver/wrench to be able to undo the ground
wire screw that is attached to DC controller. Alternative is to leave that on for now and after
step 6 is complete pull DC controller out just enough to gain access to this ground screw.
5. Take of the DC controller front plate by grabbing it on the side where finger indents are and
pulling it off.
6. Using Phillips screw driver remove the 2 screws that hold DC controller to the base. They have
nuts on the other side which you might need to hold to undo the screws.
7. At this point you can pull out the DC controller, if you have removed the ground wire connection
from step #4. If not now you can gain enough space to remove ground wire screw.
8. Using 5mm hex key wrench to remove the machine screws which attach side arms to the
grinder body and place grinder body on the side. Watch out so you don’t scratch the base or
grinder body.
9. At this point you can remove the horizontal bar which holds Portafilter forks as well.
10. Using Philips head screw driver remove the screws which attach side arms to grinder base. They
are located under the DC controller you removed.
11. Reverse the process to put grinder back together. Be gentle when putting base back together
since its tight fit and might need some gentle tapping to get in place.
Changing the motor
To change grinder motor, first disconnect the power to the grinder by unplugging the power cable from
the back of the grinder and wait 5 minutes. Then follow these steps:

1. Disconnect the motor cable that you connected to the motor when you received the grinder.
Flip the white clip carefully back, then you can pull the connector off of the motor.
2. Remove 2 side arm bolts on the LEFT side of the grinder when you look at it from the front.
These fasten side arm to the grinder body.
3. Place towel on the table and then lay grinder on its left side.
4. Remove 2 side arm bolts from the right side which is now facing up. When you are removing the
second bolt make sure to support grinder body motor to avoid any scratching damage. Towel
between motor/grinder body assembly could serve that purpose.
5. With bolts removed carefully slide motor/body assembly back. Make sure that you move it
parallel to the side arms so you don’t scratch the parts.
6. With grinder body/motor removed, set this assembly so exit chute is facing up and body/motor
assembly is now horizontal. Remove 4 M8 bolts that secure motor to the body.
7. Pull the motor off the body of the grinder. It might need some wiggling.
8. Notice there is a drive key inside of the grinder shaft. This key must be put into its slot before
new motor is installed. You can rotate the shaft by hand so the drive key slot is facing down.
Insert the key and slide the motor on. Reverse these steps to reassemble the grinder.

Resetting Alarms
In case that display of the motor driver shows an alarm, for example AL28 to reset the alarm follow
these steps:

1. Pull the motor driver side panel using the finger grips on top and bottom and then pulling it off:
2. Notice the location of the F (function button):

3. Notice the Operation Switch:

4. Follow these steps:

5. Make sure to use Operation Switch and return it back to RUN mode.
6. TURN OFF grinder power switch and keep it OFF for 1 minute or longer, then TURN ON.