KitchenAid Pro Line burr grinder stepless mod

From a user at coffeegeek.com, a way of modding the KitchenAid Pro Line burr grinder for stepless operation, reproduced here for my convenience:

I "modded" mine by taking out the metal pieces that hold the clicker(the 1-8 settings) in their specified spaces...

If you unscrew the black knob with the 1-8 settings on it by using an alan wrench (size 5/32), you see that the only thing keeping these settings as they are is the fact that the white piece with the little indents (the white gear looking thing) has two pieces of metal keeping it in a specified location, depending on your adjustment. You can see this in the picture two pages earlier in this forum post.

If you unscrew the whole front end like you would to get at the grinders(this is mentioned in the manual under how to clean the burrs): by unscrewing the two large flat-headed screws in the front of the grinder(using a flat-head screw driver... note that you need to unscrew both sides evenly: by turning one full turn on each side and alternating, in order to avoid threading the screws), then can get at the back of the assembly for the little metal pegs that hold the 1-8 settings in place. The back of these pegs look like two little alan wrench screws, which you can unscrew using the same alan wrench you used before. Unscrew them and save the two little screw pieces, two springs, and two pegs in a ziplock bag for safekeeping. I taped the plastic bag with the (now) extra pieces in it to the bottom of the machine in the little indent.

Ok, now you can just put the whole assembly back in place(without the pieces you put in the ziplock bag). Keep in mind that the white gear looking piece is the thing that now "stepless"ly adjusts your setting. Notice that the white gear is attached to a large plastic screw-shaft? Well, adjusting the screw on the screw-shaft to the left or right is what now adjusts your grind settings to fine or large. You could, if you wanted to, leave the black plastic nobbin off the front and use your hands to adjust the white gear, but I put mine back on.

The main issue is whether adjusting the white nobbin through the black nobbin is as effective as adjusting the white nobbin and leaving the black piece off. I assume this is why someone earlier in this forum post replaced the black nobbin with a copper nobbin and someone else replaced it with a plastic piece that reconnects to the black nobbin, and someone else used some sort of teflon tape(?)? I'm mostly concerned that adjusting the setting through the black nobbin is somehow less effective. I'm somewhat concerned with the fact that this machine vibrates so much... now that I've made it stepless, will the vibration somehow rotate my setting slowly?

May 13

Today is the anniversary of the May 13 Incident, the Sino-Malay race riots which began on May 13, 1969. There was a Time magazine article about it.

New glasses, finally

Finally, they got in the tortoiseshell frames I wanted. But, they are a bit tight and pinch. I'll have to go back and have them adjusted. Or buy a hairdryer and do it myself.

Jerry Lee’s Whiskey Talking

I love this song that was on the 1990 Dick Tracy soundtrack. Here's a Rolling Stone review of the album it appeared in.

It Was The Whiskey Talkin' (Not Me), Jerry Lee Lewis

"Young Blood" (Jerry Lee Lewis)

"Dick Tracy" (Walt Disney Video)