Why do grinders fail?

Mr. Grind a Lot -  july 2020

Why Do Grinders Fail?

Grinders break herbal flowers by 2 rotational pins / Teeth to different directions - like scissors. As this operation performs the flower is being broken into little pieces, it is important to understand that grinders should not crush the buds, if they do so, they will clog very fast and loose their terpene profile.
The pins/ Teeth are located on plates, which their side wall is used as the bearing flange. after using the grinder for some time, depending on the grinders quality, the friction surface between the 2 chambers starts to collect sticky glands.

once the grinder is packed with pollen, it is becoming sticky and clogged. grinders than starts to fail, they become very difficult to rotate. as you probably have seen your friends applying force to rotate the grinder you should know that little particles that we cannot see with our bare eyes are being mixed into our smokables medicine. this happens with every time of grinder out there. the safest to use grinders are made of stainless steel, however – they are not perfect. Friction derived from the same material resulting wear equally on the 2 parts, so having a stainless steel grinder doesn't make it safe to use. it will still wear out.  

What does it mean that herb grinders fail?

Grinders functionality is subjected to friction and over time – degradation of the grinder material occurs allowing  bits/flacks of the raw material  to mix with the grounded herbs, your medicine.  This leads to contamination which growers take a lot of effort to avoid at growing stages keeping heavy metals away from the irrigation system, soil and the tools being used to process. So a grinder that still spin but degrade material is considered as failure, as it fails to deliver a sterile output. 

Friction explained

Upon rotation, there is some friction built between the parts of the grinder as they slide one over the other. Watch this video to see how the forces distribution looks like inside the grinder.

Not All Grinders Born Equal

Most grinder manufacturers got it wrong. Starting from positioning the magnets on the wrong side which ends up by the flower stuck on the bottom of the grinder part. The magnet is positioned in the correct place. why is that? As placing a bud to grind up, usually there is not enough space to hold a bud at it whole, so the natural habit is to press the top part of the bottom part – as a result the magnets will not meat each other and you will end up with a little piece of bud stuck in the middle of the bottom part. This is happening as there is little to almost none grinding happening in the middle section of the grinder, most of the grinding will perform on the wider sides of the grinder as the blades doing their work spreading the bud to consumable medicine.

The herbal material is stuck and pressed over the magnet

BOTTOM OR TOP? 

Are you confused? good, you should be!

The top and bottom parts of grinders distinguished by the simple principle of the bottom part should be smaller than the top part. It is actually more a matter of female and male parts. As the male part should be considered as the bottom part which the female part slides over it. This kind of orientation prevents from the material loaded to spill over the friction area while closing the grinder.

This grinder and it is very disoriented. It functions as the bottom part but will not secure the herbs from sticking to the inner sidewall which functions as the bushing. This kind of construction leads excessive  wear and enhances the risks of metal shavings ending mixed with grounded herbs.

Grinders are traditionally secured using magnets. It's very common to have one magnet stand above or the same height of the blades. But it is very important to position the magnet in the right part and here is why.
If the magnet position at the top part is not levelled to the floor of the grinder it is very likely to tract herbal material to get pressed to the magnet in the bottom part. 

IIn poorly designed grinders we noticed the combination of the the 2, the bottom part is wider than the top part and it has no standout magnet, this kind of design will surly get sticky glands stuck on the inner side of the rotating wall and on the magnets - in both aspects, degradation of toxic materials will occur followed by contamination of the grounded material.

herb grinders - precision demanding applications

Grinders operate as a bearing, They cross rotate for a good couple of time each grind and first turn always produces more friction which generated by the moving blades cutting and breaking the herbs. To have a proper grind the teeth must go all the way to the other section to avoid dead spots and they must also keep their course, to keep a fine and stable particle size.
To properly do so, a machining precision is required which means that higher costs are added to production. When grinders are poorly made it is very likely that the blades will contact the other part bottom surface and degrade upon rotation. The picture below shows clear signs of wear

As you can clearly see, there are shaves edges to the blades and surrounding wall wall. Where do you think that coating went to?

Yes,  but i'm using a titanium grinder

No you are not. Unless you have paid for it a good couple of hundreds. There is no reason to make a grinder for titanium, only if you are looking to make an impression. 
What you are probably using is an Aluminium grinder coated by some titanium like material, which will be softer than HARD ANODISED aluminium coating such as we used in the Genesis. You can read more about coated grinders in this article. 

Yes,  but i'm using a Stainless steel grinder

Stainless steel grinders are a great idea. They will not be cheap and the making of them requires more resources, but they are sterile, easy to clean, and will hold a long life span. You can say that Stainless steel grinders have all the good qualities of titanium grinders but the weight. Stainless steel will be heavier, that's all the difference. Stainless steel grinders are a great idea. They will not be cheap and the making of them requires more resources, but they are sterile, easy to clean, and will hold a long life span. You can say that Stainless steel grinders have all the good qualities of titanium grinders but the weight. Stainless steel will be heavier, that's all the difference.

Our recommendation 

This Grinder Is Different, You Have Never Seen Anything Like It. We Have Developed A Ring, Positioned Between The Top And Bottom Parts Of The Grinder To Absorb Friction And Also Functions As The Locking Mechanism, Eliminates The Need Of Magnets. Our Tech Keeps Your Herbs FREE From Contamination, And Your WRISTS Free Of Pain!

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