Post by sugaralchemy on Jun 23, 2006 12:38:54 GMT -5
I have discovered something quite surprising and perhaps a little disturbing. As you may know, I have been on the warpath to locate more Santhas. Well, I now have two of them side-by-side, one which I have had for quite a while and another I just got. After finishing the modification of the cover (imagine the factory pre-ventillated models and double the size of the holes drilled and add 50% more holes - that's what mine looks like, I figured there's no point on skimping while I've got it under the drill press.)
When I was working with the new Santha, I was surprised at the difficulty of taking the cap that holds the grinders down on and off. My original grinder was virtually trivial. The new one was fairly hard, due to the strength and slightly different positioning of the spring.
Now to the really shocking part. Side by side, the new Santha absolutely blows away the old Santha. I had made the assumption that because I am very picky about the size of the particles (If anything is over 20 microns, it feels gritty to me) and I am working with unusual ingredients and sometimes very high solids, it substantially increased refining time. With my original Santha, I was spending 2-5 days refining for a desirable texture, right from day 1 when I got it.
Side by side, I just put a formulation in the new Santha 10 hours ago. It is virtually done - and to my demanding specifications. I have a similar but not identical formulation in the old Santha that has been in there for 2.5 days and is roughly as far along in texture.
The new Santha makes more noise in the grinding chamber than my old one ever did and the new one is a little more difficult to turn when dry.
Has anybody else experienced this huge difference? Has anybody else even done a comparison? I think I will have to be contacting Santha shortly. I also have plans for a side-by-side identical batches at some point, if Santha doesn't have a good explanation/solution.
When I was working with the new Santha, I was surprised at the difficulty of taking the cap that holds the grinders down on and off. My original grinder was virtually trivial. The new one was fairly hard, due to the strength and slightly different positioning of the spring.
Now to the really shocking part. Side by side, the new Santha absolutely blows away the old Santha. I had made the assumption that because I am very picky about the size of the particles (If anything is over 20 microns, it feels gritty to me) and I am working with unusual ingredients and sometimes very high solids, it substantially increased refining time. With my original Santha, I was spending 2-5 days refining for a desirable texture, right from day 1 when I got it.
Side by side, I just put a formulation in the new Santha 10 hours ago. It is virtually done - and to my demanding specifications. I have a similar but not identical formulation in the old Santha that has been in there for 2.5 days and is roughly as far along in texture.
The new Santha makes more noise in the grinding chamber than my old one ever did and the new one is a little more difficult to turn when dry.
Has anybody else experienced this huge difference? Has anybody else even done a comparison? I think I will have to be contacting Santha shortly. I also have plans for a side-by-side identical batches at some point, if Santha doesn't have a good explanation/solution.