What is inside of a pepper grinder?

On top of the pepper mill is a transparent dust cap made of PP material. It is used to prevent dust from getting into the spice bottle, and it is made of a material that does not allow it to enter the digger, or it will be scratched or deformed.

Open the dust cover you will see a black adjustment knob. Turn it clockwise and you will grind a finer spice powder. Turn it counterclockwise and the pepper powder will become coarser. So, you can control the coarseness of the spice powder with this little knob. Keep turning the knob counterclockwise and it will be removed.

Remove the adjustment knob and you'll see a clear plastic spacer on top of the white ceramic rotor. It's sandwiched between the knob and the rotor and serves to reduce friction, allowing you to adjust the grind more smoothly.

Then you will see the core component of the pepper grinder - the ceramic rotor. The ceramic rotor consists of an inner core and an outer ring. The inner core of the ceramic rotor is fixed to the center metal shaft and the outer ring is fixed to the plastic shell, and the inner and outer parts of the ceramic rotor are driven by the relative rotation of two hands. The inner core and outer ring of the ceramic rotor are full of teeth, and when their gaps are filled with spice particles, they will be crushed by the relative rotation of the inner and outer parts.

Remove the inner core of the ceramic rotor, which has a metal spring attached to a metal center shaft. Turning the black plastic knob squeezes or loosens the spring, which pushes the ceramic core to adjust the grind. The spring should not be washed or it will rust.

In my experience, it is difficult to clean the ceramic rotor using just a brush. However, the outer ring of the ceramic rotor is equally dirty, which requires the use of a knife or other tool to remove the very colorful plastic ring shown in the picture. The outer ring of the ceramic rotor can then be easily removed. So to thoroughly clean a used pepper mill, you will need to disassemble the ceramic rotor and then rinse it with water, let it dry, and then assemble it into the grinder.



The last thing left is the plastic shell of the sea salt mill, which also consists of two parts. By turning it, it creates relative rotation. Usually this part is difficult to disassemble, or disassembling it will completely damage the grinder. This part contains plastic components, so digger washing, UV sterilization, and high temperature sterilization are not suitable for it; high temperatures can cause the plastic to deform.


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