Team Buchan Does The Impossible

Curtis & I accomplish alot of things but last week we did something I never thought was possible.  We broke the KitchenAid Mixer!  This thing is supposed to last a life time, you are supposed to be able to pass this down to your Great Grandchildren or something. 

Curt was using the mixer to make the dough for his hand pulled noodles (this really deserves its own post) and the mixer started to sound like it was struggling.  I then heard an "oh no, that's not good".  The motor for the mixer was still running but the beater was not turning.  My first reaction was "I can't believe YOU broke MY KitchenAid Mixer!"  OK, we are married, everything is supposed to be OURS but that's MY mixer.  I use that mixer several times a week, it makes me bread every other week, cookies, cakes, I even used it to mash up my tomatoes during our tomato extravaganza this fall.

I am glad that it was Curt using the mixer when it decided to die because we immediately jumped into our roles.  Curt started to investigate & take apart the mixer while I jumped on the internet to look for possible problems & repairs.  I was able to find what we thought to be the issue and even a tutorial on how to disassemble the mixer and get the worn part out.  We had apparently blown the worm gear which is supposed to break to save the motor when it is under too much stress.  We found the gear inside the greasy mess that is inside the mixer and got it out.

Being that Curt is a purchaser for an oilfield supply store he knows how to get parts fast.  Those patch workers don't want to wait for anything, no matter the cost.  He gave me some tips on how to find the part and get it shipped out quick.  I was able to find my replacement worm gear and we had it in our hands the next day.  I could have gone a little longer without the mixer but Curt was worried that if we took too long to get the part he wouldn't remember how to reassemble the mixer properly.  So all in all I was without a mixer for 2 days and it was a $45 repair.  Sure beats the cost of a new mixer.

The lesson for everyone to learn.  If you mixer sounds like its struggling when you are mixing something, stop the mixer immediately (it actually says this in the manual).  The KitchenAid Mixer is not invincible.  However if you do break the worm gear, have no fear it can be fixed.

Happy Mixing!