KAM is cursed.
My old new love KAM, is cursed. Or so it seems.
He committed suicide 2 weeks ago, by walking himself off the kitchen bench whilst mixing dough.
I finally had him replaced and on the second use the height adjustment was somehoiw altered and just scraped the bowl so hard that the protective white covering of the dough hook scraped clean off.
The bowl seems alright. A few scratches, on the bottom, but seemed enough to mix up another batch of dough (as I threw out the now contaminated dough in the bowl) which the paddle attachment.
I think KAM is trying to leave me. :(
Perhaps the bread goddess/god of hearth and home does not want me making bread with a machine? Or perhaps I am just tooo bloody dopey to pay atention to whats going on.
What ever it is, I wont be making bread by mixer for quite a while again.
GAH!
TGB
Comments
Greenbaker,
Don't lose heart. It happens to me too but I've had the good fortune to catch mine before it took a dough-dive off the counter. Now I take a clamp I got at the hardware store and clamp the edge of the base of the mixer to the edge of the counter. No more mixer-wander.
I walked my ancient (1972) Kenwood mixer off the counter about fifteen years ago, and broke the pretty cover from the attachment section, but the mixer still works. For a while I used to turn it off if I moved away, but then I discovered, if I put a soft rubber mat on the counter it didn't walk anymore, but sank into the mat. I wish I had a picture of it, but I don't even remember where I got it.
Maybe a computer mousepad would work the same way? That's what we put under our hand-crank pasta maker to stop it from wandering around as the handle is being turned.
-Elizabeth
Hmmmmm thanks for the advice cordel, I will keep an eye out for something similar.
This new mixer seems to be a little more stable than KAM1, so we shall see how he goes....once I replace my hook that is :S
TGB
I use Grip-it Shelf Liner under my DLX, it works well. Though I must admit the only time the DLX moved, I think I had spilled some flour that probably managed to get under the feet of it.
Russ
lol!
Thanks for the advice Darkstar!
I am not sure if my Kitchn has enough room for them though....nor do I think I have much luck with those things.
I used to carve wood, and the one sI used, didnt really do much in the way of keeping things steady. :S I may have been that I just wasnt doing it right. :S
I have put the new mixer in a more confined space where he cant mix himself off the bench :) Once I replace the hook, I will be sure to not make bread on 5 hours sleep, and to always check the height adjustment as well as his escape route!
TGB
I know it's wrong to laugh at the misfortunes of others but you can't really blame me. The phrasing is too funny:
Perhaps KAM has joined the green movement and this was a protest move?
I too have been in a similar situation. A couple of years ago, I decided to mix slack dough in our food processor as per the instructions (I thought) in Carol Fields' "The Italian Baker". Ha! I made +$35 bread that day.
While the dough was being mixed, there was an ominous sounding *crack* as the shaft broke. I had to finish kneading by hand. It cost about $35 to fix the food processor. Needless (I almost typed "kneadless") to say, I have NOT used the food processor for mixing bread dough ever again.
-Elizabeth
Goodness me Elizabeth!
I am not the only one ot have had appliance mishaps!
Yes, I think KAM has joined the green movement! :( pitty.....I like his bread!
TGB
You don't have to worry about any protective coating coming off again, in any future doughs, so keep using it. Funny that it stopped being protective....the coating... protecting the paddle... like protection should... like it should protect... the paddle... from distruction.
Can you claim lack of protection? (and get replaced protection?)
Mini O
What makes me wonder Mini, is why on earth it neeeeeds a protective coating :S I dont thionk its stainless steel and hence gather its aluminium and dont really want that stuff in my dough :S Not to mention, the force was so great that the dough hook was twisted! Yikes! I dont think I'll go sticking my fingers in the bowl while its still plugged in again ;S
I dont think I can claim anything, but I am sure if I quote your reply that I will confuse em enough to get a whole new mixer (again!)
lol!
TGB
I actually had it longer and then shortened it. It was beginning to sound like "How much wood , could a woodchuck chuck..." By all means use it.
I wouldn't want alu either. Even if one day they come up with alu paddle, clear as glass.
Mini O
I'm chuckling over your post....
and, Thegreenbaker, I had a heart-attack when I read the first few words of your post. I couldn't bare to think of one of us breadbakers taking ourselves, 'out', our craft is simply too rewarding.
lol....thanks for the chuckles
So sorry to hear about KAM.
Just a hint, which you may already know: if you lift up the head, there where the head and the base connect is a screw that seems to have no purpose. It actually raises and lowers the beater. So take a flat screwdriver (I use a butter knife ;-) and turn the screw just a quarter or an eighth to the left, which will raise the beater just a snick and prevent the coating from being scraped off.
If it's any consolation, I did in my paddle beater the same way and had to get a new one. Amazon now sends me regular sales pitches wondering if I've done in any more KAM parts ;-)
I can also relate: I did a bad bad thing to my Zojirushi bread machine. Set it to go at bedtime and woke up to find it had plunged to its death, face down on the kitchen floor, resting on a pile of dough. Yuck. I think it was a sign that I ought to stick to the KAM.
Windi
Hi Windi,
lol. oh no your bread machine! Its a little funny to hear others have done similar things as I have done. :)
I adjusted the arms height after the hook was buggered. I looked at it today and it is even a little twisted! WOW! that gear box must be tough!
Thanks for the heads up as to where to purchase another hook! I didnt think it would be covered by the warranty as it was my fault (I think)
TGB