Lee Household Flour Mill, Model 500
A couple of years ago, I purchased a Lee Household Flour Mill, Model 500 off of ebay. My dad grew up with one of these mills, and fondly remembered the wonderful flour it produced, so I thought I'd like to try one.
When the mill arrived, I carefully cleaned out all the old flour and put it back together to try it out. It ran for a few seconds, and then the motor quit. I unplugged it, and checked everything out again and could find nothing visibly wrong. I tried again after letting it cool down (supposing that it was overheated) and the same thing happened.
I located a parts list and a users manual on the internet, and after looking at some pictures, thought it looked like the little "nub" (I think they called it a "grain break") that is welded onto the front plate was worn down to almost nothing. I contacted the company (E-M Engineering in Milwaukee), and sent the front plate to them. They repaired the part, but the mill still did not work. I put it aside, not sure what to do next, and it ended up sitting in a box for a couple of years as I moved and various other things happened in life.
Meanwhile, I still want a mill. I am very tired of stale store-bought flour, and I really think the Lee mill is what I want. Now, I may decide to just look for a 600 model, since I like the idea of the adjustable grind, or even consider a new one. But I'd also like to get this 500 model working.
I got it out again and looked it over carefully. It looks fine, just like all the pictures I've found. I discovered that when the front cover is off, the motor works perfectly. Once I put the front cover on, it does not work at all. It feels like something is too tight somewhere--when the front plate is added (not the screw on part with the spout for the hopper, but the stainless plate with the "grain-break" nub on it) the center flyer is hard to turn manually, while it turns freely when the plates are off.
If anyone has any good ideas of how to get this working, I'd sure appreciate hearing from you.
If you can send a few photos, so I can see what you are talking about, I might be able to help. I have owned quite a few Lees over the years, ( bought them off of Ebay, fixed a few up, and gave them to friends and kept a few myself ) though mostly the adjustable ones , 600 or s600. I don't think I have ever had a 500.
My wife and I inherited a model 500 from her grandmother about 12 years ago. This mill does make excellent flour and is worth fixing. A short time after getting this mill, it stopped working. After taking the back cover off and removing the rear flywheel, I discovered that the brushes were worn and no longer making the proper contact to run the motor. After searching for some new brushes at a motor repair shop, I was able to locate some that were close to the original ones and reworked them with sand paper until they were the correct size. The mill ran for about 7 years on the brushes I made and tonight they hit the point where they no longer work. I am looking t find the proper brushes on the internet. It is definitely worth fixing. One thing to note is that this mill does take a while to make a bag full of flour, but it is excellent flour. We use it in all recipes where flour is required.
Sam, I found some on ebay. It took some time going through the various ads to find the one with just the right dimensions. The ones I bought were 5/16 by 5/8 by 1 1/4, but I don't recall whether that was for the Lee 500 or 600. Here is a similar auction http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTOR-BRUSH-E25-1-1-8-x-5-8-x-5-16-NNB-/390672361778?hash=item5af5e32932:g:cdsAAOxyfSpSTHku