December 7, 2009 - 1:34pm
wisps of smoke from KA 600
I'm guessing this is not a good sign. Wisps of smoke and a bit of electrical smell. Persisting a few minutes after end of useage. Granted this was working a medium dough, 2000g at speed 2 for 5 minutes. Is this an excuse to buy a heavier duty machine? A push to get back to hand kneading? Nothing to worry about? ... :-Paul
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Any time you get smoke from an electric motor it is not a good thing. You have, at the least, burned some insulation off some wires somewhere. I would guess you shut it down not too far in advance of something going really south in the motor and/or controls. If it were mine, I would be searching for a service shop that can take it apart and inspect it. Or I would be shopping for a new mixer, or cleaning up my kneading board.
I would be very cautious about using that machine again until you have had it checked out. Safety first, please, for you and all of yours. An electrical overload, as a result of a serious electrical short under load, is very possible if it heats up more, burns up a little more insulation and lets the wrong two wires come into direct contact. Nothing good can come from that.
Be careful, and good luck Paul.
OldWoodenSpoon
how much is 2000g in lbs? is this the KA pro 6? I think if the pro line is giving you trouble, you have to start going to commercial mixers.. 20qt..depending on what your uses are. I shy away from my KA Artisan mixer because the capacity is too small and kneading works fine for me..
my job has a 60qt mixer which I could use that if needed, I usually use the KA mixer for cookie dough or cake batters.
I mostly use heavyduty mixing bowls I bought at bakedeco.com.. you can't imagine how better and cheaper commercial products are at wholesale compared to retail.
Paul,
You are a good baker and I know you don't really need a mixer. They are handy when it comes to larger batches. I watched a video a while back where a guy was folding what looked to be a 50 pound batch on a big table. You can do a lot using your hands. When I was in your position, I bought a DLX and have been happy with my 9 pound batches but for 2 or 3 loaves I don't bother with it.
The trouble is that there are some European style oblique mixers available that will really do a good job mixing and developing the dough to a moderate point. They are expensive but if I buy another mixer it's going to be something like this.
A Santos is just one choice but they have a good rep and it's on sale for $1449.:>)
Eric
Hi Eric,
I agree with you, I don't NEED a mixer. Sometimes, though, it's just really convenient. I use it for my Dansih recipe, the stickiness is nice to just keep in the bowl and not deal with by hand. With autolyse and stretch and folds, kneading is really pretty easy with most things. Every once in awhile, though, it's nice to just dump the stuff in the mixer and do other things and not deal with the flour on the counter, etc. I fell for the "professional" hype around the KA. I don't think that I did anything particularly stressing on the machine, granted it exceeded the specs, but the specs are pretty pathetic. I wish I had known more or been a more careful shopper when I picked this one up. If I come across some windfall in the future sometime I hope to get a real mixer. Until then I'll see if this KA will still limp along enough to do the Danish anyway. Otherwise I imagine some small appliance repair guy ought to be able to get this one back on the road. I do my regular breads by hand, you'll be happy to know. My baguettes and my 40% rye, so I'm OK there. Certainly bread has a long and rich history that predates the home electric mixer.
:-Paul
If a cup of flour weighs 4.5 ounces, or 127 grams, and the KA Pro 600's limit is 14 cups of AP flour, the mixer was a bit overloaded.
That's a good excuse, Paul, for a more powerful machine or, as Eric suggests, getting those arm muscles exercised!
That's about 4.5 pounds
IF you really NEED a commercial mixer I would suggest looking on ebay first but I prefer kneading dough by hand, the largest I ever kneaded by hand has been 6 lbs.
but you have to realize the labor that goes into kneading larger batches.
yebbut think of how much good it's doing to you :-)
Rumor is he can be influenced with a plate of pastry Lol
Eric
I have a KA 600 Pro. 3 nd in less that a year not from smoke but deardful noise from the gears. Most I have ever used is 4-5 cups flour and kneading on 2.
Still hanging in now on the 3rd but still little noisy
Have a nice Holiday
Mr . Bob
I have stripped the gears on my KA, but I chose to repair it rather than replace. The person who did the repair surmised that the gears were designed to break before the motor burned out, for what that's worth. Anyway, I will save my stiff doughs for the kneading board, and just use the KA for pie pastry and ciabatta.
Until we go crazy and buy me an SP5 I have found an honorable placeholder:
The bowl was at the second hand store, proceeds benefit the hospice. Great size, medium heavy pottery, should hold heat (or cold) nicely. Reminds me of the bowls my mom used when I was a child. I fancy that it was used in an institution, there's a large "12" molded into the bottom. 12 quarts, maybe. Anyway, this is my new mixer. My only fear is the Danish dough. I've never made it by hand. Speaking of which, there's a new load in the 'fridge awaiting some folds and I've got lemons to make Sylvia's lemon curd. Better get crackin'.
:-Paul
These mixers are fairly easy to take apart. The will be one screw at the back of the mixer to remove the trim ring from the top/ mixer head(the chrome or "metallic" piece). Removing the ring will expose 4 screws to remove the top half of the mixer head which will expose all of the wiring, motor, and gears. You should be able to identify if insulation is crisped beyond usability, or it just wisped some smoke. If you can twist it between your fingertips, I would say it is fine, if it crumbles when you do, I would replace the wiring, either yourself or send it in.
Hope this helps. P.S. When I took my dad's apart, all the screws were plain old phillips head.
Rick
Thanks, I'll check it out. Nice to get a better feeling for the thing while I'm at it.
:-Paul
For others who might be interested. Here's the photo set from following Rick's dismantling instructions. Things looked fine to me. I'm going to try the mixer again, only on whimpy stuff, wouldn't want to overtax the poor dear. Hopefully I'll still be able to do my Danish anyway.
Single screw in the back.
Loosens the trim ring.
Exposes the screws, 2 on either side.
Allows the top to come free.
Then you can look inside!
:-Paul