Electrolux Magic Mill DLX 9000 how should it work?
I got a really cheap ($90 .00) Magic Mill DLX 9000 mixer on E-bay. Someone had fiddled with the pin located on the arm; however, I fixed it and ordered a roller and scraper. My question, having never used one of these machines, is whether this particular model had a spring-loaded arm as the new models (Ankarsrum Assistent) apparently do. I am not sure if the machine I have is working properly as this machine does not have a spring-loaded arm. I did try mixing some brioche dough with it and was not too impressed. The roller arm kept moving towards the middle and within no time, the dough had formed a doughnut around the roller and was more or else just spinng around with minimal contact to the side of the bowl or the scraper. It really didn't seem to be doing much kneading. I attempted to incorporate butter and the butter stayed primarily around the exterior of the dough and really didn't seem to get incorporated to any great degree. If I physically moved the arm so that it was closer to the side of the bowl and held it there, that seemed to help enourage the dough to come off of the roller and move between the roller and the scraper. I tried tightening the arm to keep it in a more what seemed to me to be more useful position but the with the movement from the arm and the bowl, the screw loosens up and goes back to moving more or less towards the middle without much contact with the side. I was making a two-loaf batch of brioche so perhaps had I been making 8 loaves it would have worked. Any insight would help. I have watched You-Tube videos but they don't describe their model or how it should work properly. Thanks.
The arm should indeed be spring loaded. I found this http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/13478/repairs-dlx-mixer
It may be that the torsion bar needs adjusting. Before tearing things apart, try to find a manual.
cheers,
gary
I read the post about the tension and it really does not make sense to me. I looked at the locking knob that I can screw and unscrew to take the arm out itself out, but it really doesn't make sense that the spring would be in there. It makes more sense that the spring should be somewhere in the metal housing that the arm slips into. Gary, does this seem to be the case for your machine or is the spring actually in the knob that you use to tighten up the arm? Thanks.
Patsy
The knob that screws onto the treaded rod and limits arm travel has a spring in the bore that presses against the end of the rod and preloads the threads. Mine came without the spring and it took me a week of futzing around with other techniques before I called the repair folks in NJ to find out why the knob wouldn't stay put. They sent me a spring which fixed the issue. They also said that it is designed to allow the roller to slowly return to the edge of the bowl which now makes more sense to me than when I first got the machine. The surface that the knob runs against (on the aluminum casting) is not concentric with the arm rotational axis and over time the knob will wear away some aluminum as it seats itself. You may be able to tell the extent to which the machine was used with big loads of stiff dough by examining the wear pattern.
I have not taken it apart, but from the nearly constant torque on the arm as it swingss toward the bowl, my sense it that there is a torsion spring attached to the arm pivot rod and located on the bottom of the casting that holds the arm and scraper. You will probably have to take the bottom cover off and perhaps remove the motor assembly to get at it. Maybe somebody has pictures, but mine has not yet forced me to open it up.
I think the post I linked was adjusting the torsion bar from above with his method. Like you, I haven't disassembled things to look.
From your description, I'm guessing mine is missing a spring or something that locks the adjustment knob in position. I've been using a bit of masking tape to keep the knob from rotating tighter with the vibration.
cheers,
gary
Gary,
I think you are indeed missing the spring that preloads the adjustment knob threads. Take the knob off and look into the bore. There should be a spring sitting in there - just slightly smaller than the thread inside diameter. I suspect that for you it is missing. For now it is the least of your worries.
The torsion spring that normally forces the roller against the rim of the bowl is missing, broken, or not engaged.
The link you pointed to is telling you how to tighten it up if it is there and just not engaged. When you rotate the roller arm, is there any resistance at all? If it is just flopping around then the spring may be missing. If you feel some resistance but not very much, then you may be able to adjust it. If that is the case, then the technique outlined in the link you provided is what you need to try. The implication is that the threaded shaft has more threads (probably at the same pitch but not necessarily) that run into the roller arm shaft. You will need to remove the threaded shaft in order to wind up the spring (assuming that it is there). If you pull the shaft and the roller arm just rotates freely, then there is no spring and you will have to take it apart and (I am guessing here) replace the spring from the inside.
It might be just as easy to ship it back to NJ and have it fixed by the folks at Royalux {phone: (201) 785-8840}. I have found them to be really helpful. And they have the springs that go into the adjustment knob as well. If the motor works, the shaft rotates, and the bowl doesn't wobble too badly, then it is probably worth getting it fixed.
It's actually the OP, hkooreman, that has the issue with the arm not being properly tortioned. My only problem, minor though it is, is the adjustment knob screwing itself tighter due to vibration. I didn't know there is supposed to be a spring to load it against movement.
cheers,
gary
Based on Gary's response and knowledge, I think the spring for the arm has to be missing. It just flops around. I will contact the Royalux company mentioned to see what they say. The motor is really strong and the bowl doesn't wobble too badly so I don't mind spending some extra cash on it as I didn't pay a whole lot to begin with and from everything I heard, this really is a good machine when it works properly. Thanks everyone.
I have contacted Royalux. They were very helpful and said they could repair my unit. So, I decided to send it for repair as I have heard so many good things about these mixers and think it would be worth it to invest a some money in it and have a working unit.