Mixing Dough With A KitchenAid Mixer


 
You can't go wrong with the KA. You see them in more professional kitchens than just about anything else (save for Hobart) but generally KA is what they have for their counter top machines
 
LMichaels said:
You can't go wrong with the KA. You see them in more professional kitchens than just about anything else (save for Hobart) but generally KA is what they have for their counter top machines
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I took the liberty to make a few pretzels today, and the mixer purred right along under load. Hope that new food safe grease I discovered works as advertised.
 
The one I suggested or that white crap they sell on FLeaBay claiming to be the proper stuff. If it's the white stuff I will again urge you strongly to get that crap out of there. I just got done rebuilding 2 more units someone had done a DIY on with that s^&t and between the horrid smell stinking up my workshop, the torn up gears and bearings you cannot imagine how awful it is. Honestly you'd be better off cleaning that err stuff outta there and putting plain old wheel bearing grease in there than this other stuff which is nothing more than door hinge (white lithium) grease and NOT meant for high or Extreme Pressure (EP) use and applications. So this makes 3 machines I have gotten in because of that grease. Honestly Rusty get it outta there! As for good old wheel bearing grease not being food safe, Honestly would not worry about it. If you look at the MSDS sheet for the actual garbage KA installs in it and the plain old wheel bearing (chassis) grease they read the same for toxicity. Years ago when the KA brand was owned by Hobart that's what they put in there anyway. But trust me on this my friend
 
This is what I used...

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Oh I thought you had bought that sh^&y stuff they sell on FleaBay in a plastic cup nothing but white lithium door hinge grease. The stuff you fond is very much like what I use. I haven't had a failure yet with it so I have to believe it's doing it's job. Let me know how this holds up long term. It seems to be a better price than what I am using. The product I have been buying is typically over $20 a tube and my yield is only 2 machines per tube. This one looks to be much more reasonable plus I can buy it in larger containers.
 
The pizza turned out nice! Some of the best crust I've made so far.

For what it's worth, I load my pizzas up with at least 8 ounces of cheese, 8 ounces of sausage, half a pack of pepperoni, half a bell pepper, half a can of olives, half a pint of mushrooms (lol), etc.

:cool:

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Rusty James said:
The pizza turned out nice! Some of the best crust I've made so far.

For what it's worth, I load my pizzas up with at least 8 ounces of cheese, 8 ounces of sausage, half a pack of pepperoni, half a bell pepper, half a can of olives, half a pint of mushrooms (lol), etc.

:cool:

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Now let's see how you pick up a slice of that pizza. ;)
 
Rusty it looks good though perhaps a little "light" on grease. I fill them up quite a bit more than that using almost half a tube. One advantage the older "Hobart" design has is it holds quite a bit more grease. I think it's a reason I see so much fewer failures on the old "K" series machines of actual parts after the OEM grease breaks down and turns either totally hard or into liquid and runs out all over people's food.
That gear train gets much hotter than the old K series one and I believe it's because of not holding as much grease and because the OEM stuff is such crap. I have been experimenting with using the clear/white synthetic with Teflon in the large frame units like yours and seeing how they hold up. I just got one back for warranty BUT it was not for lube or gear train failure. It is an over heating motor. I put in another motor from a known good machine and will rebuild the motor I took out. But gear train with the teflon type grease is still very quiet and running cool. So time will tell.
Up to then I had been using an Extreme Pressure Moly type grease given the propensity of the gear train to over heat on these and causing grease and mechanical failure. I have machines out there with that in them for over 5 years now and have not seen one come back.
Truth be told I think I still trust the Moly blend grease to the teflon and may actually go back to it since the design is such on this style *your type machine" that grease will never be able to drip through to food so going with a so called "food safe" product is not really necessary plus my cost for the stuff is MUCH lower (only about 1/4 the cost of the Teflon) and I do think it may still perform better in this application
 
I should have posted a photo of the gear housing cap. There is quite a bit grease in the cap, and some of it looks like a congealed mold of sorts. Is that normal?
 
Would like to have seen that. Some of the grease will be naturally thrown to a side and as the box gets warm it flows more. But with my TriFlow brand I have never seen that in the way you describe. So not really sure. I really would like to find a less expensive alternative but keep the quality. Especially on those large frame machines as they're so hard on the gear train. It's funny they have a lot of power but the gear train is not as robust as the one in the older style (Hobart designed) machines i.e. the Classic style and the original lift bowl type with the narrow frame and Hobart designed head unit.
 
This guy does a pretty decent job but he's doing a crude job of re-calibrating the speed settings. I use an electronic tachometer and set everything right to factory spec. There are a couple "gotchas" he does not cover but overall this can get you by. Use at your own risk though.
 
HA so I did LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhqW43_vq5A
Be aware if you mess with the speed control getting it "right" without a tachometer is really hard. My advice is once you get the head separated from the base, and the planetary off (very tricky to do with no damage BTW), than separate the lower gearbox housing from the upper, just wipe it out. As long as your machine currently runs through all speeds and there is a distinct difference between speed 8 and 10, my advice is leave everything under there alone. As long as you're not going to try to convert it over to the synthetic food grade grease just wipe out all the old stuff and load it back up with fresh. Honestly you can get a good quality chassis grease (automotive grease) and use it and it will perform MUCH better than the OEM crap. Years ago that is what was in the old Hobart machines, than I am sure some lawsuit happy person caused a switch to the so called "food safe" product. Funny though, if you look at the MSDS sheet for the KA OEM stuff and plain old chassis grease. Could not tell which was which.
If you decide to go with very high end synthetic food safe grease i.e. the TriFlow product I use you have to get rid of every last bit of the old KA junk. The slightest bit left behind will ruin the new stuff.
Which of course means you would have to pull the whole motor part apart and now you have a problem on your hand. I only use the very high end stuff because I sell my machines and I don't want the liability. But for my own machines I use high end automotive greases
 
Larry, can you recommend a decent pair of snap ring pliers? The holes on the Kitchen Aid snap rings are so tiny, I had to borrow a pair of pliers from a mechanic, but they were far from perfect. Is Harbor Freight a good place to start?

I plan to dissemble the planetary unit and see how the lube is holding up.
 
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Ha! There's a reason that's also referred to as Hazard Fraught.... You might get lucky, you might not. Their hand tools have some use, don't expect good dimensional control on sockets and wrenches. Their torque wrenches do calibrate fairly well (don't store a torque wrench dialed up, but you know that already.)

Don't buy the kit with a single set of handles and replaceable tips, the reversible style is okay. You'll have much better luck with a decent set of fixed tip pliers. Decent hardware stores and automotive supply shops should have what you're looking for on the shelf.
 
The ones I have are back from my old office equipment repair days.
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As for how bad HF is or is not frankly I find most of their stuff as well made as anything else available to consumers if not superior. Sure the stuff may not be up to use in a hard environment such as being a professional mechanic but they're certainly up to about any task most people can give the stuff I was just in there yesterday. I regularly buy their tools and have no issues with them especially when you factor in the cost compared to other brand name stuff.
Also, with that type gear box honestly it you're going to open it up I would get that crap grease you bought outta there no ifs ands buts. Clean it out thoroughly and go with the synthetic stuff we talked about. I have 2 of my 6qt machines at with a guy that does a LOT of baking nearly commercial quantities for a local VietNow chapter. So much and so heavy he managed to burn out a motor in one I sold him a year ago. I slapped a new motor in it for him and had a look in the gear box after a year of this kind of abuse and no wear whatsoever. Because I was "under the hood" so to speak I did refresh the grease but saw no wear on any of the gears and bearings but if you bought that stuff they sell in the cup with the gears on FleaBay odds are you may find pretty severe wear though if not I would DEFINITELY not re-use it
 
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