My first post


 
No offense intended. One of my personality malfunctions is that I enjoy old stuff and old ways that still work just fine in the modern era.

My four Weber Genesis grills are all probably from the 2000-2010 timeframe. My minivan is 21 years old. My Ford Tempo is 28. My player piano is 95 and the electronic organ is about 27 (with a floppy disk drive). My furniture is all various shades of antique. The list goes on.

One time in a thrift store I was in line with a pair of shoes - I forget which ones now. The woman behind me spoke no English but was trying to point out to me that the soles were worn clean through. Her husband was trying to explain to her in Spanish that for the $6, some polish, and another hundred in repairs, I would have a very fancy and expensive pair of dress shoes. I don't think she got it. I suspect that her idea of a nice pair of shoes was closer to $70 than $700. I have come to understand that not everyone shares my mentality about rebuilding "junk".

It also helps that the garbage men in my town will take away darn near anything that I put by the curb. If I drag something home and it turns out to be a dud, there really isn't any penalty.

I don't have a cell phone and I personally never take pictures or video of anything because I lack that capability. From time to time I embarrass myself by forgetting about the technology that is in just about everyone else's pocket.
 
HA HA Scott, sounds like you will fit in just nicely with some of us older ones here. lol

"My minivan is 21 years old. My Ford Tempo is 28. My player piano is 95 and the electronic organ is about 27 (with a floppy disk drive). My furniture is all various shades of antique."

Love your collection, especially the player piano. I have no idea how old the electronic organ is that I have. And our car is 20 years old. Love it and it runs like new.

Oh, I don't have a cell phone either. DH does, he takes all of the pictures for me.
 
Joan -

My kids are 8, 6, and 3. They don't mess around much with anything that resembles actual meat or requires a knife. I grill cheeseburgers, hot dogs, sausages, chicken pieces, rotisserie chicken, corn in the husk, asparagus, potato cubes, etc. They do however love individual baby back ribs. Kebabs and shrimp are also OK.

I am 47.
 
Scott Smith said:
Joan -

My kids are 8, 6, and 3. They don't mess around much with anything that resembles actual meat or requires a knife. I grill cheeseburgers, hot dogs, sausages, chicken pieces, rotisserie chicken, corn in the husk, asparagus, potato cubes, etc. They do however love individual baby back ribs. Kebabs and shrimp are also OK.

I am 47.
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Scott, how wonderful. Hope someday we will see pictures of them. I'm sure you will find lots of food here that they will like.
 
Scott, that is what I was figuring. I'm from Jersey too, even though I live in PA now, and am two years older than you. My car is 22 years old, my Jeep is 27. Anyhow, all I was trying to say is that there are a lot of people on this website that like to fix up the old grills, specifically Webers and so when we do we like to show our work. It's not the most difficult thing to do, but it's also for some a first foray into using tools and accomplishing something cool like that, so go easy OK?

There are a lot of really good people on this site, and you can learn as much as you want by asking questions. I'd just say, one guy from Jersey to another, just remember you're around a lot of people who might be from the Midwest and not understand crass humor as quickly. Also, I hope we have a lot to learn from you too.

Welcome!
 
Scott, late to the party. I went on a long road trip today to get a truly old Weber Genesis - circa 1987 :coolkettle: !!!

Anyway, WELCOME TO TVWBB!

Glad to have you aboard and look forward to you sharing ideas (and pictures if you get the notion). It is true that a number of us really enjoy sharing pictures of grills we rescue. As has been said, some are basic fix up and use grills, but if you take the time to troll through the subsection about Gas Grill Restorations in the "sticky" section at the top of this Weber Gas Grill section, you will see some stunning examples of beautifully restored Weber grills. I personally love seeing a classic Genesis with a colorful, shiny red hood and the warmth of stained wood slats that have been restored or replaced with new ones.

Look forward to hearing more from you soon!
 
Any improvement is noteworthy. The are countless posts of grills whose owners simply cleaned them up, and they are welcome to do so. I like seeing them. Letting other folks know how much can be done to extend the life of a grill is what forums like this are all about. Just getting people thinking outside of the throwaway lifestyle is good for everyone. Its too bad that not all grills are built well enough to be cleaned, rehabbed or otherwise modded like webers.
Anyway, Welcome aboard!
 
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Another thing you might be interested in is our stand mixer. I found a regular white KitchenAid stand mixer for my wife for like $10 at the Goodwill store and I purchased the bowl and attachments third party from Amazon.

This worked great until I brought home a Hobart from the curb and my wife wanted it. This is the mixer you see in pictures of WWII ships. They do still make it for small bakeries. It costs a little over 3k. It is restaurant grey and weighs about 2 1/2 times as much as the KitchenAid that was based on it. The important difference is that the Hobart has an actual real gear reduction in the head whereas the KitchenAid (for cost reduction) substitutes a circuit board to slow the motor without multiplying the torque. I cleaned it up, changed out the decades-old grease, and bought one spring from Hobart. Then I took apart that perfectly good KitchenAid for parts (feet, screws, front attachment cover, etc.) to make the Hobart go. Now I have 90% of a perfectly good KitchenAid in my basement next to my various Weber parts.
 
Yep. Actually the reason for electrically controlled speed was to make the machine more versatile and palatable to the home cook. Home cooks did not like having to stop the machine fully to change speeds or having only 3 speeds. Also the early KA Division of Hobart did not use a circuit board. It used a flyweight governor together with a switch plate and huge resistor with a center tap. It was an early attempt at PWM (Pulse Width Modulation). Also it was done that way because Hobart designed the units to be compatible to DC current. Way back in the day, many early households ran on DC not AC especially farm households. So back in the 30's Hobart began using this system as it worked perfectly fine from as little as 80v DC/AC up to 140v DC/AC. They kept that system until around 1976. Then switched it to a "rectified" system. Which is still in use today. Don't knock it. It does work well. Only thing is to properly set it up you need a tachometer.
FWIW I don't bother with the old DC/AC ones anymore. No parts at all. And I am not a "collector". It's a business www.themixerdoc.com
Though not long ago I completely went through the machine (old K5A) my mom had bought back in the early/mid 60's. It was beginning to "shock" when plugged in, it was laboring a bit, (no doubt that machine did yeoman duty for my mom, my aunts at Christmas time etc). Found over the years the internal wiring had worn and one lead was contacting the frame. Hence plugged it was an "electric chair" in wait :D. New wiring, new grounded/polarized cord, new synthetic food grade NSF grease (the smell from the old stuff caused our house to stick for days), full cleaning and "tune up" with the tachometer and it now proudly sits in my daughter's kitchen. Still running so quietly you can barely hear it.
 
LMichaels said:
Yep. Actually the reason for electrically controlled speed was to make the machine more versatile and palatable to the home cook. Home cooks did not like having to stop the machine fully to change speeds or having only 3 speeds. Also the early KA Division of Hobart did not use a circuit board. It used a flyweight governor together with a switch plate and huge resistor with a center tap. It was an early attempt at PWM (Pulse Width Modulation). Also it was done that way because Hobart designed the units to be compatible to DC current. Way back in the day, many early households ran on DC not AC especially farm households. So back in the 30's Hobart began using this system as it worked perfectly fine from as little as 80v DC/AC up to 140v DC/AC. They kept that system until around 1976. Then switched it to a "rectified" system. Which is still in use today. Don't knock it. It does work well. Only thing is to properly set it up you need a tachometer.
FWIW I don't bother with the old DC/AC ones anymore. No parts at all. And I am not a "collector". It's a business www.themixerdoc.com
Though not long ago I completely went through the machine (old K5A) my mom had bought back in the early/mid 60's. It was beginning to "shock" when plugged in, it was laboring a bit, (no doubt that machine did yeoman duty for my mom, my aunts at Christmas time etc). Found over the years the internal wiring had worn and one lead was contacting the frame. Hence plugged it was an "electric chair" in wait :D. New wiring, new grounded/polarized cord, new synthetic food grade NSF grease (the smell from the old stuff caused our house to stick for days), full cleaning and "tune up" with the tachometer and it now proudly sits in my daughter's kitchen. Still running so quietly you can barely hear it.
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Larry, does Hobart still make Kitchen Aid mixers?
 
Steve Hoch said:
Larry, does Hobart still make Kitchen Aid mixers?
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No. Hobart sold the original plant and the name KitchenAid to Whirlpool in 1986. Though the machines are still made in the USA in the same plant in Troy Ohio. Lots of internet rumors say KA is building in China. They are not. Actually many of the OEM replacement parts I use are still made in USA. Still excellent machines by any measure
 
Jason Godard said:
Any improvement is noteworthy. The are countless posts of grills whose owners simply cleaned them up, and they are welcome to do so. I like seeing them. Letting other folks know how much can be done to extend the life of a grill is what forums like this are all about. Just getting people thinking outside of the throwaway lifestyle is good for everyone. Its too bad that not all grills are built well enough to be cleaned rehabbed or otherwise modded like webers.
Anyway, Welcome aboard!
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For instance, here‘s my most recent mod to my performer, where I added some brats…
 

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Jason Godard said:
Thanks, and I’m familiar with your area, I got me a nice all-mahogany hand made guitar from just up the road. I hope to visit the museum some time soon.:cool:
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Yup, good old C. F. has been making them for years! I should take the kids on the tour some day. Enjoy the brats!
 
LMichaels said:
No. Hobart sold the original plant and the name KitchenAid to Whirlpool in 1986. Though the machines are still made in the USA in the same plant in Troy Ohio. Lots of internet rumors say KA is building in China. They are not. Actually many of the OEM replacement parts I use are still made in USA. Still excellent machines by any measure
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Good to know. I always assumed mine was probably Chinese since it's only a little more than twenty years old.
 
While we are on mixers, it is also worth noting that the difference between a $300 consumer model and a $3000 commercial model that looks the same is not just the "beefy"ness, metal parts, and low end torque. Regulatory compliance is a major thing. All commercial mixers must have for example various guards to keep you out of the moving parts, and layers of interlocks to make sure that you don't defeat any of the guards.
 
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