Step 3: adjusting clearance and speed.

[Mosca]

Take off the back cover. There are 3 screws. The top two adjust low speed, and the bottom one adjusts high speed.



With the mixer set to “stir”, it should be turning 60 revolutions per minute; turn it on, hold your finger so the planetary hits it, set your phone to stopwatch, and count the revolutions in 10 seconds. It should be 10, obviously. If it’s fast, turn the top screws clockwise; if it’s slow, counterclockwise. There are a couple locknuts, you might need to loosen them and then retighten them. I was wondering about synchronizing the screws; I dunno. If I turned the left one, then I turned the right one the same until I could hear a little slowdown, then I matched them. This machine was running 90rpm at “stir”.

Here it is at 60rpm. It’s not this loud really, it’s sitting in an echo-y space.

For the high speed, at “6” it should be 180rpm. That’s 15 hits of the finger in 5 seconds. For the high speed, turn clockwise to speed up, counterclockwise to slow down. This was pretty close for me, I counted 16 hits in 5 seconds. Here it is at 180rpm.

Finally, set the beater height. It should barely touch a dime in the bottom of the bowl. To adjust this, turn the screw that is inside the elbow between the top and bottom. Clockwise lowers the beater, counterclockwise raises it.




Here is what it should look like. (Notice, outside the echo zone it sounds normal.)

And that’s it. You’re done. This 40 year old mixer should last another 40 years.

[Spinaker]

These are so simple design and made from hight quality parts. They last forever and I love it. I plan on having mine for the rest of my life. I will have to check the RPMs on mine, just because I am curious.

[Mosca]

I downloaded a strobe app for my phone. It will do 1hz and 3hz, so tonight when it gets dark I’m going to check it and see if it’s a worthwhile tool for that application.

[dpearce]

This is something I've never done to ours. Next time I pull it out onto the counter, I'll test it out. Thanks for the detailed write ups Mosca!

[Oak Smoke]

I just asked the wife how old her stand mixer was. After she thought a while she said 20 years. Looks like I’ve got a mixer to service. Thank you Tom.

[Mosca]

KA recommends every 1-3 years for personal use, every year “if you’re using it to make money,” which is exactly how they word it!

[acorgihouse]

Thank you. I know I've had mine much longer than 1-3 years, not how long actually (but measured in decades.) I don't use it often, but will do this next time I use it (or next time I clean the counter where it sits.) The "put your finger on the planetary" put me off, briefly. I've always thought a planetary was some kind of a more flat gear. I thought you might be looking at how many of us would chop off a finger. Then realized you are talking about the spoke the beaters are attached to, but without a beater, and that looks easy. Thank you again, this is something I would have never looked for unless it just quit working right.

[Mosca]

Yeah, the thing the beater attaches to. The manual calls that the planetary, and the ring inside it the planetary gear.

[Hulagn1971]

I thought this post was about riding motorcycles. I got nothing to add.