For What it's Worth:

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rattus

Senior Member
Had to repair Wifey's ancient Sunbeam Mixmaster so she could make a cake or two for the Holidays. To my surprise it contained a rather primitive but sophisticated electromechanical governor. Duty cycle is controlled by a set of contacts which open and close rapidly in response to the speed of the motor.

Cleaned and adjusted the contacts, and now it is as good as new--although not as pretty.
 

qcroanoke

Sometimes I don't know if I'm the boxer or the bag
Location
Roanoke, VA.
Occupation
Sorta retired........
Had to repair Wifey's ancient Sunbeam Mixmaster so she could make a cake or two for the Holidays. To my surprise it contained a rather primitive but sophisticated electromechanical governor. Duty cycle is controlled by a set of contacts which open and close rapidly in response to the speed of the motor.

Cleaned and adjusted the contacts, and now it is as good as new--although not as pretty.

You're the man!
I woulda tossed it and got another! Lol
 

jeremysterling

Senior Member
Location
Austin, TX
I love the old original Mixmaster. You did well to repair it.

I have the cheap modern Walmart version. It has close to the same operation. I still prefer the Mixmaster over the more expensive Kitchenaid stand mixer.

This is the Betty Crocker baking forum, right?:grin:
 

rattus

Senior Member
I love the old original Mixmaster. You did well to repair it.

I have the cheap modern Walmart version. It has close to the same operation. I still prefer the Mixmaster over the more expensive Kitchenaid stand mixer.

This is the Betty Crocker baking forum, right?:grin:

I suspect that the cheapies use a triac in series to control the duty cycle. The better ones should use a triac with feedback to maintain constant speed.
 

BJ Conner

Senior Member
Location
97006
Had to repair Wifey's ancient Sunbeam Mixmaster so she could make a cake or two for the Holidays. To my surprise it contained a rather primitive but sophisticated electromechanical governor. Duty cycle is controlled by a set of contacts which open and close rapidly in response to the speed of the motor.

Cleaned and adjusted the contacts, and now it is as good as new--although not as pretty.

I repaired the one my wife had several times. I bought a used one once for parts once. When it went down for the last time it was with flames and smoke.
I sold the parts and the bowls on Ebay.
The mixer, bowls and beaters use to sell good on Ebay. The econony seems to have dampened the market. There are still a few guys out there who buy parts and fix them up. Lots of women like those mixers.
 

jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
I need to learn more about motors, not my strongest point. We used to have an Authorized Appliance franchise in our city; they had parts for most anything out there. I think they still have a location in Raleigh, NC that's the closest to us.

I did some repair work at a church lately; the pastor there is very conscious of being a good steward. Wanted to find new motors & fan blades for a very odd range hood. I found 1 new motor & hit dead ends on the others. He tracked down a mfr's rep somewhere & found parts I couldn't find through an established motor shop here. He also found a motor on E Bay. I told him I'd start calling him when I needed things. This man was amazing.

I've done some small bits of work on appliances; I'm OK with replacing cords, standard toggle switches, etc. I once got a 3 position switch from a shop nearby, had to order it. Went to install it, the switch fell apart. I then started referring customers to whatever appliance people I could find listed. I had no knowledge of good or bad brand names with those kinds of parts, etc.

We don't have a large mixer at the house. If we did, I'd try to fix it for sure. If I couldn't find local parts, I'd try E Bay. After what I've seen other people buy & the few things I've bought from there, I see it can be a treasure trove of hard to find items.

I discovered too, watch for hidden traps with equipment repairs. A former boss sent me to run a circuit for an electric forklift charger. Was a branch location the customer just then rented. Had 480V, charger had been on 208 before. They had no book with it. I checked diagrams inside the cover plate, moved jumper bars as instructed, etc. Similar to setups for some motors with jumper bars instead of wire leads. Connected to proper bars, as instructed. Double checked all fine print, etc. I called customer a couple of days later to check on how it was doing. It had not charged the forklift! They called equipment supplier, who said it needed a different logic board for new voltage. Fortunately, no damage occurred & customer wasn't upset. All my previous experience had been that any hookup info would be on labels or nameplates. I learned then to call a local rep or the factory if needed, if I had not seen something before. I later worked in a restaurant remodel, saw some Hobart brand mixers with strange voltage info. I believe it simply termed hookups "high voltage" & "low voltage". Well, that definition varies a lot between applications. I called local dealer & got specifics. Better to ask what seems a stupid question than to smell smoke.
 

mtfallsmikey

Senior Member
I have an old Mixmaster as well, it belonged to my Mom, no problems with it ever, and has the optional Juicer as well. The same type of setup exists in the older Kitchen Aid mixers too, but that one was beyond repair.
 

steve66

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
Engineer
Not too long ago I had to fix my wife's vaccum sweeper. The On/Off switch wouldn't shut the sweeper off. I assumed the switch was broken, and I almost bought a new switch before I even looked inside the sweeper.

But then I decided to check the switch first. When I took the cover off, I could see the problem right away: one of the wire to the switch was pinched behind the switch, and the insulation had melted through. A little black tape, and all was fixed.

I wonder how many more of those sweepers were put together with the same pinched wire??
 
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