Death (and resurrection?) of a KA mixer

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

subfuscpersona

Sous Chef
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
Messages
561
My beloved KA (K5-A) mixer, which is probably older than the combined ages of both my children, died shortly before Thanksgiving. It went "ker-chunk, ker-chunk, ker-chunk" (a KA equivalent of a death rattle?) and stopped.

Dismay does not begin to describe my reaction! In desperation I purchased a 2nd-hand one (K5-SS) from eBay. The Thanksgiving holiday was rescued but...

The replacement went belly up shortly before Christmas. This time no warning, just didn't turn on one morning.

I am so bummed! I have located an authorized service center in the wilds of Brooklyn and a friend has promised to transport car-less me (plus mixers) to same in the near future.

Only up side of the saga is that I have learned to make pastry entirely by hand and have been reminded that it is pretty easy to make bread by hand too.

Both KAs are the old kinds when they were manufactured by Hobart so I'm hoping they're worth repairing. Stay tuned...
 
Subfuscpersona I can tell that we both share a very deep rooted love of KA mixers! Though I must confess that I don't own one, it (thus far) exists only in my kitchen fantasies.

I hope that you are able to "resurrect" at least one of your two mixers. It seems such a shame (and a little curious, considering you bought it off ebay - did the past owner perhas encounter issues with it to?) that the second one would bite the dust so quickly. Keep as informed as to how the revivial goes. I'll keep my mixing spoons crossed for you :)
 
Ah, the joy of doing things by hand. How difficult to get used to after KA comes into your life! My sympathies, subfuscpersona.

You are talented, however, and will rise above this crisis, I have no doubt.
 
Throw Away Society

Guess you don't have to look back. Those kind of times where you could get things repaired are GONE! Guy who came to my house to fix washer told me to go get new one. Cost more to repair it than to buy new one. Does that upset you? did me. someone told me when the car I drive stops running, just leave on the side of the road and get new one. He said you see all the cans on the road one day will have junker cars. This was my nephew and he is young man. I feel your pain as I want to keep things that work so well as long as possible. That is it you never get warning. Different world. I liked the old one. Sorry if I sound upset. It sure hurts.
 
I have a Westinghouse Mixer with the juicer attachment that sits on top that I purchased in 1951 and it still works...it is on the top shelf of my cupboard. I have a picture of it with orange juice in the large glass bowl (came with two Pyrex Bowls) thought about sending them a copy but couldn't find an address.
Marge
 
I feel your pain. My KA-5, also an old Hobart-manufactored one, has developed a loose connection somewhere in the wiring, and it cuts in and out while I'm trying to use it. I need to get it cleaned up and take it in to my job and let the Maintenance tech look at it, as he fixed one of the other cook's KA mixers as well.
 
In the Kitchen said:
Guess you don't have to look back. Those kind of times where you could get things repaired are GONE! Guy who came to my house to fix washer told me to go get new one. Cost more to repair it than to buy new one. Does that upset you? did me. someone told me when the car I drive stops running, just leave on the side of the road and get new one. He said you see all the cans on the road one day will have junker cars. This was my nephew and he is young man. I feel your pain as I want to keep things that work so well as long as possible. That is it you never get warning. Different world. I liked the old one. Sorry if I sound upset. It sure hurts.
I feel your pain. You could repair the washer, but it is not economically feasible to do so. I wonder when society will have to revert back to repair because there won't be anyplace left to throw things away. DH sometimes gets upset when I bring stuff from school to recycle, since we don't have recycling at school.
 
Dove said:
I have a Westinghouse Mixer with the juicer attachment that sits on top that I purchased in 1951 and it still works...it is on the top shelf of my cupboard. I have a picture of it with orange juice in the large glass bowl (came with two Pyrex Bowls) thought about sending them a copy but couldn't find an address.
Marge
That is so neat Marge, and proof-positive that many things are just not built like they used to be. I went looking for an address for you, but the best I could find was the offical Westinghouse website. They don't seem to list one there, but there are numerous phone numbers for different things that they make, including one for small kitchen appliances. Perhaps if you gave them a call they could tell you an address where you could send your photo to (please share it with us too :)).

Westinghouse Customer Service
 
You need to find someone who tinkers with things. I do I love repairing old stuff, I admit I haven't worked on a mixer like you speak of. Newer products are made to fall apart and they make them hard to get apart without breaking them for good, But if there is a will there is a way. You should try to get a repair book for it. Hobart if memory serves me right was a well built machine, Which puts it in the repair pile as far as I am concerned . Do you have the Manual with these machines ? If you can't get them repaired let me know I might be able to fix it, but I would want you to try there first. I have repaired a few machines that Professionals have said can't be fixed, But you need to look there first as I tinker.
 
Repairable

Here I am on a soapbox. Maybe I have lived too long. Well, I would want the same for future generations to feel the same way I do. My brothers all had cars that they could fix when they were still chrome and not computerized (word?) Now they have to take to garage to find out what is wrong. This business with the windows really floors me. Everytime I open the window I fear it won't go back up. (anxiety!) especially in the summertime when I rather open window than turn on air conditioning. I never had all this electronic stuff till my last year when my 83 gave problems. I could see the street through the floor and I just didn't look down there too much. I loved my old car. If I parked on lot and someone scraped it I didn't notice as much as I do now. When people park next to me on the lots, they don't even care if you are in the car or not they open their doors and bang the side. What can you do? They just shrug their shoulders and laugh. HO HO HO.

i guess I voice my feelings on this computer. To discuss with the gals I pal with they think I am strange anyway. They worry about if their nails are done! I am lucky I have nails. Got to go with the flow. If I told them the way I type on computer they would really think I lost 'it'. Thanks for putting up with me and relieved you feel the same way about things being unfair.

My one son drives 84 Volvo everyday and leaves newer one in garage for emergency. He is thinking about getting scooter. He can almost take the whole car apart. Guy at garage said they really don't make the parts for it anymore. ???????????????????? Nephew has 84 Malibu, brother 83 AstroVan, other brother 78 Ford and all the rest have cars they had to buy. No other choice. All have computers to depend on. Wonderful!
 
Last edited:
forthcoming(?) resurrection of dead KA mixers

I am departing early tomorrow to retrive my two formerly dead Hobart-KA mixers. They have been hanging out in a certifed KA appliance service center in Brooklyn for the past several weeks, during which time each one has undergone the equivalent of a heart-lung transplant.

The service center gurantees that they will be returned in such extraordinary condition that they should last a lifetime. Now, the definition of a lifetime is a bit unclear but if they do, indeed, last the rest of my lifetime I will be well satisfied.

I do believe I have actually experienced a kind of withdrawal during their absence. Whenever I gaze at the empty spot on my baking counter where my KA mixer formerly resided, my eyes tear and I experience a feeling of loss. These are not machines - they are my long-term friends. I miss them.

BTW. it may be of interest to any of you with Hobart manufactured KA mixers to know the feedback I got from this service center (they're extremely friendly and knowledgeable). They do buy "broken" appliances if you don't want to pay the cost of the repair. They're not too interested in KA mixers manfuactured by Whirlpool (the company that makes all the current KA brands). Both my mixers were made by Hobart (the firm that started the manufacture of KA mixers). My Hobart model KA-K5SS was recommended for repair. My Hobart model KA-K5A (even older than the K5SS model) was not only recommended for repair BUT they said they would *buy it from me* if I didn't want to have it repaired. They said they have people who come to them asking if they ever get in the KA K5A model so I guess it just goes to show that if something was really well made, people know it and are willing to buy it.

I am so excited! Will tell you the result in a few days...:chef:
 
KA Mixers resurrection - they're baaaaaaaaack!

Both KA mixers, the K5-A and K5-SS have undergone the equivalent of a heart-lung transplant and have been returned to me.

The cost wasn't cheap but for the cost of one new KA mixer I now have two. I am pleased (so far) with the repair of the K5-SS but not so much with the repair of the K5-A mixer (it shows no increase in rotational speed from speed 1 through speed 4, which it should do - above speed 4 I get the expected increments in rotational speed). Both are under warranty and I will be calling the repair place to complain about the K5-A.

It is interesting that my ancient (and most beloved) K5-A was targeted by the repair shop as the *better* of the 2 models. If I had not been willing to pay the repair price for this model, they said they would be willing to buy it (broken!) from me.

I do stress these mixers - I use them for pastry-making, kneading dough for bread, grinding meat, grating hard cheeses and even milling flour from whole grain. Given the 6-months warranty on repair I intend to test them to their fullest.

Stay tuned for whether this repair shop (BTW, it is an authorized KA repiar center) will stand by the warranty.

Wish me luck :chef:
 
Back
Top Bottom