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This page is a stub, but eventually should cover several types of kitchen equipment such as mixers, blenders and coffee grinders where the action is principally mechanical. It may also be applicable in part to bread makers and even eectric toothbrushes.

Summary

The majority of domestic kitchen electrical appliances either apply heat or mechanical force (occasionally both) to the food being processed. This page covers the latter, and these invariably contain an electric motor. It may be the motor, or the associated electrics, or some purely mechanical problem which is preventing it from working properly.

Safety

Most of these appliance run off the mains supply, which can be extremely dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, especially in the presence of water or moisture.

Some contain quite powerful electric motors, and even the less powerful could cause a nasty injury if fingers, loose hair or clothing got entangled.

Motor problems

Devices of these types invariably use a universal or AC/DC motor, which provides a high starting torque. If you're not familiar with how these work, check out the Electric Motors page.

If you carefully inspect the wiring within the motor you should find that the current passes from one terminal through each of the field windings and the rotor (via the commutator) all connected in series. Using a multimeter (How to use a multimeter) check the resistance of each of the field windings and of the rotor. If either of the fied windings shows as an open circuit then that is the fault. It could be a fractured wire or the winding could have burned out (in which case there are likely to be signs of overheating). In the case of a fractured wire the fracture may well be hidden, and even if not it may be very difficult to access or repair.

Check out the commutator and the brushes. The brushes may be worn and in need of replacement and the commutator may need cleaning with isopropyl alcohol.

Electrical Controlls

Faulty switch. Fuse.

External links

• External links (if any) as bullet points.
• If non, delete this section.