Lem #10 Electric Stuffer Broke :(

[geostriata]

Really sad. I just tried a recipe that uses less water (100g/kg), and it broke my brand new $700 stuffer. A loud bang occurred, and little shreds of metal dropped on the piston head. It now won't raise or lower the shaft without it slipping... :(

I hope they replace it. I can't afford another one. I tested this batch on my jerky gun and it worked just fine, so maybe it was a manufacturing defect or something out of spec...

Guess that also thwarts the sausage making I had planned for the weekend.

 

[DieselTech]

Really sad. I just tried a recipe that uses less water (100g/kg), and it broke my brand new $700 stuffer. A loud bang occurred, and little shreds of metal dropped on the piston head. It now won't raise or lower the shaft without it slipping... :(

I hope they replace it. I can't afford another one. I tested this batch on my jerky gun and it worked just fine, so maybe it was a manufacturing defect or something out of spec...

Guess that also thwarts the sausage making I had planned for the weekend.

That sucks. Yes hopefully they fix it or give you a new 1.

 

[indaswamp]

Somewhere on that stuffer is a sticker that states how much water to add to the meat paste with a warning that a dry paste will cause damage. This is the one on my LEM stuffer....

 

[indaswamp]

How fast were you trying to stuff, and what size stuffing horn were you using?

 

[DougE]

Either a defect, or you pushed beyond the torque limits it was designed to handle with what you were stuffing. Sucks either way.

 

[geostriata]

Recipe was 100g/kg, which would put it at about 1.6oz/lb. This is much less than what I normally do (2.6oz/lb), as I usually like extra water for wrinkles. But since this was a new recipe, I was doing everything to match.

No such warning label on my device, fwiw. Making pepperoni this time, using the smallest horn that came with the unit. Meat was cold, which in retrospect didn't help (but really, I thought this unit was stronger than that).

Here are the metal fragments that dropped when I was raising the unit. When it raises, it goes at the top speed, and it positively sounded awful when it did that and hit the midpoint. So I think that's when the most damaged occurred.

Possibly it started on my last batch, as I recall hearing a loud "pop" with the unit then. But I think the meat was softer than this batch, so I'm not really sure which caused it.

In any case, fingers crossed.

 

[DougE]

I'd think the motor would just say "NO" before any hardware failure though.

 

[geostriata]

Either a defect, or you pushed beyond the torque limits it was designed to handle with what you were stuffing. Sucks either way.

Yeah, I wouldn't have pushed it as hard had I known it was this fragile. I've pushed my jerky guns way harder.

 

[geostriata]

I'd think the motor would just say "NO" before any hardware failure though.

Exactly! That's what I thought it'd do if I tried to push it too hard. It'd just back off like when it hits the bottom (in fact, I thought that back off was precisely because it detected too much force).

 

[SmokinEdge]

Exactly! That's what I thought it'd do if I tried to push it too hard. It'd just back off like when it hits the bottom (in fact, I thought that back off was precisely because it detected too much force).

There is a magnet at the top of the shaft as well as the bottom. These magnets tell the machine where the plunger is top to bottom, that is if you plugged in the sensor before attaching the motor head to the stuffer.

 

[geostriata]

That sucks. Yes hopefully they fix it or give you a new 1.

Thanks. :)

It does suck, fingers crossed!

 

[indaswamp]

What speed setting were you trying to stuff those small sticks? too fast and it just builds up too much pressure for the machine to handle.

 

[geostriata]

What speed setting were you trying to stuff those small sticks? too fast and it just builds up too much pressure for the machine to handle.

Oh right, I forgot to answer that. Yes, I started getting the hang of it and turned up the speed this time around. It wasn't insane or anything, but at least 50% faster than I was used to. And somewhat soon after I turned up the speed, I heard the loud POP.

 

[indaswamp]

Oh right, I forgot to answer that. Yes, I started getting the hang of it and turned up the speed this time around. It wasn't insane or anything, but at least 50% faster than I was used to. And somewhat soon after I turned up the speed, I heard the loud POP.

Likely the increase in speed build up too much pressure. You can't run the plunger down any faster than the meat comes out. increase in pressure (faster speed) gives diminishing returns. And at some point it will be more than the stuffer can handle.....as you found out the hard way.....

When I use my 10mm stuffer tube (which is rarely), I run it at the lowest setting possible to move the meat paste out through the 10mm stuffer horn. It takes as long as it takes....I don't rush the small tube.....

 

[Winterrider]

Many yrs ago that happen to our #30 unit. Broke 3 sets of teeth off the shaft. Explained to LEM what we were making and what tubes, motor speed, etc. It was beyond warranty period but they did give me a discount on new shaft.

 

[geostriata]

.....as you found out the hard way..... I don't rush the small tube.....

Yeah. Lesson hard learned, but I certainly won't rush the small tube again. I hear the gear assembly is $100 or so, not sure about the shaft, though I still hope they'll cover it.

The sad part is that I did it on a whim, to see if I could keep up with a faster speed. I had already been quite happy with the quality I could get with the slower speed. Ah well...

 

[geostriata]

It was beyond warranty period but they did give me a discount on new shaft.

Thanks so much. Your experience is hopeful to know about. Mine is still in warranty so I'm hopeful I'll be OK.

 

[geostriata]

So, I took it apart, and sure enough the main gear and the shaft showed the problem:

Probably the first "POP" I heard was one of the 10 gear teeth on the main gear start to buckle. At this point, the machine was still working, but I noticed that the gasket on the shaft had let some meat through. I shrugged at the time, but I think this is because the shaft was a bit looser now when it encountered this gear.

Then, when I started stuffing again, but with cold meat with less water than usual (1.6oz/lb) and at faster speed, this broke/bent weak tooth further. This is when I heard the "POP" the second time. At that point, I stopped working and the shaft moved up. However, the machine is programmed to move the shaft up at FULL SPEED. So when that happened, it began tearing every 10th tooth off the shaft because the gear tooth was bent and it was now moving at full speed. This is when metal fragments started dropping.

The guy at LEM very politely said that this is often due to stuffing without as much water, but also didn't try to fight on the warranty replacement or anything. He sent me a schematic and told me I could take it apart without voiding warranty or anything. I then texted him pictures of the broken parts and my purchase receipt.

Was it my fault for pushing it too hard, or was it a defect in the form of a weak gear tooth that buckled the first time under stress? I'm not sure, since it was a new unit, less tested, and there was only one tooth that failed (i.e., the other teeth could take the pressure). On the other hand, I was pushing it pretty hard...

In any case, it seemed to not matter to the LEM representative. It looks like he'll send me replacements, and I'll be good to go! Really good customer service. I'm so relieved!

 

[geostriata]

Oh, and the text said:
"You need to add extra water to the meat before you stuff. 2oz extra per pound of meat for the snack stick 1/2" size, 1 2/3oz extra for the 5/8", 1 1/3oz for the 1", and 1oz extra for the 1 1/4" stuffing tubes."

So that seems like a minimum of a whopping 3oz water total per lb of meat for the 1/2" size stuffing tube (which does seem a bit much...)! In any case, since I was only at 1.6oz per pound, I certainly was much under the recommended amount.

 

[DieselTech]

Just to shed some light! No what kinda teeth don't bite? Broken teeth!!