Squeaks wrote:

> I have never been happy with one aspect of my KA stand mixer: the flat
> beater doesn't clean the sides or bottom of the bowl. I have to stop it
> periodically and run a rubber spatula down the sides and bottom to bring
> in the unincorporated ingredients. It also makes a clanging noise, but I
> can't figure out what it could possibly be clanging *against* if it's not
> cleaning the bottom or sides of the bowl. The manual says it's "adjusted
> at the factory so that the flat beater just clears the bottom of the bowl"
> and then gives instructions for adjusting the clearance if it's too far
> away from the bowl, which it appears to be, *but* what's making the
> clanging sound?
>
> I will cheerfully admit that I am the least mechanically ept person I know
> (my boss is ever alert to my occasional physical assaults on various
> pieces of recalcitrant office equipment, as my "fix-it" repertoire is
> limited to giving the offending equipment a good whack). But given the
> "clanging," dare I use the suggested method of turning the screw slightly
> to the right? And how "slight" is "slightly"? 1/4 turn? 1/2 turn? I have
> visions of getting it so utterly out of plumb that I might as well throw
> it out and start over ;-D

The problem is endemic to KitchenAid mixers. An enterprising manufacturer is
taking advantage of that problem by selling a beater which *will* clean the
sides of the bowl:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...l/-/B0015TMHFG

Bob
P.S.: I think the opposite of "inept" is "adept," not "ept." Merriam-Webster
didn't come up with a definition of "ept," but I think it's a brand of
pregnancy test.