Quite a few years back I received an electric pasta maker as a gift. I know
it was not a cheap unit because I returned it for a cash refund the day
after its first use. We didn't even get a single batch of pasta out of it.
After we added the flour and water and turned the unit on it started to
knead the firm pasta dough. The firmness of the dough strained the gearing
and within a couple of minutes the unit stopped turning. When I opened up
the case to look inside I was chagrined to see that the entire drive train
was composed of cheap plastic gears, one of which had stripped itself of
teeth and was now spinning freely. Certainly not worth repairing as it would
only strip again in a short time. I suppose this problem could be minimized
by only making less dense doughs, but who wants to worry if their dough is
going to cost them a lot of dough when it breaks their machine?

I now hand knead my pasta dough and use an atlas hand crank machine for
rolling and cutting it.

--Brian


"contrapositive" > wrote in message
...
> Hi. Thinking of purchasing a pasta maker for my wife for Christmas. I'm
not
> finding as much information as I thought I could. I'm wondering,
primarily,
> which is more practical: electric or manual. What are the advantages of
> each? Also, are there any features or attachments I should look for?
Avoid?
> Any particular brands to look for or avoid?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -jk
>
>