Our Custom 14 FP has been a reliable workhorse for about 5 years. A
little over a year ago, the original metal blade developed cracks that
eventually caused it to lose grip on the shaft. I picked up a new
blade and away we went again. The shaft doesn't appear excessively
worn, and when you put the blade on and rock it back and forth quickly
there isn't a lot of excess slop to the fit; it feels pretty much like
it always has, I believe.

It has worked perfectly until a couple of months ago. Now, after
mixing up a batch of dough or something else where the bowl is fairly
full, it is literally impossible to remove the bowl up off the unit.
This is under normal mix time usage; no overheating going on here.
Now I have to unload it with a spoon or some such, until mostly empty,
and then if I pulse the blade a few times, it "lets go" and allows me
to remove the bowl. Even grabbing the blade's plastic collar and
pulling up will not get it off, nor will forcing the bowl up with
palms slid under each edge below. It almost seems that it becomes
slightly wedged onto the shaft, even though there doesn't appear to be
anywhere near the slop in the fit that I would think would be required
for this to be happening.

I've been avoiding the dishwasher for the blade, thinking the heat was
probably the cause of the original blade's cracking... but even
running it through the dishwasher again, thinking perhaps it wasn't
clean and was sticking somehow, makes no difference. I've filled the
blade shaft area with rubbing alcohol and scrubbed all around in there
to be certain there was no foreign material possibly causing the
problem. And since the blade is only about a year old, I guess it has
to be something going on with the shaft but I understand there are no
parts available for these things, so I'm hoping someone out there has
an "oh, yeah" on this. If not, it's probably down to the Kitchen Aid
store for a more dependable unit, much as I hate to abandon the old
trusty thing.

Ideas?

Nicholas > wrote in

s.com:

> Our Custom 14 FP has been a reliable workhorse for about 5
> years. A little over a year ago, the original metal blade
> developed cracks that eventually caused it to lose grip on the
> shaft. I picked up a new blade and away we went again. The
> shaft doesn't appear excessively worn, and when you put the
> blade on and rock it back and forth quickly there isn't a lot
> of excess slop to the fit; it feels pretty much like it always
> has, I believe.
>
> It has worked perfectly until a couple of months ago. Now,
> after mixing up a batch of dough or something else where the
> bowl is fairly full, it is literally impossible to remove the
> bowl up off the unit. This is under normal mix time usage; no
> overheating going on here. Now I have to unload it with a
> spoon or some such, until mostly empty, and then if I pulse
> the blade a few times, it "lets go" and allows me to remove
> the bowl. Even grabbing the blade's plastic collar and
> pulling up will not get it off, nor will forcing the bowl up
> with palms slid under each edge below. It almost seems that
> it becomes slightly wedged onto the shaft, even though there
> doesn't appear to be anywhere near the slop in the fit that I
> would think would be required for this to be happening.
>
> I've been avoiding the dishwasher for the blade, thinking the
> heat was probably the cause of the original blade's
> cracking... but even running it through the dishwasher again,
> thinking perhaps it wasn't clean and was sticking somehow,
> makes no difference. I've filled the blade shaft area with
> rubbing alcohol and scrubbed all around in there to be certain
> there was no foreign material possibly causing the problem.
> And since the blade is only about a year old, I guess it has
> to be something going on with the shaft but I understand there
> are no parts available for these things, so I'm hoping someone
> out there has an "oh, yeah" on this. If not, it's probably
> down to the Kitchen Aid store for a more dependable unit, much
> as I hate to abandon the old trusty thing.
>
> Ideas?

Contact their customer service.

Solved - Cuisinart sells the replacement motor shaft cover/sheath for
only $3.00 and mailed it to me at no additional charge. Watch out for
folks trying to sell you this part for $12.00 or more! Replacing that
cover did not however solve the problem. Turns out that the blade
section that mounts on the shaft had been slightly worn on the outer
edges of the 'flat' areas, and it was able to turn slightly and jam
onto the shaft. So if you're using your processor for heavy duty
items like dough, when replacing the shaft cover, you need to also
replace the blade to ensure that you don't ruin a new blade with a
worn shaft cover. It works pretty much like any other mechanical
repair; replace all the parts that wear together.