lora > wrote:
>
>I purchased a 400 watt Cuisinart blender 3-4 yrs ago from Bed Bath and
>Beyond for $60, and it doesn't seem like it can crush ice easily even
>though it claims to do so. There is also some occasional burnt rubber
>smell.

Overloading. Place less ingredients into that blender, or obtain a
larger capacity blender. Blenders are not ice crushing machines, none
are designed to crush ice... all they can do is to incorporate ice
with liquids but they cannot make crushed ice.