Smoking Kenwood Chef! - its Dead!!!

Sometimes777

Just had to join MSE to post this :-)

Please, anyone with an old Kenwood Chef, don't bin it, the modern versions are just not as well engineered as the old ones.

You can get any model at all repaired/restored nowadays, have a look around online.

I looked into buying a new one last year, but my research resulted in me taking my bought-secondhand 1970s model in for a service as I am now sure that a modern one isn't worth the money.

Not very money saving, but since my research I'm also saving up to have my mother's late 1950s/early 1960s machine restored for me.

Even broken glass bowls from early models can be replaced with a plastic one if you look around.

maddiemay

Woodny wrote: »

There's a brilliant firm down in Bridgewater called Kenwood Chef Restore, who offer a service to renovate old Kenwood Chefs and a good spares and information service if you are capable. Most Kenwood chefs are well worth renovating, they seem to go on for ever and there are so many useful attachments to be had second hand.

I found this company whilst considering having my 50 year old Kenwood Chef restored, in the end I bought a new one and freegled my old one to a young man who had inherited his Granny's old machine and needed parts to make 1 from 2 machines. However I mentioned KCRestore to a friend with a Professional Chef whose motor blew, she had masses of accessories and did not really want to start again. She is totally delighted with the finished result and the great service she received.

Bit of a tangent, anyone know of a similar service for Magimix, the pulse button does not work any more on my 20 year old one?

Ader1

What model of magimix do you have?

maddiemay

Ader1 wrote: »

What model of magimix do you have?

It is a Compact Automatic 3100. I now have a unit that fits my Kenwood Chef KM010, but the Magimix has larger capacity, it works fine, but it is a chore switching on and off with no pulse (swollen thumb joints)

Joy_P_2

My Kenwood Chef was new in 1968. I dont know the model number. I don't use it so often now but yesterday when mixing a cake the blade started making a strange noise, it slowed down, there was a burning smell and some smoke appeared! When I lifted it clear of the mixture it still turned normally, so I don't think it's burned out. Help, please!

joedenise

There's a post about 3 above yours which shows a company which refurbishes called Kenwood Chef Restore. Might be worth contacting them.

Denise

Joy_P_2

I've now established that my machine is an A701A. The repairers you mentioned would charge £179 plus parts and delivery costs. I'm not sure if I want to spend that sort of money, as I don't use it a lot and could buy a new (admittedly inferior) mixer for less.

Does anyone know if I could diagnose and repair it myself?

shammyjack

Just put kenwood repair kit into Ebay or Google. Lots of kits out there for around £7 with instructions. It is a simple job if you can use a soldering iron. 9 times out of 10 the slow down and burning smell is just a fried resistor or triac .

RETIRED_ENGINEER_2

Kenwood Chef :
Giving out 'an aroma' when mixing bread dough, then stopped. So was switched off! This was not an old machine and it was found that the upper motor bearing had seized. The upper shaft was now a blue colour due to the friction and heat. This upper bearing would not allow the shaft to spin freely. After using 3-in-one oil on what is, I think, a sintered bronze bush, which soaked up plenty of oil, the shaft then moved freely. On reassembly all was well! Note: there should be some movement available from side to side of the toothed belt, do not over tighten!

olli_m

I had a Kenwood Chef A901 to repair here and found that the motor was "dead". First replaced the brushes and the both capacitors along with the TRIAC and the 56R resistor (all parts came from a repair set i bought on ebay). Afterwards the motor was running fine but the speed was unstable and suddenly increasing to max. speed when the adjustment knob has set to medium speed.

First i had to puzzle out the schematic to see how the speed adjustment works. Unfortunately as a new user it's not possible to post the link to the schematic picture.

Finally i decided to replace the trigger diode using a DB3 32V type, the BC547 transistor and the remaining capacitors except the both 1nF ceramic ones. This seems to solve the problem.