Help with Cuisinart Food Processor Needed

[BakerAunt]

I used my thirty-year old food processor today. I washed it. As I was drying the bowl, a piece of white plastic fell to the floor. It took a bit, but then I realized it was the white part that goes inside the tube along the side, which I believe is part of the safety mechanism that keeps the food processor from working when the lid is not in place. I knew there had to be more, so I searched the dish water and found a spring and a small plastic piece that fits in the bottom of tube--I think--and goes up and down on the locking mechanism. I cannot figure out how this goes back together. I assume the spring and the small plastic piece are at the bottom, but I cannot seem to get the white plastic part fitted back into the interior.

If you have an older DLC Cuisinart, could you look at it, or even post a picture of the side of the bowl with the mechanism? I want to try to fix it. If I cannot, I will be shopping for a new food processor. I don't rely on it, but when I need it, I really need it.

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[Mike Nolan]

Might be worth checking to see if you can find a new (or used) bowl online.

[chocomouse]

I have, possibly, the same model, purchased in 1980. I will take photos and post tomorrow. I'll also ask my husband to read what you wrote and take a look at mine - maybe he can give you some helpful information.

[BakerAunt]

Thank you, Chocomouse. I'm worried that there may be another small piece missing.

Mine is a DLC-7 Super Pro (made in Japan!) The sticker with the model number fell off at some point, which is making it difficult to find a replacement part. I don't know its capacity, only that the manual (which I still have) says that when making bread not to exceed 8 cups of flour.

I found something at ereplacements.com for $51.87, which might be it.

Cuisinart might have a replacement work bowl for $50, but I would have to call them, as their website info is not that helpful in terms of giving sizes.

[Mike Nolan]

Well, a new 14 cup Cuisinart would cost anywhere from about $180 up, but I'm no expert on which models are the good ones.

[BakerAunt]

I now think that the white piece was somehow attached at the top of the channel of the work bowl in some fashion. It may have broken away. I was able to get the white piece and the spring back in, with the small tinted piece at the end, and when I put it back on the base and lock the lid on, the FP will run. However, when I take the work bowl off the base, the whole mechanism falls out again. That will make it hard, even to empty the contents, much less wash it.

[BakerAunt]

I found this discussion at Chowhound:

https://www.chowhound.com/post/cuisinart-dlc-7-super-pro-737856

It sounds like that piece cannot be fixed, but there is a suggestion that one can uses a long slender rod, chopstick (probably something plastic or wooden) to hold down the safety while running the food processor. That may be my best bet short of buying a new one. I'd prefer not to do that, as I have the set of cutting blades, and if I were to get a new one, I would likely have to buy new blades.

I think that the pasta making attachment (which I have yet to try!) would still work with the base. I need to unpack it and look at it. I've been wanting to try making pasta (she said, trying to find a silver lining).

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I have a more recent 14-cup Cuisinart food processor. I believe, but may be wrong, that it came with the cutting attachment discs I had purchased for my older Cuisinart f.p. The reason I say this is:

I have 2 sets of cutting attachments. One set is made in Japan, which would be from my older Cuisinart. I remember purchasing those. The second set is made in China. I'm 100% certain I would never have purchased a second set of cutting attachments when I obtained the new food processor. More money than I'd spend, since my newer food processor is the same model as the older one. My husband found it in a special sale.

You may want to call a store and find out if the model Cuisinart you want to buy includes cutting attachments, or a coupon for ordering them for free.

The other reason I think the special sale included the cutting discs is that I have one more of the Japanese-made ones than I do of those from China.

[Mike Nolan]

There was a recall on Cuisinart cutting blades a while back, maybe you got a replacement then?

[Italiancook]

I wasn't referring to the cutting blade affected by the recall. Apparently, I don't know exactly what they're called. I'm talking about the round cutting disks . . . shredding disc, slicing disk, grating disc, etc. From Japan, that I know I paid for, I have 2 slicing discs of different widths, a grating disc, a shredding disk, and 1 other. From China, which I can't imagine I paid for, since the Japan discs work in the China food processor, I have all the original cutting disks minus one.

[BakerAunt]

It was the center chopping/mixer blade that was subject to recall, Mike, not the various shredding and slicing discs. It could well be that Italian Cook had a set come with her food processor. My reading suggests that the sets of blades can work with some of the newer Food Processors but that the stem that holds the blades near the top is NOT interchangeable between the old and new.

[Italiancook]

That's interesting about the stem, BakerAunt. The stem from my older food processor works just fine in my newer one. That must be a change the manufacturer made after my newer machine was purchased. Don't recall the year, and back then, I didn't have the foresight to write the date of purchase on instruction manuals. Maybe, also, the fact that my new food processor is the exact model as the older one is the reason I can use wither stem.

The older machine worked just fine. The reason my husband replaced it was related to the plastic casing on the outside. I prepped many, many loaves of bread in the food processor, because I didn't have a stand mixer. As a result, the plastic casing cracked in two places. My husband thought it was dangerous, in case the plastic came apart while using the machine. He found some sort of special pricing deal for the 14-cup and bought it, because he knew it was the same model as the one that was cracked. I think cutting disks were included, and that was why my husband was so excited when he came home with it. But I also can't imagine a business giving away something so expensive, but it was a special deal.

[Mike Nolan]

It makes sense that the low blades might be a little more interchangeable than the high ones for things like slicing and shredding, which have to be at exactly the right height.

I've probably used our Cuisinart more in the last few months (mostly to shred cabbage for sauerkraut) than in the previous two or three years.

[BakerAunt]

Perhaps they were selling out the older model when Italian Cook's husband found such a great deal.

Apparently Cuisinart has changed the material that it uses to make work bowls, lid, and pusher now.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, do you know what the new material is that Cuisinart is using now?

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