Help with Cuisinart Food Processor Needed

[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, sorry this is taking me so long to reply. Are you all set now, or would you like me to send you a photo? I'm still hoping to have my husband read through this thread, and look closely at mine (also a DLC-7) to see if he can help. Maybe tomorrow. I looked at it, but I'm not mechanical enough to give any suggestions. I do recall that, maybe 20 years ago, I got a new bowl. I think I remember that the original one cracked, so did not hold liquids. The replacement I bought from Cuisinart was not really different, but that locking mechanism didn't work. My husband says he had to use his Dremel to "re-shape" something to get it to work. I also remember that at some point I had to get a new grater, not sure why (my memory is aged and works like a sieve these days!). The original tools came with one central post that kind of screwed on and off each cutting disk. The replacement grater blade has (has, I'm still using it) a permanent central post; but, it fit the old bowl just fine. I think my husband will be home tomorrow afternoon, and I'll ask him to look at it then.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Chocomouse. I don't think that I need a picture, as I did manage to reassemble it. I had to play around with getting the top of the white rod into the exact position. I suspect that something has broken at the top of the white rod that would keep it in place when the work bowl is removed, but I think it would be quite difficult to get a picture of it without one of those cameras attached to a wire to run inside! The other possibility is that somehow the piece at the bottom that slides in was attached so that it allows the rod to go up and down but did not allow the rod mechanism to fall out.

I would be interested in hearing your husband's thoughts about it. I may call Cuisinart next week and see what they can tell me, but I suspect that they will want to sell me a new one.

Now is the time that I wish that I lived near good garage sales or thrift stores.

[Italiancook]

If Cuisinart says you need a new machine, BakerAunt, ask for a discount to purchase directly. When a KitchenAid service call led to them suggesting a new stand mixer, they offered a good discount. Don't recall exactly what amount, but it was cheaper than the store.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook, the difference is that that the plastic Cuisinart now uses is BPA-free.

I called Cuisinart, and they no longer have the part. I did get the part number from the very nice representative. He told me that if I buy a new FP, my discs would work in the DFP-14BCNY. They would offer me a 20% discount.

With the part number, I went online and found a work bowl at Seneca-river-trading.com It is not the BPA-free one, but that is fine with me, since I would have to buy a new lid and pusher assembly for the BPA-free one, as they are not interchangeable. The bowl cost $37.95, but shipping added $12.95. That is still a bargain at the cost of new FPs. I'll report back once it arrives, and I try it out.

[chocomouse]

I'm glad you've found a reasonable solution, BakerAunt, and hope it does work out. I'm sorry I've not been able to follow through with getting you some comments from my husband, but I think you didn't end up needing his input. We've been busy with a grand-daughter's graduation, another's birthday, and medical appointments and a lot of things fell by the wayside.

[BakerAunt]

in the end, Chocomouse, I do not think that there was any option, at least for now, but to replace the work bowl. I hope that what I ordered works. I am concerned that it will not be of the quality of the first work bowl, which lasted for so long and the safety will break much sooner. The best price I could find for the BPA free one (requires buying work bowl, lid, pusher assembly) was $139, and that did not include shipping. There was no guarantee that the BPA model would last as long, either. I will hold onto the old one and continue thinking about how it might be modified to work, perhaps with some kind of rod.

The representative said he understood why I do not want to replace my FP. He said, the old ones are really good machines.

Cuisinart appears to have been (and still is?) on the same arc as Kitchen Aid was, when KA took well-made mixers and moved production overseas, where KA took short cuts. As we discussed, KA had the sense to bring at least some models back here.

Before being made in Japan, Cuisinart was made in France. Those machines are truly old. One commentator mentioned having a 35-year warranty. Can you imagine?

I'm not a fan of throwing away items that would work perfectly well with a replacement part or repair. In 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote in Future Shock about the "throw-away" society. Yet, we live in a society where it is easier and cheaper to throw an item away. Indeed, it is almost impossible to repair a lot of our electronics. I'd like a Sesame Street "Fix-It" Shop.

[RiversideLen]

BA, I've had the same problem with the bowl on my 7 cup KA several years ago. I think I tend to hold the handle too tight when removing the bowl. I was able to piece it back together but of course it broke again. So I ordered a new bowl from either Ereplacement Parts or Partselect, I don't remember which as I've done business with both. Their web sites look identical but prices may be different. Recently I broke the replacement bowl, same problem. I looked closely at the handle and the mechanism and figured out how to make it work without the safety thing. So that's what I'm doing now. I know better than to operate it without the top on so there is no danger to me using it this way.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Len. I've not given up on figuring out how to run it without the safety feature, as I too know better than to run it without the lid.

I don't think in my case that it is because of holding the handle. To disengage my bowl, I hole the handle with my left hand and use my right to turn it from the back. This FP requires that after the bowl is in place, then the lid needs to be attached. Then the sleeve needs to be locked into place. Undoing it requires those steps in reverse.

[BakerAunt]

The replacement work bowl that I ordered arrived today. That is quick service. It fits perfectly with the rest of the assembly, and I ran it to make sure. I'm back in business on the food processor.

In comparing the two assemblies, I'm now thinking that the issue on the original work bowl is the piece at the bottom that goes inside the sleeve. Perhaps it was glued in and the glue finally came apart? (Note to self: do not allow new bowl to sit in water.) Since I can get the white piece at the top to interlock, the issue seems to be that small brown bottom piece that holds the white piece in place below and keeps it from falling out. It should not move.

At any rate, I'm back in action now for whenever I need the processor.

[Mike Nolan]

A lot of those older models had fantastic motors in them.

I've got a malt mixer made in the 50's (an Andis Speed Whip) that has a GE motor in it that is 1/2 HP or more. It'll mix up something that's pretty much solid ice cream. They're considered collectors items among soda fountain collectors, the last one I saw sold went for over $200.

Some of the 'mix-in' systems used in ice cream shops must have pretty good motors in them, too.

[Italiancook]

I'm glad you're back in business, BakerAunt. I hope you have many more years of use out of the new bowl.

[BakerAunt]

I have been meaning to follow up on this post. When I used my food processor today to make coleslaw, I remembered to do it. Looking at my original post, I did put forth the theory that the glue dissolved. However, I thought it might help others to repeat the advice not to let the work bowl sit it water.

I think that nothing "broke" on the work bowl; instead, the glue that holds the piece into place failed. I had set the work bowl in water, and whether it was age or something else, the glue failed, and the piece fell out. I still have that work bowl and the piece, so if I can figure out how to glue it so that it is in the correct position, I would have two work bowls. I would have to figure out what glue to use and how to situate it correctly.

So, if you have an older Cuisinart food processor with work bowl, I suggest that you do not allow it to sit in water. I am not going to allow my replacement one to sit in water either.

[chocomouse]

Thanks, BakerAunt. I'm still using my DLC 7 that I bought in 1980. It's been a work horse, helping to process much of the produce from my garden. I did have to replace one of the grater blades because it just wore out, became too dull to grate well. I always wash it by hand and have never let it sit in water; and I'll remember to keep doing that!

[Author]

Posts