- Joined
- Feb 2, 2013
- Messages
- 3,841
I was recently called to do some work for a local franchise owner after their dissatisfaction with the manufacturer's service department.
i'll spare the specifics of the problems , but it was an opportunity to come through when others have given up.
If you have ever eaten at a pizza joint,
chances are that the cheese has been grated and vegetable toppings have been sliced, or grated through a Hobart VS9 Pelican Head Slicer/Grater attachment
Backstory...
this attachment often goes on Hobart Dough Mixers , up to 80 Qts Capacity.
The pizza establishments very often make their own dough, and process their own vegetables.
the VS9 is driven by a square chuck driven, simplified PTO system provided by whichever equipment is driving the mechanism.
the entire attachment costs about $1,400.00 USD to replace (as recommended by the Manufacturer)
for example this is the mounting on a Hobart A200 Dough Mixer.
the center section accepts means to grate or slice, vegetable and cheese products
it incorporates a double knife for slicing operations as seen below
the knife shaft assembly is inserted into the housing and is retained by a detent pin.
the detent pin rides in an annulus in the bronze nut shown on the knife shaft above.
this nut sets the protrusion of the knife shaft in regards to the housing.
Excessive protrusion will cause the double knife to interfere with the front cover of the VS9 attachment.
This brings me around to how i negotiated 1 pizza a week for 1 year.
i was called in to look at a Hobart A200 Dough Mixer for multiple issues.
the operators are not technical personnel, nor are they aware of the nomenclature of the machine, they just operate the equipment.
it took all of my translation capacity to put their complaints to mechanical sense
after establishing what the real issues were, i was able to go to work on the Dough Mixer.
the Dough Mixer had not seen maintenance in a couple years, by my estimate.
there was minor issues with lubrication and removal of vegetable oil lubricant, that gummed up a lot of the lift mechanism.
all those issues were easy to remedy and in no time the Dough Mixer was back in working shape again.
the shop owner was ecstatic that the dough mixer worked again so quickly.
She then asked if i knew anything about the VS9 attachment
she said the there was something wrong with the attachment and was told that she had to replace the attachment,
that they (would) could not service the attachment, but they would sell her a new one.
i agreed to have a look and see what i could do.
first thing i noticed was that the central support bushing had a low spot in the 6:00 position, indicating the knife shaft would not be running true radially.
i told the owner that i could replace the central support bushing relatively easily, but it was an expensive bushing from the manufacturer.
The manufacturer wanted $215.00 USD for a slug of bronze.
Luckily i found a guy on EBAY, that had a similar bushing for $65 (shipped)
the ID was spot on, but the OD was 2.50", i need it to be 2.376" OD for a press fit
i modified the aluminum bronze replacement bushing.
i removed the old bushing by slitting the bushing with a fine toothed hacksaw blade, and pushing the old bushing out.
i left the aluminum central housing in the sun for a half hour.
i submerged the modified bushing in alcohol, then put it in the deep freezer
i finger pushed the bush into place in the central housing, after a couple minutes the parts equalized for a tight fit on the bushing.
i attempted to reassemble and adjust the knife clearance, but the knife was bound to the shaft and not easily moved.
i put a little bit of horsepower on the clearance adjusting stop nut and it cracked in half with about 45ftlbs of force- shazbaat
after conferring with the shop owner, i told her i could get her running today (it was yesterday),
but, i would need to construct the stop nut from another food safe material.
Delrin to the rescue!!!!
i got the dimensions from the broken stop nut and crafted an new stop nut , 1-1/8"-12 LH Thread
i bored a hunk of delrin to 1.030" id and made 12tpi threads, turned the other features.
i lightly knurled the end for grip
I installed and set the knife clearance. Success!!!
The shop owner was very happy to have full use of her Dough Mixer and the Vegetable Slicer/Cheese Grater.
she asked what did she owe for the repairs (4 hours total time on my end) , plus parts= about $700
i offered another solution, how about 1 large pizza a week for 1 year
she agreed!
I'm Happy, she's happy and i got another customer!!!
Win,Win,Win!!!
as always, thanks for reading!
i'll spare the specifics of the problems , but it was an opportunity to come through when others have given up.
If you have ever eaten at a pizza joint,
chances are that the cheese has been grated and vegetable toppings have been sliced, or grated through a Hobart VS9 Pelican Head Slicer/Grater attachment
Backstory...
this attachment often goes on Hobart Dough Mixers , up to 80 Qts Capacity.
The pizza establishments very often make their own dough, and process their own vegetables.
the VS9 is driven by a square chuck driven, simplified PTO system provided by whichever equipment is driving the mechanism.
the entire attachment costs about $1,400.00 USD to replace (as recommended by the Manufacturer)
for example this is the mounting on a Hobart A200 Dough Mixer.
the center section accepts means to grate or slice, vegetable and cheese products
it incorporates a double knife for slicing operations as seen below
the knife shaft assembly is inserted into the housing and is retained by a detent pin.
the detent pin rides in an annulus in the bronze nut shown on the knife shaft above.
this nut sets the protrusion of the knife shaft in regards to the housing.
Excessive protrusion will cause the double knife to interfere with the front cover of the VS9 attachment.
This brings me around to how i negotiated 1 pizza a week for 1 year.
i was called in to look at a Hobart A200 Dough Mixer for multiple issues.
the operators are not technical personnel, nor are they aware of the nomenclature of the machine, they just operate the equipment.
it took all of my translation capacity to put their complaints to mechanical sense
after establishing what the real issues were, i was able to go to work on the Dough Mixer.
the Dough Mixer had not seen maintenance in a couple years, by my estimate.
there was minor issues with lubrication and removal of vegetable oil lubricant, that gummed up a lot of the lift mechanism.
all those issues were easy to remedy and in no time the Dough Mixer was back in working shape again.
the shop owner was ecstatic that the dough mixer worked again so quickly.
She then asked if i knew anything about the VS9 attachment
she said the there was something wrong with the attachment and was told that she had to replace the attachment,
that they (would) could not service the attachment, but they would sell her a new one.
i agreed to have a look and see what i could do.
first thing i noticed was that the central support bushing had a low spot in the 6:00 position, indicating the knife shaft would not be running true radially.
i told the owner that i could replace the central support bushing relatively easily, but it was an expensive bushing from the manufacturer.
The manufacturer wanted $215.00 USD for a slug of bronze.
Luckily i found a guy on EBAY, that had a similar bushing for $65 (shipped)
the ID was spot on, but the OD was 2.50", i need it to be 2.376" OD for a press fit
i modified the aluminum bronze replacement bushing.
i removed the old bushing by slitting the bushing with a fine toothed hacksaw blade, and pushing the old bushing out.
i left the aluminum central housing in the sun for a half hour.
i submerged the modified bushing in alcohol, then put it in the deep freezer
i finger pushed the bush into place in the central housing, after a couple minutes the parts equalized for a tight fit on the bushing.
i attempted to reassemble and adjust the knife clearance, but the knife was bound to the shaft and not easily moved.
i put a little bit of horsepower on the clearance adjusting stop nut and it cracked in half with about 45ftlbs of force- shazbaat
after conferring with the shop owner, i told her i could get her running today (it was yesterday),
but, i would need to construct the stop nut from another food safe material.
Delrin to the rescue!!!!
i got the dimensions from the broken stop nut and crafted an new stop nut , 1-1/8"-12 LH Thread
i bored a hunk of delrin to 1.030" id and made 12tpi threads, turned the other features.
i lightly knurled the end for grip
I installed and set the knife clearance. Success!!!
The shop owner was very happy to have full use of her Dough Mixer and the Vegetable Slicer/Cheese Grater.
she asked what did she owe for the repairs (4 hours total time on my end) , plus parts= about $700
i offered another solution, how about 1 large pizza a week for 1 year
she agreed!
I'm Happy, she's happy and i got another customer!!!
Win,Win,Win!!!
as always, thanks for reading!
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