Wannabe Electrician wants to fix his bread maker!

[Paul der Krake]

So my bread maker stopped working.

Symptom: it bakes but the rotor doesn't seem to want to move, ever, so all the ingredients sit there without being kneaded. It was made in 1996 and the manufacturer's website doesn't give any advanced troubleshooting details, so I'm on my own here. The problem is, I know nothing about electricity. I know that electrons are like little angels carrying negative charges in the wrong way, and somehow that makes bulbs go bright and motors go vroom vroom, but that's about it. Total noob, and don't know where to start.

How do I check individual components without getting shocked? Do I need a multimeter? Do you have books or online tutorials to recommend?

I have taken some pictures of the beast, if it makes things easier.

http://imgur.com/a/UXWCr (scroll down to see all 3)

[Greg]

First thing is to unplug it to work on it.  Then start taking it apart.  You may find that difficult as it was unlikely to be designed for service.  Then look for burned wires or crispy connections.  Sometimes you get lucky and the problem will be obvious.  If it's the motor, it might be difficult to find a replacement.  Ditto to gears and other interior mechanical parts.

You can use a simple Volt Ohm Meter to determine if any of your wires are bad.  If you don't have a VOM, buy one that comes with a booklet on how to use it.  Experiment a bit with things around the house you know work.

[Thegoblinchief]

Go to Goodwill and "fix" it for $10. That would also probably be the easiest way to source possible replacement parts.

My local store usually has 5-10 machines at any one time.

[Greg]

Go to Goodwill and "fix" it for $10. That would also probably be the easiest way to source possible replacement parts. My local store usually has 5-10 machines at any one time.

Truer words have rarely been said.

[Paul der Krake]

Goodwill is an excellent suggestion, not sure why I didn't think about that on my own. Duh!

However I have been wanting to learn how to do electrical work for a while, so I am willing to spend time and (reasonable amounts of) money into making the original machine work again, if it can be salvaged. I'm currently looking into borrowing a VOM from my work over the weekend so I can play with it.

So if anyone has other suggestions or must-reads, please keep them coming.

[ruthiegirl]

I usually take things apart and look them over for an obvious fix.  Sometimes I get lucky and sometimes I just walk the whole thing to the trash.

I had good luck with a chocolate tempering machine and a food processor.  I was able to replace a wire in a hot water kettle.  I trashed a blender recently, because the gears were all stripped. 

Most small appliances are made to be landfill these days which is a shame.  It is quite possible to build a toaster that lasts 20 years, but no one does. 

[dragoncar]

It's not clear from your pictures how the motor is connected to the circuit board.  You want to determine if the motor is fried, or if the the driver on the board is fried.  If you can determine the driving voltage (probably 120v, but I hate to ask a newbie to play with that), then you can try driving the motor directly to make sure it works.  Otherwise, you could try to replace the component driving it.  It's admirable that you'd like to learn and reduce waste, but I agree with the above -- chances are that even if you can determine that it needs, say, a new high-power driver, you could spend a long time trying to find a cheap replacement.  Or a "lot" of money ($10 being a lot in this case, if used ones are available for that price).

If you want more help, take it more apart and provide lots and lots of clear pics.  No promises, as I am not a Devry certified electric appliance repair man.

[Greg]

Take a careful look at the motor.  The armature in particular.  If there is a dark section where all the others are copper colored or a similar disparity, then the motor is damaged beyond reasonable repair.  This happened to a nice vacuum I had, the motor fried and a replacement motor was about 80% of an new vacuum.  Bought a nice ship vac instead.

[kite]

Maybe not the answer you were looking for, but pick up a heavy cast iron Dutch Oven from the goodwill instead of a new bread machine.  Then Google Jim Lahey No Knead Bread.  We graduated from bread machine bread a while back and would never use the machine these days.