This is the fifth part of my series on my experiences while repairing electric and electronic devices. Here’s the fourth part. Here’s another small report of a „repair“ I made during a repair cafe session. The repair started with an old lady bringing a really old hand blender. The case was made of sturdy plastic that made me think of Bakelite.
A plaque at the back of the hand blender proudly declares its origins: Made in Switzerland. The days of Switzerland producing hand blenders instead of numbered accounts are long in the past, so this thing must have been ancient.
When plugging it into a wall outlet and turning it on it proceeded to shake and vibrate, but the blending implement in front of the hand blender did not turn. First order of business was to unplug, then disassemble it. I needed to remove two plastic plugs that were covering the relevant screws, using a flat screwdriver.
After that, the enclosure could be easily disassembled and the motor could be pulled out of its enclosure. After removing decades of carbon dust from the (carbon) motor brushes I tried to turn on the motor and it worked like a charm. Most likely the rotating rod connecting the motor to the blending implement had gotten stuck (and subsequently became unstuck by my disassembly).
After reassembling everything I could return the now working hand blender to its owner. The old lady happily donated 12 € to the repair cafe, a sum that could probably buy you a brand-new hand blender. Although certainly not one „Made in Switzerland“.