Meat Grinder Not Working? Make Sure You Assembled It Correctly🤦‍♂️

[Mighty Mouse]

Learn from my mistake...the plastic auger bushing is a very important component.


My 1.5 hp #32 Meat Your Maker grinder wasn't grinding worth a flip last night. Sinew kept getting wrapped around the knife and preventing it from cutting. After several rounds of disassembly/reassembly, attempts to sharpen the blades, and flashbacks to long hours (that I thought were behind me) of struggling with a Kitchenaid grinder attachment, I opened the storage drawer built into the motor base and found the plastic bushing I had forgotten to install. That bushing keeps the blade pressed tight against the plate, and without it, the grinder quickly binds up with connective tissue.

 

[ID_Matt]

Haha. I made this exact same mistake this year! Mine was an LEM where the auger bushing is pressed inside the funnel. Didn't notice it had fallen out. Essential piece for sure! Spent several frustrating hours and orders assuming it was dull teeth before I realized.

 

[jdcareyidaho]

Good info.

 

[EdP]

Year after year my wife would put the blade in backwards (round part instead of knife edge against the plate. They don't work very well like that. Now I assemble those pieces.

 

[Boarmaster]

So important I have a spare.

 

[william schmaltz]

So important I have a spare.

Absolutely. I used to rent a grinder each year and they always included a spare. I broke one once.

Unfortunately I've contacted MEAT a couple times about selling me various spare parts and they have refused. They just say, "it's under lifetime warranty so just contact us." Can't really afford to wait 3 days for a bushing with 300 lbs of moose on the table when it's 60 degrees out. I'm sure I can find something close enough online, just gotta make a point to do it. Would rather have a part manufactured specific for the machine.

My wife asked me to check her work after she put the grinder together Saturday and made the same mistake. It's an easy one to make! My FIL broke a blade last year by putting it on backwards.

 

[goathunter]

Learn from my mistake...the plastic auger bushing is a very important component.
View attachment 478423

My 1.5 hp #32 Meat Your Maker grinder wasn't grinding worth a flip last night. Sinew kept getting wrapped around the knife and preventing it from cutting. After several rounds of disassembly/reassembly, attempts to sharpen the blades, and flashbacks to long hours (that I thought were behind me) of struggling with a Kitchenaid grinder attachment, I opened the storage drawer built into the motor base and found the plastic bushing I had forgotten to install. That bushing keeps the blade pressed tight against the plate, and without it, the grinder quickly binds up with connective tissue.

hmmm. less than stellar results on my first grind on the 1 HP version, and I don't remember that part, seemed like it was built in. I'll have to go through it again