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Whirly pop handle sticking not turning
Ruthlessaz
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Posted on 12/04/2015 9:37 PM
Hi all, new to the site!

I had an aluminum whirly pop for maybe 8 months, worked perfectly all the time. I recently bought a stainless steel whirly pop type popper from amazon, the stirrer in the bottom is thicker than the aluminum one.

Long story short, I just roasted my first batch in the stainless one, and while I was stirring, the handle stuck a LOT. And towards the end of my second batch (10oz each) the handle just stopped turning. It was so annoying and has never happened with the aluminum one ever.

After I cleaned it, I sprayed some veg. Oil in the gear mechanism and it seemed to run smoother, but I'm not sure it will work well when I use it again

Any tips so that the stirring mechanism doesn't get stuck anymore??

Thank you!!!
 
JackH
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Posted on 12/05/2015 8:01 AM
I wonder if the metal gears are binding when they heat up. I don't own one but this is the only thing I can think of.
---Jack

KKTO Roaster.
 
Tony_C
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Posted on 12/05/2015 1:59 PM
i am so glad this was brought up. I had picked up a stainless steel whirley with the metal gears due to the thicker pot, a better stir paddle instead of the wire, and not having to worry about the plastic gears melting. But, I ran into the exact same problems that Ruthlessaz has run into. The gears jammed so much, that it caused me to move to the Stir Crazy method.

Almost every roast over a 1/2 pound with the whirley was troubled with gear binding. I tried so many different things to try and stop the gears from binding, and finally removed the gears and arms completely and on my last roast with it, I had hooked up my cordless drill to the stirrer shaft.

I have a small gear motor that I want to attach to it, and use it as a sample roaster.
 
Tony_C
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Posted on 12/05/2015 2:02 PM

Quote

JackH wrote:

I wonder if the metal gears are binding when they heat up. I don't own one but this is the only thing I can think of.


Jack, you may be right. It usually started binding right after the drying phase began for me. I preheated to 350 each time, and after the initial temp drop and recovery, it started binding.
 
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