My meat grinder Sucks!

[Riflemanz]

I only paid $60 for a electric meat grinder so I guess you get what you pay for. It doesn't work worth a crap!
Binds up in 30 seconds and I have to take it apart to clean.
I guess it doesn't like silver skin.
What brand do you use and does it grind smoothly?

[Normous]

It is not the first time I have heard this complaint. Beware of the High cost of the lowest priced grinder.

[robertyb]

I only paid $60 for a electric meat grinder so I guess you get what you pay for. It doesn't work worth a crap!
Binds up in 30 seconds and I have to take it apart to clean.
I guess it doesn't like silver skin.
What brand do you use and does it grind smoothly?

I had that problem when I first bought my cheap grinder. Then I realized I was mounting the cutting blade backwards. I cleaned it and flipped it over (looks backwards) and away I went. Probably have done 20-30 deer now without a slow down.

[Boo]

We had a "professional" meat grinder from Cabelas for $150.00. It crapped out in a year and a half or so and we constantly had to remove the blades to clean. Bought a bigazz 1 hp 75 lb (?) Carnivore and we can grind anything we want with no plugging up at the cutters. It's actually kind of scary what this is capable of doing.
Thanks to Matt/IronNoggin for helping make the right decision. There is a thread a yr back or 2 where we talk about grinders.

[Riflemanz]

I just looked at the 1hp model at Cabelas and read the reviews,
now for a sale on it!

[884savage]

I have a Waring Pro. The first one I bought lasted a few days, and I sent it back. They replaced it under warranty, and the replacement has lasted 6-8 years and is still going.

[paulaboutform]

After reading Ironoggin's review, and talking to him....and talking to Boo, I also bought the Cabela's brand Carnivore meat grinder. Keeping right on track ( for me ) I went completely overboard and bought the 1.75 horsepower industrial model with the lifetime warranty. I also bought the foot pedal controller, the sausage stuffer and the sausage mixer. This thing is an absolute BEAST of a workhorse! I strongly recommend it.

Paul

[Prmtvbowman22]

I use a Hobart 3 speed grinder mixer like the ones behind the deli counter. Old cast iron model. Very heavy but could grind an elephant with it. Got it for free from a hotel getting a new one.

[amythntr]

We had a "professional" meat grinder from Cabelas for $150.00. It crapped out in a year and a half or so and we constantly had to remove the blades to clean. Bought a bigazz 1 hp 75 lb (?) Carnivore and we can grind anything we want with no plugging up at the cutters. It's actually kind of scary what this is capable of doing.
Thanks to Matt/IronNoggin for helping make the right decision. There is a thread a yr back or 2 where we talk about grinders.

.....Hey "Don" Culiones.....Cousin Vinny would like to talk to you about maybe using this grinder from time to time ....if you know what I mean ....fuggetiboutit!

Anthony

[amythntr]

....we actually have one of those "cheap" grinders...but I have two boys (31 and 26) who know EVERYTHING!!!....if you know what I mean ....according to them you start freezing the cubed meat until it just starts getting hard...and then you throw into the grinder (finger, er...that is for another job ) and it really seems to work pretty well!

....I think that they would be willing to travel to teach EVERYONE....EVERYTHING!

Anthony

[FORVOLS]

You will never question your meat grinder again with this Weston model. I have the 6yr old version. Never a bog down or grinder just cant do it. Pricey maybe but I use it for much more than just a deer or two. I do hogs makes sausage beef for burger and sausage mix. Get the best one you can afford, and good knives makes processing deer what ever much easier and efficient. Got some good sale on BEEF ROAST buy it also make some dang good burger. Don't pay the butcher at the shop for grinding.

http://www.meatprocessingproducts.com/081201w.html

[ThackMan]

Get an LEM Big Bite grinder and don't look back.
I have the .35 HP model and I can't feed meat into it fast enough.

http://www.lemproducts.com/category/but ... t-grinders

[Trigger1212]

Rifleman,

A lot of good suggestions here as to models and it is true - you get what you pay for.

Having said that, try this with your grinder. On the cheaper ones most times the cutting knives are poorly finished, edges are not sharp and the flats, the part that slides around against the end plate with the holes if rough as hell, looks like it was done with 60 grit sand paper. This can be corrected with just a bit of elbow grease and ANYONE can do it.

Go to hardware store and pick up some 220, 360, 600 grit sand paper, grit is not all that important. Idea is to start with a corser grit to knock the flats down quickly then put a polish on it.

What IS important is that you need to put a nice finish on both the "flats" of the cutting knife (the part that pushes against the end plate with the holes), AND the side of the end plate that the knife will rotate aginst.

The key to this is to have a perfectly flat surface, thick flat steel, counter top, big glass plate, what ever, just make sure it is FLAT and won't flex. Place the first piece of sand paper down on the plate, you can hold it in place or tape it down, just make sure it stays flat. Then place the cutting knife down and HOLDING EQUAL PRESSURE on all 4 blades (might be 3 but most have 4) swirl it around in circles with moderate down pressure. Look at the blades after 30 sec or so and you will see the wear patterns. This will show you A. where the high spots were (poor production quality" AND it will show you if your holding equal pressure on the blades. If only one or two tips are showing sanding wear you are "tipping" the blade and putting uneven pressure on it. Adjust your grip and give it another go, you will quickly find the right hold. You and also change your grip periodically (move the knife around in your hand) so all blades will get the same pressure. You can mark the blade face with a black magic marker once you have most of the high spots knocked to ensure you are keeping even pressure. The face of the blade will get all shiny as you make progress and it will get hard to tell after a while.

After you get it all knocked down so the blades are all perfectly flat, then you just progress through the other grits to put a nice very smooth finish on it.

Do the same thing to the plate, you want to end up with a perfectly flat and smooth surface.

Now the blade will perfectly match the face of the plate and will cut MUUUCH better, guaranteed!

The last mistake that most people make is that they do not properly tighten the ring that hold the plate against the knife. You do not want to crush it but you want it tight. This will allow the knife to slice off the meat as it is being forced through the hole.

Think of it as a "loose" pair of sissors. Try cutting a piece of paper, don't work worth a hoot, hold side pressure on the blades and it will cut the same piece of paper just fine.

You describe the grinder as plugging and bogging donw. The ONLY reason that happens is the knife cannot cut the meat, sinue, tendons, and silver skin. Just before it plugs the meat coming out starts to look "mushy", not like cut hamburger and when you pull it apart inside it's stuffed full of the "white" crap, am I right? This is because the blades cannot cut the white stuff and it just balls up in there.

If you do the steps outlined above you will have a grinder that CAN cut the, sinue, tendons, white skin etc and will push it right through with no plugging and you will notice the grinder will not strain so much.

Now a small cheap grinder is still a small cheap grinder, but if you do the above you will find that small cheap grinders can actually do a lot more than you expected if your only doing a couple deer a year this just may suffice! Give it a try, should only take you 30-45 minutes. Let me know how it works out!

Cheers!

Wade
Semper Fi!

PS, I built my own grinder, bought a hand crank cast iron grinder and an electric motor from my FIL that had a gear reduction unit on it and mounted it all to a board. Had to take the grinder auger to a machienist to have the shank turned down and a keyway cut into it so I could rig up my coupler between the motor and the grinder. Thought I had the cat's meow of grinders, nope, had the same problem you have except I KNOW I had a big enough motor. Sharpened the blade and plate, tighten it down and nary a problem for the last 15 years...

[Trigger1212]

Two last items:

1. My final grit was 1,500, as I want a mirror finish with no drag and a perfect cutting surface.

2. This is not exclusive to "cheap" grinders! I bet any of the above mentioned high grade grinders would work even BETTER if their blades and plates received the sanding/polishing treatment. They will just not be as rough at the start and you can probably start out with a finer grit sandpaper. But the parts will tell you, start with a finer grit and look at the wear patterns, if a fair number of high spots go to a corser grit to get it flat before heading to the finer grits. Will save you a lot of elbow grease as the finer grits are for polishing, not necessarily removing material.

I think that covers it.

Cheers!

Wade
Semper Fi!

[Boo]

Great post Trigger!
My first grinder had a "dead spot" in the windings. It also had plastic gears which apparently split a lot.
What you've posted makes a ton of sense!