After faithfully producing hundreds of loaves of bread over the last 8 or 9 years, the spindle on our hardworking household bread maker broke not long ago. And while this sounds like bad news, it all turned out pretty well. In addition to the smell of bread baking in the house again, I’ve also got that great old feeling I always get when my workshop and I manage to fix something even better than it was originally. And in this case neither the smell nor the feeling would exist without my wire-feed welder.

Bread Maker Repair

The problem with the spindle was the way the arms were fastened. The design came from the factory with a flat spot on the shaft that engaged with a flat spot on the arm ring, with both parts locked together with a little snap ring. This system worked okay, but movement between the parts made the fit sloppy over the years. The snap ring finally rusted and broke right in the middle of a baking session.

Our model of bread maker isn’t made any more, and some time surfing did lead me to a US supplier that sells entire new pans with shafts, even for older machines. I ended up buying one, then realized that a couple of minutes work with my welder would keep the old one going, too. Now we’ve got two pans for our trusty bread maker, but there’s no doubt in my mind which is my favourite.

I can’t count how many times I’ve made good things happen with my wire-feed welder. It’s one of those things that you might buy for a specific job, then find you use it again and again for little things you could never have thought of.