The business end of a cheap stick blender we bought a year ago to replace the previous stick blender (*):
This one failed just slightly beyond the duration of its one-year warranty, apparently with one of the shaft bearings seized to the extent of making the blade un-turnable even by (carefully protected) finger force.
With nothing to lose (and a new blender inbound), it stood in the Basement Shop in that orientation for a week while I dripped penetrating oil around the shaft and wiggled the blade slightly back-and-forth. The bearing eventually broke free and the blade turned reluctantly.
Still having nothing to lose, I gave the shaft a few shots with a drift punch, moving it a few millimeters in each direction. This apparently disturbed the seized bearing just enough to let it turn less reluctantly, with more penetrating oil improving the situation.
Mixing a jar of water went well, even on high speed, but I doubt the bearing is in good health. We decided a blender with penetrating oil tucked up inside should be disqualified for food processing.
When it first locked up, I bought a significantly more expensive stick blender, knowing full well more money does not imply better design / better materials / more QC. This one is now designated as a Cold Backup blender for garden & shop use.
(*) For the record, my 3D printed shaft adapter failed while converting garden tomatoes into thick & zesty pizza sauce. I’m unsurprised PETG-CF wasn’t up to the task.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
Comments
4 responses to “Stick Blender Bearing Failure”
Just beyond warranty sounds like good modern engineering to me :) That is the modern trend sadly
Why not use food grade oil/grease?
When I was in college way back my Mech Eng Tech group visited a several manufacturing companies. One company mad a piece of equipment that vibrated fairly vigorously – sorry I can’t remember what the machine did – but it had a meter on – the old style with a moving needle – the meter was destroyed before the warranty was up – so their “solution” was to just budget to send a new meter during the warranty period.
Oh Well
Penetrating oils are thin enough to wick into jammed parts where ordinary oils sit around wondering what to do. I’m reasonably sure not enough of the oil would work its way back out to pose a problem, but I was easily convinced it would be a Bad Idea.
And, yeah, that bearing lasted exactly long enough …
Congratulations, you just got a stick blender for soap making. ;)
Soap is a lubricant, so the bottom bearing should at least sort of work.
And yes, probably a good decision on the penetrating oil – but yes I doubt the amount would have been dangerous. When I worked in the food canning business we used edible oil and grease around the equipment that handled food