Tweet
Drake et al,
My handsome new SP5 spiral mixer arrived from San Francisco yesterday, complete with more customs papers, tape and import duty than I would care to divulge.
Haven't used it yet, but a few facts and first impressions. 1. This thing is heavy, 75 lbs, has adjustable rubber feet, and doesn't move on the counter. 2. It's made in Italy to the same fine standards of fit and finish found in Italian woodworking machinery, printing presses and an Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. 3. It's very quiet when running, dry at least. 4. The drive is chain and belt, very heavily made sprockets and chain (yep, had the cover off, just had to; think small displacement Honda dirt bike); looks like very simple maintenance and adjustment; everything's right in front of you. 5. The footprint isn't much bigger than that self destructing KA 600; longer but not much wider, despite the much higher capacity. 6. The hook is massive; ditto the bearing into which it fits. 7. The bowl and hook both rotate. 8. Neither the bowl nor the hook are detachable from the machine, but the hook is at the back of the bowl (not KA orbital) and almost all of the bowl is directly in front of you, so clean up should be easy, and it appears that the dough ball will end up at the front. 9. There's a thick plastic integral hood over the bowl that shuts the machine off if it's lifted more than 10 mm (KA should consider feasting on my boxers for this feature alone). 10. The hood will prevent flour clouds, and there's also a funnel type slot cut in it so you can add water or flour while it's running. 11. This mixer is very "simple." By that I mean the design has deliberately been kept extremely uncomplicated, a difficult thing to achieve through much experience, and it has the heft and weight and bulletproof parts exactly where they're "kneaded." Joe engineer should like that part. 12. The machine has one speed, dough speed, no more, no less.
The SP5 says, "I make dough. If you want to whip egg whites for 200 guests, buy something else." Purpose made very well, my first impressions are great. Then again, they'd have to be, given the (gulp) investment I've made.
Jim
But, "Tools were made, and born were hands," William Blake, "Auguries of Innocence."
My handsome new SP5 spiral mixer arrived from San Francisco yesterday, complete with more customs papers, tape and import duty than I would care to divulge.
Haven't used it yet, but a few facts and first impressions. 1. This thing is heavy, 75 lbs, has adjustable rubber feet, and doesn't move on the counter. 2. It's made in Italy to the same fine standards of fit and finish found in Italian woodworking machinery, printing presses and an Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. 3. It's very quiet when running, dry at least. 4. The drive is chain and belt, very heavily made sprockets and chain (yep, had the cover off, just had to; think small displacement Honda dirt bike); looks like very simple maintenance and adjustment; everything's right in front of you. 5. The footprint isn't much bigger than that self destructing KA 600; longer but not much wider, despite the much higher capacity. 6. The hook is massive; ditto the bearing into which it fits. 7. The bowl and hook both rotate. 8. Neither the bowl nor the hook are detachable from the machine, but the hook is at the back of the bowl (not KA orbital) and almost all of the bowl is directly in front of you, so clean up should be easy, and it appears that the dough ball will end up at the front. 9. There's a thick plastic integral hood over the bowl that shuts the machine off if it's lifted more than 10 mm (KA should consider feasting on my boxers for this feature alone). 10. The hood will prevent flour clouds, and there's also a funnel type slot cut in it so you can add water or flour while it's running. 11. This mixer is very "simple." By that I mean the design has deliberately been kept extremely uncomplicated, a difficult thing to achieve through much experience, and it has the heft and weight and bulletproof parts exactly where they're "kneaded." Joe engineer should like that part. 12. The machine has one speed, dough speed, no more, no less.
The SP5 says, "I make dough. If you want to whip egg whites for 200 guests, buy something else." Purpose made very well, my first impressions are great. Then again, they'd have to be, given the (gulp) investment I've made.
Jim
But, "Tools were made, and born were hands," William Blake, "Auguries of Innocence."
Comment