Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Axel Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y,aus.computers Subject: Re: toaster repair Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:28:47 +1000 Lines: 106 Message-ID: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net sfEGRPJbyi3CTzuqdhWPkQHE+ZxWaBCbDNWmU+eVgeRXHmAsAg Cancel-Lock: sha1:5d3P/wQTFSn7E2X/ac5CZeZ71pg= sha256:4TL6vxKKjhrUOUFXdD6B/hKF0cghqcBxICTxY11NW5M= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:128.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/128.0 SeaMonkey/2.53.23 In-Reply-To: Xref: csiph.com uk.d-i-y:1238500 aus.computers:73892 Rod Speed wrote: > Rod Speed wrote >> Andy Bennett wrote >>> Rod Speed wrote > >>>> looking to repair a couple of toasters, mainly because >>>> I do really thick toast cut from a full loaf and it's hard >>>> to find a popup toaster that can do that well, particularly >>>> when buying online at a sensible price and it shouldn't >>>> be hard to spot weld the element burnout at the termination >>>>  But I can't work out how to get the handle off so I can get >>>> the cover off. Online some have screws but none of mine >>>> do. Are they glued on and can you just lever it off ? > >>> Talking of toasters - we are (apparently) really weird and like our >>> toast really thick, dark and crisp on the outside and lovely warm >>> bread on the inside. > >> Me too > >>> Most of the population appears to prefer thin rusk-like  objects. > >> True > >> Mate of mine showed up one morning when I was having my >> breakfast which is just a massive great slab of my toast and >> said 'what the hell is that' :-) > >>> We have been on a quest for (our opinion) a decent toaster for most >>> of our 50 years of married life, nearly all appearing to take far >>> too long and generate the rusk variety of toast regardless of the >>> thickness of slice. Even using the oven grill dries out the slices >>> somewhat. > >> And its a damned nuisance to have to do it so manually. >> I much prefer a proper pop up toaster > >>> Most appear to abide by the rule of approximately 400W allocated to >>> each slot, so a 4 slice toaster is typically 1600W and a two slice >>> 800 to 1000W. > >>> I recently stumbled on a Russell Hobbs "Distinctions" toaster which >>> is a 2 slicer but claimed to be 1600W - a lovely 800W per slice. > >>> I did a few cross checks to ensure they were not telling porkies and >>> purchased one - probably pricey at £44 from amazon but certainly a >>> lot cheaper than the crap Dualit we have owned in the past. > >> I've been getting mine from garage/car boot sales, mostly for $5 or $10 >> so its cheap to try because you can't really try toasters in the shop to >> see how well they handle very thick slices of bread and even the ones >> that claim to do crumpets isnt really much use for our bread > >>> Has nice wide long slots too - ideal for our 1 inch thick slices. > >>> This produces our desired toast at last! You have to keep your eye >>> on it as it is VERY fast and can easily generate cremated slices for >>> the unwary, but once fully tuned works a treat. I can at last go to >>> my grave eating decent toast. > >> Thanks for that, might try one if the repair turns out to be not >> feasible. > > Turns out that fixing the best of the toasters wasnt easy. You have > to dismantle it completely to be able to repair the burnt out wire > and its made with metal bits that go thru slots and are then bent. > Can't see those lasting when unbent and rebent and the toasters > weren't great even before they failed, particularly getting too thick > toast out when that jammed > > So I bought the one you recommended. Not sold > in my country or yours that I could find only but > I could get it from amazon in germany and didnt > have to pay freight from there to australia > > Stupid price, but I will never spend all my > savings before I kark it so what the hell > > Works very well except for the fact that it > doesnt toast both sides the same, even if you > turn the toast around when half way thru, > so it can't be a design geometry problem. > > I did consider that is due to one side of the slice having > been exposed to the air in a plastic bag for 24 hours > since I normally only toast a single slice of the multigrain > vertical loaf out of the bread machine every day for > breakfast but I just tried cutting an extra slice off and > keeping it in a plastic bag for 24 hours and turning it > half way thru, but that didnt make any difference, still > one side toasted more than the other > > The difference is just visible, not so brown, in > fact closer to white than brown. Can't work out > what that can be due to, maybe the vertical loaf > just varys in density down the loaf > > I used to get the same effect with the other toasters that died that's usually due to one side of the bread having more moisture than the other. if you dry out the slices at room temperature in a vertical rack so not lying down on one side you shouldn't have that problem -- Linux Mint 22.3