Mixer Guts

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted anything. Unfortunately, we don't live in the alternate universe where replicators exist and we can all blog full-time. Also, I've been taking apart a mixer.

See, I've been thinking about the circuitry to control the blinds, and it occurred to me that there's no good reason I can't have that in my current residence.

My window is one that has a chain that you pull one direction or the other to make it go up or down. Whatever design I ultimately come up with will have to involve a motor, and that motor will have to lift something that weighs about eight pounds.

And this is where I got very seriously side-tracked. The thing is, I have an old mixer lying around (long story), and mixers have motors in them, and I hate to let anything go to waste if I can help it. Therefore, I concluded it was necessary to take the mixer apart and see if there was anything useful inside.

The problem is that the people who make mixers apparently hate mad scientists, because it was ridiculously difficult to get that thing open. The screws that held it together were hidden under expanding plastic pins, which at first I didn't even notice were not part of the main casing, and which were next to impossible to remove. However, after trying a huge variety of tools, up to but not quite including a blowtorch (not saying I wasn't tempted, but something dangerously close to common sense won out at the last minute), I came off conqueror and opened the casing.

Here's what was inside, because if you are reading this blog, you are probably the kind of person who is wondering about that right now. (Or, more likely, you are a member of my immediate family.)

And here's a video of what it looks like running, because common sense doesn't always win:

Unfortunately it doesn't look nearly as impressive as it smelled.

I think it would not be impossible to remove the motor and use it--the wiring doesn't look too bad (famous last words), but, at the same time, I also don't know if I actually want anything that goes that fast. (I may or may not have just been looking for an excuse to take my mixer apart.) Another option is to put the mixer back together (minus those #%!@$* plastic pins!) and use the motor from within the mixer.

If I did use it, I would probably need to rig up some kind of pulley system, and the whole idea has this wonderfully Rube-Goldberg feel to it. On the other hand, I might be better off just starting with the kind of motor I want in the first place.

Bottom line: I'm not sure I've really made any progress here, but it's cool to see what's inside a mixer!