• Re: toaster repair

    From Abandoned Trolley@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, April 09, 2026 17:31:11


    Not for me. The reason I toast the thickest slabs of
    the multigrain bread that still fits in the toaster that
    takes the thickest toast is because I prefer toast which
    is toast on the outside and still bread in the middle.

    I have always preferred toast like that, I used to call
    it toast with bread in the middle when I was a little kid

    Some people avoid toasters for a similar reason - they can just grill
    one side of the bread

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Axel@3:633/10 to All on Friday, April 10, 2026 14:28:47
    Rod Speed wrote:
    Rod Speed <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> wrote
    Andy Bennett <aben@ben37j.com> 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


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Abandoned Trolley@3:633/10 to All on Friday, April 10, 2026 07:48:55


    The problem with that approach is that its
    much slower given you have to fire up the
    grill and monitor the slice all the time,

    And I don't find that an air fryer produces
    an acceptable result toast wise


    I am not so keen on air fryers as toasters either, but at least you can
    have the bread as thick as you like


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Axel@3:633/10 to All on Friday, April 10, 2026 20:22:49
    Rod Speed wrote:
    Abandoned Trolley <that.bloke@microsoft.com> wrote

    The problem with that approach is that its
    much slower given you have to fire up the
    grill and monitor the slice all the time,

    And I don't find that an air fryer produces
    an acceptable result toast wise

    I am not so keen on air fryers as toasters either, butat least you
    can have the bread as thick as you like

    Sure but I have fixed that problem with the new toaster

    you could try this .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI3xcIlZlDg&t=2s

    :)

    --
    Linux Mint 22.3


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Peter Jason@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, April 11, 2026 09:40:09
    On Fri, 10 Apr 2026 17:09:14 +1000, "Rod Speed"
    <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> wrote:

    Abandoned Trolley <that.bloke@microsoft.com> wrote

    The problem with that approach is that its
    much slower given you have to fire up the
    grill and monitor the slice all the time,

    And I don't find that an air fryer produces
    an acceptable result toast wise

    I am not so keen on air fryers as toasters either, butat least you can
    have the bread as thick as you like

    Sure but I have fixed that problem with the new toaster


    Though more expensive, it might pay to invest in a commercial unit. https://www.nisbets.com.au/

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Peter Jason@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, April 11, 2026 09:41:36
    On Sat, 11 Apr 2026 09:40:09 +1000, Peter Jason <pj@jostle.com> wrote:

    On Fri, 10 Apr 2026 17:09:14 +1000, "Rod Speed"
    <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> wrote:

    Abandoned Trolley <that.bloke@microsoft.com> wrote

    The problem with that approach is that its
    much slower given you have to fire up the
    grill and monitor the slice all the time,

    And I don't find that an air fryer produces
    an acceptable result toast wise

    I am not so keen on air fryers as toasters either, butat least you can >>> have the bread as thick as you like

    Sure but I have fixed that problem with the new toaster


    Though more expensive, it might pay to invest in a commercial unit. >https://www.nisbets.com.au/
    also... https://www.nisbets.com.au/commercial-kitchen-machines/cooking-equipment/toasters/_/a33-3?text=toasters&r-type=m



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Axel@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, April 11, 2026 10:22:00
    Rod Speed wrote:
    Axel <none@not.here> wrote
    Rod Speed wrote
    Rod Speed <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> wrote
    Andy Bennett <aben@ben37j.com> 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

    Just tried that, with it out in the air for about 7 hours and that
    did see the two sides much closer in color. But that approach
    no longer produces the toast I prefer, what I used to call when
    a kid, toast with bread in the middle. Its now toasted right thru

    if that's the kind of toast you want you need a toaster that toasts the
    bread quickly, so it browns the outside before the inside is fully
    toasted. the Breville I have does that, but I prefer to use the slower toasting setting so I get the bread fully toasted.


    The residual difference in the two sides appears to be
    due to the vertical loaf varying in density down the loaf.
    You can see that effect in the bread before its toasted.

    In theory the fix would be to vary the temperature of the
    element that is toasting one side and that wouldnt be
    hard to do electronically but might be hard to do given the
    density of the loaf varys quite a bit down the vertical loaf

    the breville has a crumpet setting, since crumpets at a normal toasting setting invariably burn on the bottom before the top is cooked. the
    crumpet setting reduces the element output on the bottom side of the
    crumpet, providing you put it in the right way of course.


    The difference while visibly different still sees the paler side toasted
    but just not as brown as the other one so likely I will just leave it
    at that


    --
    Linux Mint 22.3


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)