Stuffers

[cathouse willy]

I just bought an 11 lb vertical stuffer from Princess Auto. Its a well made stainless unit with steel gears and it works very well....The bad news is that there are no replacement parts available,which means that when the plunger "O" ring fails as it's bound to the unit is useless.Has anyone had any luck in finding a new replacement? If I can't locate one I'll be returning it. Fortunately Princess Auto is good about returns.
Cheers
Willy

[watchdog56]

I have the 5# LEM stuffer and made maybe 30 batches of sausage and have not had to replace my gasket yet. It is still in good shape so I think it will be quite a while before you need to replace it. Just remember when cleaning take the gasket off the plunger,(meat usually finds its way under the gasket)

[lumpy]

I'm with Watchdog. There is no reason why the o-ring would fail.
O-rings are easy to find if you do need one and in this unit I would bet that they use a standard size.

This unit is a knock off of the LEM.

[Habanero Smoker]

I agree with Lumpy. Many times a manufacturer will manufacture the same stuffer under different brand names, and often the parts are a standard size. So if it should fail, you should be able to find another "O" ring. My 5 pound Gander Mt. is the same as the 5 pound stuffer sold by Sausage Maker.

[ankorklankor]

You can also look on the McMaster-Carr web site for o-rings:

www.mcmaster.com

[NePaSmoKer]

http://www.sausagemaker.com/partsdepartment.aspx

[cathouse willy]

Well Mcmaster carr only ships to established customers in Canada and sausage maker doesn't carry parts for an 11 lb stuffer. Sooooo.. I'm still searching.My o ring is actually a ucup seal and measures 5 1/4 od x 4 3/4 id and is 1/4 " sguare cross section. and has a ushape cross section. If anyone has a stuiffer similar to this one http://www.princessauto.com/pal/product/8376345/Stainless-Steel/11-lb-Stainless-Steel-Vertical-Sausage-Stuffer I'd really appreciate it if you could measure the seal for me. The stuffer is well made and works well so I'm hoping to find a replacement seal. Without it the machine is a $200 shiney paper weight. Why am I concerned about it? One of Murphy's laws says "whatever can go wrong...will go wrong"

[anderson5420]

You can unquestionably find a replacement O-ring of the correct size, and I would also say, it is very unlikely that you will ever have to do that!

Carefully remove the O-ring after each use, clean the piston groove, clean the O-ring, put some Crisco on the O-ring when you replace it, and it will probably last for next to forever!

[cathouse willy]

While I appreciate the encouraging words about not needing to replace the o ring, if anyone can point me to a place that will sell me a replacement I'd feel much better about the whole thing..

[Mr Walleye]

Cathouse Willy

Although I don't know for sure but by the description of the seal it kind of sounds like the seal on the Weston Stuffers. They did make an 11 lb stuffer. I would give them a call.

http://www.westonsupply.com/Vertical-Sausage-Stuffer-Parts-s/159.htm

Mike

[marauder11]

Made a trip there today and looked at this. It looks like a LEM knock off like mentioned before. I have the 25 pounder from LEM and am sure if you had to you could use a regular o ring for the stuffer. I deal with o rings at work and you can find almost any size and thickness. Plus as mentioned before if used right the ring shoul dout last your use of it.

[micman]

I agree with Anderson5420, I have a Dakota water stuffer, every time I use it i put Crisco lard on the o rings to make them soft and pliable. But again never nothing wrong with storing spare parts, (my wife says I have two of everything, well Duh I am a male)  ;D

Mick