Sculpey 301 - The Basics of Cleaning a Pasta Machine
Described by Carl Krucke, photography by Lynn Krucke

Cleaning your pasta machine is really very easy.  It does not have to be totally disassembled.   It only takes the removal of 3 screws and 2 nuts to get it apart enough to clean.  Once you have your tools in hand and are sitting down ready to work, you can have it apart in less than 1 minute. Really!

Materials and Tools | Disassembly | Cleaning | Reassembly | Tightening Loose Rods

Materials and Tools:

• Paper towels
• #1 (small point) Phillips Head Screwdriver
• #2 (regular point) Phillips Head Screwdriver
• 10mm wrench or nutdriver, any type.  An adjustable wrench will work but is more difficult to use.
  

Optional:

• A knife or scraper

Directions:

• Using the small screwdriver, remove the screw in the side cover on the cranking handle side of the the pasta machine. (Turn counterclockwise)

• That's all that holds the side cover on, just pull it off and put it aside. I like to stick the screw back into the cover now, it makes it easier to find later.

• Because some of the fasteners may be fairly tight, I prefer to hold the pasta machine between my legs for the next few steps.
   
• Use your 10mm wrench and loosen (counterclockwise) the two nuts. Only loosen them about 1 or 2 turns each, do not remove them just yet. This keeps pieces from falling off unexpectedly.

• Note: If the rod spins with the nuts when you try to loosen them, it means two nuts inside the other side of the machine aren't tight enough.   You'll need to tighten them as described here before you reassemble the machine.   This only happens once in a while, and once tightened properly will not need to be done again.
   
• Turn the pasta machine upside-down. Continuing to work on the crank handle side, use the regular Phillips screwdriver to remove (ccw) the two screws holding the footplate.

• Set the footplate aside. I find it easier to find these two screws later if I leave them in the indentation of the footplate.

 

• Go ahead and put the pasta machine back on the table, again with the thickness adjuster side down.
   
• Use your fingers to remove the two nuts from the threaded rods now. Put them aside.

• The sideplate is no longer attached, but won't just fall off. Put your thumbs over the ends of the threaded rods to push a little and pull the sideplate off with your fingers, as shown.

• Here it comes... Looks like the top guards are coming with it this time. Those or the scraper blades may or may not come out with the sideplate, but it doesn't matter because we're taking them all off sooner or later anyway. No worries.

• Okay, we've got it as far apart as it needs to be. See? Wasn't that easy? Come on, lets get this thing cleaned up!.
   
• If your pasta machine still has them, now remove the two top covers. (the U-shaped long things, I'm holding one...) One or both might still be with the rest of the machine, just pull them out and put them aside. We normally do not put these back, because they can snag the clay and stuff can build up inside them. They probably serve some important function for pasta, but they just get in the way for clay use.

• Wipe any clay off the sideplate. Push any grease on the face of the sideplate back into the metal roller hole. Clean the white plastic hole too. Set the sideplate aside.

• Okay, what's left? Lets have a look at the scraper blades. That's where clay builds up and is the main problem spot if the pasta machine is performing poorly.
   
• Oh.    My.    Goodness!
  No wonder we're cleaning this thing!

• Remove the scraper blades...

• ... and get rid of any built up clay. If the clay has been in there a long time and has gotten hard and dry, or if there is just a whole lot of it, as in this case, you may need to use something like the knife to scrape it out. Note - Be careful not to nick the thin edge of the blade with the knife (or yourself for that matter...) it needs to be smooth and straight to work properly.

• Normally you can just wipe it all off with a paper towel. Make sure you get it all!

• After they are clean, carefully inspect the scraper blades edges for straightness. This isn't much of a picture, but at the tip of the arrow you can see this one is bent from having so much clay wadded up behind it. Trouble is, once it gets a nick, or a little bent, it scoops up more clay, which bends it more, which makes it scoop up more clay, which bends it more, which... I think you know where I'm going with this... The blade needs to be as straight as possible so it can contact the roller equally along it's entire length after reassembly. I use my fingers to bend it back as straight as I can, which has been sufficient for us so far.

• In extreme cases, it may become necessary to replace the blades. Although I haven't bought any myself yet, I have made inquiries and the importer of Atlas Pasta Machines (GARY VALENTI, INC., 54-36 FLUSHING AVENUE, MASPETH, N.Y. 11378, TEL.: 718-386-0896 / FAX: 718-417-6227) indicated to me in June 2003 that they would sell pairs of replacement scraper blades for a very reasonable price.   My point of contact was Dawn M. Steiger at Valentimp@aol.com. They have a website, http://www.MarcatoUSA.com
   
• Last but not least, wipe off the rollers and the other sideplate.

• Now we're ready to put it all back together. With the machine still resting thickness adjuster side down and things oriented as shown, install the blades by inserting the tabs at the ends into the slots just under the two rollers.

• Put the sideplate on gently. First start the bigger roller end throught the plastic hole, then wiggle and get the two threaded rods started through, then the remaining roller end. Don't worry about the blades just yet.

• Shift the blades around with your thumbs until you can see them lined up through the slots, then....

• ...just push down. The threaded rods, rollers and the tabs on the blades should be sticking out about the amounts shown below.

• Loosely install the two nuts, finger tight is fine. Don't tighten them yet, we need to get the footplate on first to keep things aligned correctly.

• Working on the bottom of the pasta machine again, place the footplate back on the base, align the holes in the footplate, base and sideplate and insert the screws. Tighten the screws.

• Now it's time to flip the machine back onto its side and tighten the two nuts. As I mentioned during disassembly, once in a while the rod will spin with the nuts when you try to tighten them, it means two nuts inside the other side of the machine aren't tight enough.   You'll need to tighten them as described here before you can finish reassembling the machine.   Again, this only happens once in a while, and once tightened properly will not need to be done again.

• Snap the cover back into place.

• Install the cover screw. Only tighten it until it just touches the cover, if it's too tight you can bend the cover and....

• ...the point of the screw will stick through too far, there at the tip of my finger, creating a knuckle nicking hazard.

• And there you have it, one lean, mean, clean pasta machine!