Ankarsrum issue: mixing bowl rising up during mixing

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ajanjigian@wor… on 24 Nov 2023 at 11:52

I've had an Ankarsrum for nearly 3 years now and love it, but lately I've been noticing a problem with it that I cannot diagnose. During mixing (using the roller/scraper, which is the only way I knead dough), with the attachment arm fully extended, after awhile, the bowl will rise up and eventually make contact with the arm, causing a lot of noise (and wear, if I weren't there to correct it). I can "fix" it by either turning the machine off and pushing the bowl down, or by swinging the arm toward the center of the bowl, which will do the same thing. 

Has anyone else seen this happen, and is there an easy fix? I don't see any obvious way to adjust anything to keep it from happening, nor is it obvious why it is taking place.

Thanks!

- Andrew

Sounds like the drive groove on your roller isn't working properly.  Is it damaged?  Does it line up properly with the bowl edge?  Jim

Jim - 

I don't think that's it, it makes contact with it just fine, and it is not damaged. It seems to have something to do with the force of the dough being pushed up against the side of the bowl as it passes by the roller, moving the bowl upwards. I doubt the roller is even making contact with the bowl most of the time. 

Toast

Jimatthelake on 24 Nov 2023 at 12:46

Does the bowl "rise" when you mix anything other than bread? Jim

Andrew,  never had that problem with mine, but you might want to look at the bottom of the bowl - is in possible that the slot for the drive pin is an an angle, so that as the drive pin tries to spin the bowl, the bowl gets forced upwards?  

Two or three times, I've had the roller detach and fall into the dough, but never had the bowl rise up. What do you mean when you write "with the attachment arm fully extended"? The arm just pivots back and forth. I usually start with the arm/roller sitting against the side of the bowl and then lock it in place near the center.

As members of the Ankarsrum FB group suggested, the problem was grease or oil in the linkage between the bowl and the mixer. I gave it a good wipe down and it seems to have gone away, though granted it was just a single test, so we shall see. 

 

…your dough hook. I use mine a lot and am very happy with the results. The action is quite different from the roller, but you get great visibility to gluten strand development during kneading.

  1. I start recipes with all the levain, all of the preferments (if any) and the rest of the required liquid. I often need to help the levain and preferments break up at this stage, usually with a few minutes of stirring and nudging using a silicone scraper.
  2. Next, depending on the recipe, I’ll add any sweeteners or supplemental commercial yeast just to get it all mixed.
  3. After a brief rest, I’ll add all the flour, then the salt and continue with kneading, most often 5 minutes at mark 2, then 5 minutes at mark 4. If the recipe includes oil or butter, I’ll add it late in the kneading process.

Good luck,

Phil

My Ankarsrum recently started doing exactly the same thing, the bowl rises when making dough. I saw some slight damage on the drive on that bowl. Got a new bowl, and it still does this. My spindle did not seem greasy. Have you figured out anything further?

If I understand correctly, your Ank previously worked fine. Then the bowl started to rise when mixing/kneading he dough. Can you identify what changed when this problem occurred? Also, if you're using the roller, try switching to the dough hook. If you purchased the Ank from Pleasant Hill Grain, you may wish to contact them for advice through the Contact Us form on their website. Does the problem occur with all recipes? Please post one of the recipes. Can you post a picture (or even better, a video) that shows the issue?

I think I've figured it out! I've been making lower hydration doughs lately, and they are stiffer. I've also done some research on the Ank, and found out that you're supposed to lock the arm out a bit so it doesn't press with full force or bang back against the bowl. I guess I missed that part of the instruction, and it doesn't do that on most of my doughs. I think this will fix it, and also I'll try switching to the dough hook on larger batches. 

I just tried making marshmallows to see if it can do that in the metal bowl (it can!). It started to "lift" a little, and locking the arm out away from the bowl let the bowl settle back down. I tweaked it a few times as the marshmallow got stiffer. Funny, I was thinking about replacing it with a spiral mixer. Now that I'm doing it right, I'm thinking about giving my Kitchenaid to my daughter and using the Ank as my only stand mixer. I want to try a few more things before committing to that though.

For now I consider the issue solved, and will come back later if I learn more/have more issues. Thanks for the reply!

Here's a visual on the "lift", looking at the bottom of the bow from the outside. Maybe this can help someone else. The "lift" starts as a tilt, and the bowl starts working itself up off of the drive shaft, and makes a light metal contact sound, I think from the arm touching the top rim.

This is "seated":

Bowl is Seated

And this is "lifted":