Braun PowerMax MX 2050 5-Speed Blender
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- Capacity: 58 oz.
- Blender Type: Work Top
- Pulse Feature: With Pulse Feature
- Speeds: 5 Speed
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Great blender, plastic gears can be replaced
Pros
Cheap, works reliably. Good power, makes frozen smoothies well.
Cons
Two plastic gears - one easy to replace, the other way harder.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Great blender for the price. Works better than the fancier one I had before. But some repairs are hard.
I had a Viking blender before this - piece of garbage that I threw in the trash. And who wants to spend $300+ on a Vita-Mix? This one is rated well and has plenty enought power to make smoothies with ice and frozen fruit.
Pitcher is a good size for two smoothies - three is possible if you are willing to fill the pitcher up to near the top. We've been dishwashing the pitcher (with blade attached) and top (separately) for a few years now - no ill effects seen.
But after a couple of years one of the two plastic gears will go out. Everything else will probably work just fine. One of the repairs is easy the other harder. But I repair things if at all possible - and both can be done.
The white plastic gear under the jar is pretty easy to replace, the process is self explanatory and the gear can be bought from your local applicance parts store or
www.abtecparts.com : part num 05XBR7050810
for $9 plus shipping. Don't replace it unless the blades actually stop spinning - the design is such that there are a couple of bits that can break off without actually impacting performance.
If the white plastic gear on the jar looks OK, the motor spins but the blender won't chop ice, then what's most likely wrong is that the "clutch" is shot. If you are very handy you can replace it, but don't even bother to read on unless you are patient, know better than to plug the thing in while disassembled, and so on.
You can prove that the clutch is shot by sticking a screwdriver into the bottom where the motor cooling blades are located to keep the motor shaft from spinning and gently turning the black gear on the top. If it spins easily (as it did on mine) then that black gear assembly needs to be replaced. Obviously it would be a very bad idea to do this when it's plugged in.
This could be simple and the part is only $5 to replace. Get it at abtecparts (p/n 06XBR4184626) or (www.thegourmetdepotco.com p/n 4184-626). Just unscrew the black gear and screw the new one on.
It's called a Drive Coupling or Clutch Coupling.
Only problem is that there's no mechanism to prevent the motor shaft from spinning when you try to take that gear off. And anyway, if you are replacing it the plastic is not actually connected to the shaft anyway. You could try to stick something in the holes in the bottom to prevent the shaft from spinning but this will just break the plastic fan blade that covers the bottom of the shaft.
Another problem is that Braun doesn't want you disassembling the thing and uses security screws to keep it together.
Here's what to do:
1. Hack away at the black plastic gear from the top with cutters until it's sufficiently small that it will fit through the hole in the white plastic housing below. This isn't as hard as it looks, but be careful not to mangle the lip on the hole (in the white housing) which prevents liquids from falling into the motor.
2. Figure out some way to remove the three 5-point spline security screws that hold the thing together from below. You might be able to use a flat screwdriver held to the side, I used the split flat bits in the 100 pc security bit set that I bought at www.harborfreight.com for $5. They don't fit perfectly, but with some wiggling you can get the screws out.
3. Pull the control knob away from the blender. It is clipped in, but will come free with a little prying.
4. Use a flat screwdriver to pry open the clips on all four sides that hold the two plastic pieces of the housing together.
5. Take the top off, and pull out the motor. There are wires, a metal plate and a rubber gasket in the way, move these aside gently.
6. Hack away the rest of the black gear piece, you'll be left with a stainless steel nut screwed on the end of the threaded motor shaft. Almost certainly it will not come off easily.
7. Pry off the fan blade with a screwdriver - it will slide directly out away from the motor. Remove and save the two washers. Hold the now exposed splined end of the motor shaft with whatever tool you like and use a wrench on the other end to remove the nut.
8. Re-assemble (use normal screws, of course) and spin on the new part. The piece probably won't screw on all the way, but this is easily remedied - just put some ice in the pitcher and turn the blender on and it will get screwed down all the way. You may have to rock the pitcher back a bit to enable the safety pins.
Voila!
It might be possible that you can skip step 1 and somehow keep the motor attached to the top housing while performing the rest of the steps. I didn't do this and it seems like it might be tricky to grab the nut. But you may be successful this way.
Calling this part a clutch is a bit of a stretch - the nut is cast into the plastic and if the blender gets jammed or something like that, all that happens is that nut grinds away the plastic that is supposed to normally keep it from spinning.
Pitcher is a good size for two smoothies - three is possible if you are willing to fill the pitcher up to near the top. We've been dishwashing the pitcher (with blade attached) and top (separately) for a few years now - no ill effects seen.
But after a couple of years one of the two plastic gears will go out. Everything else will probably work just fine. One of the repairs is easy the other harder. But I repair things if at all possible - and both can be done.
The white plastic gear under the jar is pretty easy to replace, the process is self explanatory and the gear can be bought from your local applicance parts store or
www.abtecparts.com : part num 05XBR7050810
for $9 plus shipping. Don't replace it unless the blades actually stop spinning - the design is such that there are a couple of bits that can break off without actually impacting performance.
If the white plastic gear on the jar looks OK, the motor spins but the blender won't chop ice, then what's most likely wrong is that the "clutch" is shot. If you are very handy you can replace it, but don't even bother to read on unless you are patient, know better than to plug the thing in while disassembled, and so on.
You can prove that the clutch is shot by sticking a screwdriver into the bottom where the motor cooling blades are located to keep the motor shaft from spinning and gently turning the black gear on the top. If it spins easily (as it did on mine) then that black gear assembly needs to be replaced. Obviously it would be a very bad idea to do this when it's plugged in.
This could be simple and the part is only $5 to replace. Get it at abtecparts (p/n 06XBR4184626) or (www.thegourmetdepotco.com p/n 4184-626). Just unscrew the black gear and screw the new one on.
It's called a Drive Coupling or Clutch Coupling.
Only problem is that there's no mechanism to prevent the motor shaft from spinning when you try to take that gear off. And anyway, if you are replacing it the plastic is not actually connected to the shaft anyway. You could try to stick something in the holes in the bottom to prevent the shaft from spinning but this will just break the plastic fan blade that covers the bottom of the shaft.
Another problem is that Braun doesn't want you disassembling the thing and uses security screws to keep it together.
Here's what to do:
1. Hack away at the black plastic gear from the top with cutters until it's sufficiently small that it will fit through the hole in the white plastic housing below. This isn't as hard as it looks, but be careful not to mangle the lip on the hole (in the white housing) which prevents liquids from falling into the motor.
2. Figure out some way to remove the three 5-point spline security screws that hold the thing together from below. You might be able to use a flat screwdriver held to the side, I used the split flat bits in the 100 pc security bit set that I bought at www.harborfreight.com for $5. They don't fit perfectly, but with some wiggling you can get the screws out.
3. Pull the control knob away from the blender. It is clipped in, but will come free with a little prying.
4. Use a flat screwdriver to pry open the clips on all four sides that hold the two plastic pieces of the housing together.
5. Take the top off, and pull out the motor. There are wires, a metal plate and a rubber gasket in the way, move these aside gently.
6. Hack away the rest of the black gear piece, you'll be left with a stainless steel nut screwed on the end of the threaded motor shaft. Almost certainly it will not come off easily.
7. Pry off the fan blade with a screwdriver - it will slide directly out away from the motor. Remove and save the two washers. Hold the now exposed splined end of the motor shaft with whatever tool you like and use a wrench on the other end to remove the nut.
8. Re-assemble (use normal screws, of course) and spin on the new part. The piece probably won't screw on all the way, but this is easily remedied - just put some ice in the pitcher and turn the blender on and it will get screwed down all the way. You may have to rock the pitcher back a bit to enable the safety pins.
Voila!
It might be possible that you can skip step 1 and somehow keep the motor attached to the top housing while performing the rest of the steps. I didn't do this and it seems like it might be tricky to grab the nut. But you may be successful this way.
Calling this part a clutch is a bit of a stretch - the nut is cast into the plastic and if the blender gets jammed or something like that, all that happens is that nut grinds away the plastic that is supposed to normally keep it from spinning.
