Anyone managed to dismantle a Magimix Kettle (model 11691)

... like this one

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This is our third one, Magimix having replaced the previous two due to failure of the lid to either stay closed or failing to open. Now after 18 months this one is also failing to stay closed. As its 4.5 years since we originally bought it I doubt they'll do another replacement (but I'll try!!), so I have been trying to strip it down to see what the underlying trouble is. Problem is, I can't dismantle the bloody thing. The lid is fixed to a large plastic hinge assembly with the catch inside the fat lid, and the hinge assy attached to the body by a couple of machine screws. After taking these out the hinge/lid assy remains firmly fixed to the stainless steel inner kettle body, almost as if its superglued. On the other hand it might be just sealant holding it on but moderate force won't shift it and I'm loathe to apply more for fear of breaking it.

I've got the kettle base off easily enough but that just reveals the element and stat. The handle doesn't have any obvious detachable parts so I suspect the lid has to come off first.

Has anyone defeated this beast?

Reply to
Phil Addison
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of the lid

I think these all fail that way.

The catch works by the button pushing a plunger into the lid at the hinge, which with some plastic mechanics in the lid, withdraws a locking catch on each side. This method is used on some other makes of kettle too.

I've seen one case of the hinge failing which stops the plunger being pushed in, and several cases of the plastic mechanics in the lid jamming (possibly hard water scale, but I didn't investigate).

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

failure of the lid

It's got worse; a couple of times now its popped open while boiling which is a quite a dangerous failure because it means the steam is no longer forced to go down a tube in the handle to the cut-out in the base and would boil dry had I not been keeping an eye on it.

In this model the button just pushes a rod inside the lid and the end of the rod engages under a lip to hold the lid down (in theory anyway). This rod is not being pushed far enough due to some wear or breakage. That's what I want to examine but I can't risk breaking the lid assembly as I want to return it if they will take it after this length of time. My problem is that the hinge remains firmly fixed to the inner stainless steel even after removing the 2 screws that appear to be the only things holding it on - unless there is another screw/s fixing it from inside the handle! But I can't get the handle off either to check, I imagine whatever is fixing that is accessed after removing the hinge. Or perhaps not!

We do have very hard water but there is no real way to descale inside the lid. Only steam should get in there, though I suppose water droplets may be carried along with the steam. Certainly the instructions don't require descaling there, just the usual 1/2 fill and leave to fizz.

Reply to
Phil Addison

Phil, were you successful? One side of my hinge has failed and despite removing the screws inside the kettle, nothing seems to be moving.

Richard

Reply to
rjbrook

removing the screws inside the kettle, nothing seems to be moving.

Hello, just had the same problem with the lid. To remove it I gently prised the stainless steel back off the handle from the top. Just used a kitchen knife. This exposes 3 screws one holding the button assembly in place the other 2 holding the handle to the lid assembly. Remove all three plus the two you can access and off comes the lid assembly in one piece. In my case one of the hinges had snapped off so the lid was not opening or closing properly. More concerning however was the rust inside the kettle and lid. It's all in the bin now.

Reply to
Mr Fixit

ilure of the lid

also failing to

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moderate force

ent and stat. The

So this is what you do. After years of lamenting the lids on these great ke ttles I have finally found the answer. You do NOT need to take the whole li d off. What you do is carefully prise the chrome top off the lid using a kn ife and being careful not to damage the rubber washer around the edge. This will expose the internal mechanism. It is too difficult to explain here ho w this mechanism works inside, but let's just say part of my lever was loos e and I secured it with a tiny bit of gaffer tape. Snap the chrome top back on the lid making sure the rubber washer sticking out as before and it's j ob done. Unfortunately I had dismantled the entire kettle before I realised this and broke part of the handle so I may yet have to buy a new kettle. P lease don't make the same mistake!

Reply to
pressnights

I might try that on ours, but as well as the lid being stuck, it looks like one side of the hinge has broken as the lid is wonky and water comes out the side of the lid when you pour.

I stuffed in the cellar awaiting a roundtuit and bought a stainless steel kettle from tesco

Reply to
chris French

snip

That sounds like my dismantling of a clothes dryer to replace the belt idler wheel, to discover that it was, in fact, possible by just removing a few screws. Simple if you knew how.

Reply to
Davey

That's one of the big issues with DIY - whenever you come to fix something, it's generally the first time you've done it, and you don't know what a working one looks like because you've only seen one example, and that's broken...

Reply to
Huge

"It all makes Work for the Working Man to do".

The few words that can stop a man's heart:

"I cleared up that intidy table in the back room, the one with all those loose bits all over it".

Reply to
Davey

After a break of a couple of years from DIY, this kettle lid finally got so troublesome I took another look at it today, and with the advice from here I?m pleased to say after a complete strip-down and re-build, with a bit of silicone grease for lubrication, the lid now opens and closes silky-smooth. Thanks to ?pressnights? for how to get inside the lid, and the tip that you don?t need to take the handle off (but I did anyway!) and to Mr Fixit for how to get inside the handle.

Here?s what I did.

REMOVING THE HANDLE (based on Mr Fixit?s post)

Although possibly not necessary I took the handle off, and cleaned up and silicone greased the push-button and its plunger as follows:

The stainless handle trim is fixed by 10 plastic snap-hooks, 5 each side, and needed quite a lot of force to start removing it. I could prise it up a tiny amount at the top with a knife, but then switched to a pair of flat screwdrivers to lever each side up equally. Having got it off, I think starting at the bottom may be slightly easier next time.

OPEN THE LID next if not already open, then remove the single screw behind the button. The button should stay in place but mine fell out together with its spring underneath because two tiny plastic retainer bits had broken off from the channel it moves in. Now look at the hole which the central button retaining screw goes through and see it is actually made of two parts. The button assembly part with button, spring, plunger (a small right-angled part) and its spring, can be removed by sliding from the main part. I freed it by first pulling with a small screwdriver inserted partly in the central screw-hole. The button has two little bumps on its shaft which retain it in its channel (at least they would if mine did not have bits broken off).

Having stripped it down its apparent why it?s so troublesome. The button pushes on the plunger at 45 degrees to its plunge direction, and as it?s very short it must tend to jam in its channel. Applying a bit of silicone grease should help at least in the short term.

Next remove the two handle retaining screws and flat washers either side of the button.

Now from inside the kettle remove the two screws behind the lid (you need a SHORT Phillips screwdriver) and remove the lid and the screws together.

With the lid off you can see a hole about 9mm dia through the inner skin which leads the steam to a ?boiling? power cut-out in the base.

Two more screws allow separation of the two halves of the assembly (the lid and hinge, and the button housing).

SEPARATING THE TWO HALVES OF THE LID

As ?pressnights? states, you have to prise the steel top half of the lid off. There are 6 snap-hooks holding it on around the periphery on 6 out of 8 equal spaces at 45 degree points. Two at the front, two each side, but none at the back hinge location. They are tough hard plastic and I had to use a fair bit of force with a flat-bladed stumpy screwdriver to prise each one up. Starting either side of the hinge is easiest as there are no hooks there. Once it?s open its pretty obvious how the lever system works. I dismantled all the levers, cleaned up the parts and re-assembled with a smear of silicone grease on the sliding joints. Take care that the big rubber seal is seated properly in its various recesses. Once I positioned the top cover, all the catches went home with a satisfying click when pressed down hard.

RE-ASSEMBLY

As Haines says ?Re-assembly is the reverse of assembly?, and I was delighted to find the lid now opens smoothly with a gentle press of the button, and closes equally well. Thanks again Mr Fixit and ?pressnights?. And to D-I-Y coming up trumps again... nice to be back ;)

Cheers

Phil Addison

Reply to
Phil Addison

Hello Phil,

Nice to see you back!

Reply to
John Rumm

replying to Mr Fixit, tgmf wrote: Leaks are often from small cracks in the transparent plastic water gauge - try dribbling in a little Gorilla glue via the port at the bottom of the inside of the kettle. I stops all leaks but sacrifices use of the the water level gauge

Reply to
tgmf

replying to pressnights, Hobbit54 wrote: I had the same problem, but it was due to the return spring no longer fully pushing the latch back to the engage point, bodged it using a slice of eraser and some glue to fix it in place to enhance the return. Thanks for the information on how to access the mechanism.

Reply to
Hobbit54

Only three years old that one.

Reply to
Max Demian

replying to Phil Addison, Narshi Pishavadia wrote: I had the same problem with my originally purchased Magimix kettle, for which Magimix, to their credit at the time, were prompt in replacing. However, the replacement kettle has also suffered the lid failure, after less than 2 years' normal use. This rather suggests a design fault and I also intend to approach Magimix about a permanent solution. Good luck to both of us.

Reply to
Narshi Pishavadia

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