Hamilton Beach can opener dead, anything common to check inside?

[Thomas Martinez]

Saw a question about Hamilton Beach can openers that just stop working and someone want to know how to fix them. Here's a quick rundown based on what I've seen over the years with these appliances:
Unplug the can opener and pop the back cover off the appliance. While I'm surprised at how many of these Hamilton Beach openers don’t include a fuse, it's possible that they dont include a fuse inside the unit. The usual check for these can openers is to look for any loose wires, jammed gear, or a locking mechanism that may have gotten stuck in the on position. Additionally, you can often remove the blade from these appliances to check for any damage.
They usually fail due to crud building up in the gears or the lever that control the appliance may not be engaging with the rest of the gears properly. In addition, the gears on these openers are usually plastic which can wear out over time. As such, if you find that one of these can openers has stopped working, it may be worth the effort to attempt to fix it; but honestly, it's likely better to just buy a new one for around the same cost as one meal at Chipotle.

 

[Mic]

99% of the time its food gunk in the gear assembly. People use these things for years and never clean under the lever where all the bean juice and tomato sauce drip down. Soak the gear in hot soapy water and youll probably bring it back.

 

[Dull Dragonfly]

Gears are plastic on pretty much every Hamilton Beach I've cracked open. The drive worm is usually metal but the big wheel it spins is nylon or similar. Once a tooth strip you're done, no replacement parts available.

 

[Quaint Quail]

honestly for what they cost just buy a new one lol. Not worth an afternoon of fiddling for a $15 appliance

 

[Save Yourself]

wait does the lever actually act as the switch on these? like there's no separate power button, pushing the lever down complete the circuit?

 

[Mic]

wait does the lever actually act as the switch on these? like there's no separate power button, pushing the lever down complete the circuit?

yeah the lever depresses a little microswitch inside. Thats actually another common failure point, the contacts get gunked or the plastic arm that pushes the switch wears down

 

[Enchanting Elk]

I tore one apart last year. The motor was fine, brushes had life, what killed it was a cracked solder joint on one of the lead wires going to the motor terminal. Reflowed it with a cheap iron and it ran another two years before my wife dropped it. For a $12 opener that's pretty solid imo.

 

[Shiny Shark]

no fuse is weird to me, even my coffee grinder has a thermal fuse

 

[Dull Dragonfly]

no fuse is weird to me, even my coffee grinder has a thermal fuse

There's a thermal cutoff on the motor itself, not a fuse you can pop in the unit. It will trip if the motor overheats due to a jammed gear. It might not reset proper.

 

[Save Yourself]

There's a thermal cutoff on the motor itself, not a fuse you can pop in the unit. It will trip if the motor overheats due to a jammed gear. It might not reset proper.

so if the thermal cutoff trips and doesnt reset is that permanent? like the motor is just bricked at that point?

 

[Dull Dragonfly]

so if the thermal cutoff trips and doesnt reset is that permanent? like the motor is just bricked at that point?

sometimes if you let it sit overnight unplugged it resets. If its a one shot fuse type then yes, it's done, though you could probably bypass it.

 

[Breakable Bison]

my mom had one for like 25 years and it finally died last christmas. Opened it up out of curiosity and the little nylon gear had basically powdered itself. Nothing to fix, just dust where teeth used to be

 

[Shado]

hamilton beach quality has gone way downhill the last decade. Old ones were built like tanks now its all flimsy garbage