You might remember my recent posting,
Food Mills vs Food Strainers, where I talked about the differences and the benefits of a food strainer. I also mentioned a purchase I made over at Chefscatalog.com of my
Back2Basics Model 220 Food mill. Looks like the price went up a little - was $28 now $35... inflation is hard at work, get yours now before its too late! Just kidding...
Well I got it in the mail and just now have remembered to bring the pictures to work so I can tell you all about it! So here are a few pictures, right out of the box...
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| Installed on my kitchen table |
Assembly
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| Mounting it to the table |
The first thing I notice when I clamp this thing down to the table is that the clamp feels pretty rock solid. This is actually really important because if you are going to be cranking down on the handle trying to push production as fast as possible, you're not going to want it to wiggle around! That said, make sure the table or whatever you mount it to is also solid! Our kitchen table is a 1970's chunk of looks-like-wood plastic... it's not the best for the job, but it works.
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| Add handle here |
Hopefully it's obvious, but this is where the handle gets installed. Not sure if you can see it or not, but the shaft the handle mounts to is threaded on the end and then the slotted handle fits over a larger portion (I'm struggling with the right words here). Make sure when you install it, the slotted handle slips down over this portion of the shaft.
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| The handle, crank and the nut that holds it on. |
Maybe now it's a little more obvious? Anyway, there's the handle and the screw that goes over it. Caution!!! Don't crank down too hard on the screw... the plastic housing has the potential to strip out... but if it does, you could still go to the hardware store and get a nut and washer to replace it and be back in business.
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| The handle and nut installed. |
Of course one you install the handle and screw the nut down, it never hurts to have a buddy to test it out for you to make sure it works! To the left is the adapter that goes into the hole in the top and the basin/reservoir/hopper that goes on top of the adapter. I don' know why they didn't just make the hopper the right size... anybody have any ideas?
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| The inside of the frame... with the spring installed. |
You can see here how the inside of this thing looks. The spring in this picture pushes the spiral/auger into the screens to ensure a tight fit, forcing the juice/sauce out and the solid skins, seeds, etc out the end. Here's what that looks like...
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| The default screen with the regular auger... don't miss the gasket inside the screen though! |
If you look inside the red auger you'll see part of a shiny piece of stainless steel, or so it appears. This is slotted and fits over the shaft in the previous picture. The spring also pushes against this piece of stainless forcing it against the screen. You can also see on the RH side of the screen a little set screw... this needs to be all the way out, as it will get in your way when you install the screen if it's not!
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| Installing the screen and auger. |
Okay, this one is big for a reason! If you look at the frame, just on the LH edge at the center of the rotational axis, you'll see that there is something of a ramp going up and a horizontal line at the top of it. The screen also has the words "OFF" and "ON", with arrows indicating direction of rotation. The screen needs to be pushed over the frame, rotated in the "ON" direction until the set screw is above the horizontal line and then tightened down. (If you have any questions, just ask and I'll try to answer as soon as possible!)
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| Auger and Screen installed. Notice where the set screw is? |
Pretty self explanatory what you are looking at here...
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| Spout and squirt guard installed. |
Ya know, I don't know what those things are really called... but you got my best attempt. These two plastic pieces just slip over the screen, for the spout, and the screen and frame, for the squirt guard. Also shown at the very tip top of the picture is the "hopper base" and the "hopper" installed... those are the technically correct names! So there you have it, now you know how it goes together.
OH WAIT!!!!
Amazon was good to me this year! I wasn't sure how it would work out, but I went out on a limb and purchased the
accessory kit for the Roma food strainer for $12 (it now costs ~$25 at the moment).
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| The box. |
I took a gamble on this one, but since it was only $12, I figured it was worth the risk! Each screen from Back 2 Basics Mill is around $17, so what do I have to loose? Well I got them in last week... lo and behold, they fit! So now I have a screen for Salsa, Pumpkin/Squash, Berries and a Grape Spiral (for juicing grapes), for less than I would have paid for a single B2B screen.
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| B2B Auger (left) and Roma Grape Auger (right). |
There was one difference that I noticed... the gaskets on the Roma screens are a little smaller.
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| Roma gasket |
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| Back 2 Basics gasket |
The gasket on the B2B is thicker, beefier... but on the model I used in the past, it didn't have any gasket... only time will tell how much of a difference this makes. I'll let ya know when I figure it out!
Manufacturers website
B2B Food Strainer and Sauce Maker Manual
Take care and God bless!
