Is This Blender Salvageable?

January 16, 2016 9:45 AM

I like my blender. It serves me perfectly well in its role of making daily breakfast smoothies and I have been more than satisfied with it. Now I’ve got a busted part and need help figuring out options. Details below!

It’s been wonderful having fresh smoothies in the morning and I wish to continue this delicious and easy habit. I like the blender I have and have no urge to upgrade or replace it. The complication is a crack in the cutter assembly I’ve recently discovered. While the blender still performs fine as far as I can tell, I get an icky feeling thinking about what’s lurking in that crack, and what’s getting into my food. I miss my smoothies and it’s really jamming my morning routine!

The blender itself has been around over 10 years, although I’ve only started using it regularly recently. I make an effort to make sustainable choices where I can, and the obvious choice would be to spend the ~$10 to replace the cutter assembly and continue on my merrily blending way.

Google searching has led me to a few blender parts sites, but it seems whatever I find is out of stock or discontinued, like with this site. For reference, the blender model is a Black & Decker BL650.

So, MeFi, what are my options? Are there other worthwhile sources I should be checking for a replacement cutter assembly? For clarification, my understanding is that the cutter assembly is a blade, often attached to a small piece of plastic-type thing. Reference image here (same link as one above). My blade is fine, it’s the plastic thing that’s cracked. My blender also comes in pieces where the cutter assembly is a separate piece from the jar itself.

As an alternative, are there any safe and feasible options for repairing the crack in the existing cutter assembly? Or would any such option be at high expense or hassle, or otherwise unreliable?

I can always buy a new blender to make my smoothies. It just seems a so silly and wasteful when I’m perfectly happy with the existing blender’s function, and it’s just the one piece with an issue. If a new blender is the way to go (sigh), what is the responsible thing to do with my existing blender?

posted by Goblin Barbarian to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

This sounds like the sort of thing I would ignore and I think that's a reasonable option, but, is there a reason the crack can't just be sealed with a food-safe glue? Cyanoacrylate perhaps. Here's an old question about glues suitable for repairing a food processor bowl that might be useful.

If you did get a new blender, I would freecycle the old one -- mention the crack, but, I think most people wouldn't care about a crack that wasn't interfering with the performance.

If I am completely misunderstanding the type of crack -- post a photo.
posted by kmennie at 10:31 AM on January 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

There are plenty of food safe glues and sealants. Hard to know without seeing your particular crack, but perhaps a food safe epoxy would do the trick in your case?
posted by ssg at 10:34 AM on January 16, 2016

Best answer: eReplacementParts says that your part also fits the BL550 and BL600. It is therefore likely that the equivalent part from a BL550 or BL600 will fit your blender. This one says it fits both of those models, and has metal base rather than plastic so it'll probably outlast the rest of the machine. Here's the same part number, even cheaper.
posted by jon1270 at 10:36 AM on January 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

(That said, I'd ignore the crack until it started visibly leaking or the blade hub started to loosen in the plastic.)
posted by jon1270 at 10:45 AM on January 16, 2016

Response by poster: Thank you for the helpful answers so far. Here is an image of my blender's cutter assembly. Does having the image confirm instincts, or has it changed any of your advice?

I've never heard of food safe glue before. I will look into that option, but as this crack goes all the way to the top, I'm not sure this one could ever be fully "sealed".
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 12:36 PM on January 16, 2016

That looks like impending doom to me. I would not bother messing with glue. It wouldn't be likely to work for long, and it would probably cost nearly what a new blade assembly does.
posted by jon1270 at 1:09 PM on January 16, 2016

I'd use something like J-B Weld marine epoxy putty. You mix two putties, soften with your hands, press it into the crack, and scrape off the excess. After it cures, it's non-toxic. The separate putties won't dry out and you may find other uses for it around the house.
posted by wryly at 1:31 PM on January 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

never heard of food safe glue before

Some glues are pretty much liquid plastic. If you're not fussed by plastic being near your food, I wouldn't be fussed by glue, assuming a modest degree of thought goes in to choosing the adhesive.

An epoxy that can be sounded down sounds like just the ticket.
posted by kmennie at 4:42 PM on January 16, 2016

You may want to call Black and Decker customer support. Someone gave me a blender in college, and the knob fell off in a subsequent move. My roommate called to ask if we get could get a new part, and they sent us a whole new blender! YMMV, but it's worth a try.
posted by jet_pack_in_a_can at 7:36 PM on January 16, 2016

Response by poster: After thinking it over jon1270's response makes the most sense to me. As suggested and as far as my internet sleuthing can tell the blender parts should be interchangeable. I've gone ahead and ordered the suggested replacement part so we'll see what happens!

Thanks, all.
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 1:44 PM on January 23, 2016

Response by poster: Belated follow up! I purchased the suggested blender part on eBay. It arrived, fits, works, and I've enjoyed my uninterrupted flow of yummy breakfast smoothies every since.

Using the blender with the replacement cutter assembly is not quite as smooth, takes longer to blend, and makes more noise like the blender is really pushing itself. However, as a solution that cost <$20 with minimal amount of wasted parts, overall I'm happy.
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 10:45 AM on August 3, 2016