The good news is that these machines and motors can last for many years with
a few precautions. (I've still got the Atlas I bought at an open-air market
in Sicily almost 10 years ago and with periodic cleaning, it works like a
champ.) The most important thing you can to do prolong the life of your
pasta machine and motor is to avoid forcing the machine to process thick
pads of clay. The motor will noticeably change tone when it's processing
clay that's any thicker than the setting you're using and the rolling action
will slow slightly. This is normal.

But, if it labors to the point where you smell something plastic-y or if the
rolling action slows way down to a crawl or if the sound changes to a low
hum, then you're putting too much clay in at one time. Avoid putting clay
through that is much thicker than twice the thickness of whatever setting
you're using.

If you don't use a motor, you may still be stressing the gears inside the
pasta machine or causing the scrapers to pick up too much excess clay. This
will eventually cause the machine to roll unevenly and in the meantime, it
will cause a lot of mixed colors to show up on the sheets that you're trying
to roll out.

Black streaks showing up on light colored clay is not a sign that the gear
grease is getting onto your clay - Atlas says that it's a chemical reaction
between the steel rollers and the plasticizers in the clay. You'll have less
of it on dry clay than on soft, "gooey" clay. Wilma has talked to the people
at Atlas and the company is looking into changing the steel they make their
rollers from. Could be a while before we hear if/when this will occur,
so in the meantime, clean your rollers with a non-caustic cleaner like
mineral oil (baby oil) and wipe them of any excess oil before using the
machine again for clay.

There are good directions on the web for dismantling and cleaning your pasta
machine, and once you've done it a few times, it'll take about five minutes
for each machine.

I am adding a word of caution, here - a few months ago, I bought an Atlas 150 and it needed cleaning very soon after its purchase because I was working it pretty hard. I took the darn thing apart just as I have done dozens of times with the same model, only this one didn't go back together exactly like the others. It seemed to be missing a "keeper" kind of nut on the enclosed end of the spacer bars - the ends of the spacer bars didn't stay up at the same level as the ends of the rollers as they always had, previously. And apparently, that was critical to the proper re-assembly of the machine. Within a couple of days, the motor was laboring and there were metal shavings coming out of the frame. I burned up the motor and ruined the pasta machine. Since then, I've been rather leery of dis-assembling my newest machine. I've written to Atlas, but haven't yet received a reply. I'll try them again - I'm trying to find out if they've changed their parts and if they have, then I won't be recommending that anyone take apart a newer machine... one that's purchased in the last six or eight months. Better to deal with occasionally gunky clay than ruin a pasta machine and motor.

Elizabeth