Review on 🍝 Marcato Atlas 180 Pasta Machine: Authentic Italian Stainless Steel, 180mm Wide Cutter with Hand Crank and Instructions by Ashley Baldwin

I have an old Atlas 150 that I bought about 30 years ago and it still works great. I bought this one because I wanted one with a motor and my old one doesn't have motor mounting holes. Since I have the old one I can do a direct comparison with this one and as far as I can tell the quality stays the same. There are slight differences, for example the fingers that scrape the paste from the knives and the rollers on the bottom are metal on the old Atlas, while this one is plastic. The fingers of the new one are detachable for easy cleaning. On the old one they are not removable. So the question is whether it's better or not. It depends on how long the plastic fingers last. My old atlas has thickness settings from 1 to 7. The new one has settings from 0 to 9. So I had to recalculate which thickness to use. I used to roll pasta into 4 pieces before running them through the slicers. On a new machine I rev up to 5. It seems to work. Apart from these elements, the two machines are so close that the parts like crank, blade, clamp are interchangeable. They are all the same. Electric motor in a plastic case. I don't know yet how durable it will be. Some reviewers said the engine burns out quickly. But I suspect that maybe it was too much stress. The motor doesn't have as much power as when using the crank and it works when I use the reels as before. For example, with my old press, I kneaded the dough by twisting it into a strand and serving it. through the rollers at the thickest setting. Then I folded the noodles back and passed them through me again. I did this until the pasta was silky. When I tried this on a new car, the electric motor worked very hard. So I had to rethink my technique. On a new machine, I use a rolling pin to roll the noodles out slightly flat before setting them on the thickest setting, zero. Then I change the setting to 1 and put the pasta back in, then change to 2 and roll out again. After the noodles are rolled in mode 2, I stack them on top of me and start over. It takes a little longer, but this method doesn't put as much stress on the motor. There is one notable issue with the power chord. The plug included in the wall outlet is a polarized two-prong plug. You can only plug it into the socket one way. This will ensure that the hot wire and neutral wire are properly connected in the motor. The socket on the motor housing is keyed with a round hole and another square hole to ensure the plug on that end of the cable can only fit one way. Unfortunately, the plug on the cable has two round sides and still fits into the socket. It is therefore not possible to tell whether you have placed the cable correctly or not. In this case, the motor runs normally because the current is AC. However, this can be a safety issue if there is a short to ground and the leads are reversed. It's not a big problem since the case is plastic, but be careful nonetheless. don't get it wet It looks like a quality machine and only time will tell how long the motor lasts. One star off for the power chord issue.