LEM 20lb. motorized stuffer... Any one have it?

[worktogthr]

Hi All,

Many times throughout the year I do charity and veteran outreach events and thanks to what I have learned on this site, I am now the sausage guy. I am often tasked with making between 30-100 lbs. of sausage for events throughout the year. Pretty tough task with my 5lb. LEM manual stuffer. So I have a few questions for anyone who has this sausage stuffer or something similar:


1. Does it seem to be well made? Will the motor crap out on me?
2. Does it stuff relatively fast? With my 5 lb. I can crank out sausage at a pretty quick speed
3. Does the foot pedal have a long enough cord that it can be used on a high counter?
4. In case the motor did crap out, is it possible for one person to crank and stuff?

Thanks so much for any input you have. Its a big a investment but if it will last I'm all for the buy once, cry once.

-Chris

 

[pushok2018]

Chris, I have LEM 20lb motorized stuffer for about one year and made just about only 150 pound of sausage using it. I don't make a lot of sausages but when I do I want the process was nice, easy and quick. I also have LEM 5 lb stuffer and use it now just occasionally (making beef sticks, kabanocy ) this stuffer is not easy to crank by yourself and I need someone (son or wife) to help me to stuff sausages. Now to your questions:
1. Yes, this stuffer is well build and feels like very reliable machine.
2. Oh, yes - it does stuff pretty fast. Depending on your casing size you can choose the speed - slower or faster. The stuffer has adjustable speed option.
3. I set my stuffer on a standard height counter top in my kitchen but foot pedal's cord is long enough so I am pretty sure you can set a stuffer on high counter.
4. Sorry, I cant answer your last question....

 

[HalfSmoked]

Look under the reviews on this forum and you should find ratings for this stuffer.

Warren

 

[SmokinAl]

Sounds like a must have for you Chris!
Al

 

[worktogthr]

Chris, I have LEM 20lb motorized stuffer for about one year and made just about only 150 pound of sausage using it. I don't make a lot of sausages but when I do I want the process was nice, easy and quick. I also have LEM 5 lb stuffer and use it now just occasionally (making beef sticks, kabanocy ) this stuffer is not easy to crank by yourself and I need someone (son or wife) to help me to stuff sausages. Now to your questions:
1. Yes, this stuffer is well build and feels like very reliable machine.
2. Oh, yes - it does stuff pretty fast. Depending on your casing size you can choose the speed - slower or faster. The stuffer has adjustable speed option.
3. I set my stuffer on a standard height counter top in my kitchen but foot pedal's cord is long enough so I am pretty sure you can set a stuffer on high counter.
4. Sorry, I cant answer your last question....

This is so helpful! Thanks so much. You did answer my 4th question when you said you need help to use it manually!

 

[Bearcarver]

Hi Chris,
According to the reviews, the cord is just over 6'.

That's all I got from the reviews, other than one guy who said he wasn't impressed with the motor.

Bear

 

[worktogthr]

Sounds like a must have for you Chris!
Al

Yeah Al, its a big investment but it will make my life so much easier. Hoping that it doesn't happen but if after a while if the motor did die on me, they do sell a replacement part for it and I have an electrical minded friend who could probably rig something up for me. Refilling the canister 20 times for a 100 lb. batch is no fun.

 

[worktogthr]

Hi Chris,
According to the reviews, the cord is just over 6'.

That's all I got from the reviews, other than one guy who said he wasn't impressed with the motor.

Bear

Thanks Bear! I did read a lot of the reviews but I trust everyone here more than the amazon reviewers! haha

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanks Bear! I did read a lot of the reviews but I trust everyone here more than the amazon reviewers! haha

Don't laugh---I agree entirely.
Most guys on this forum will give a more honest review of something to the rest of us than those on the web site reviews.
And if somebody is a little wet, he's liable to be corrected by others.
Just one of the Many Great things about SMF.

Bear

 

[tallbm]

Oh how I dream of a motorized stuffer!!!!

I have a 10L (22-23 lbs) stuffer and is manual. It is a HUGE help as I stuff about 120 pounds of meat in a go after I process all my yearly hunted animals. It takes some SERIOUS muscle to crank that sucker when full so please report back on how you feel the motor works when you use the new motorized LEM.

I often process 5-7+ animals (deer and feral pigs) on my own and stuffing day is the one day I need help... if I can't find help it is a loss of a whole day processing :(

I look forward to hearing about your experience in the future and best of luck!

 

[worktogthr]

Oh how I dream of a motorized stuffer!!!!

I have a 10L (22-23 lbs) stuffer and is manual. It is a HUGE help as I stuff about 120 pounds of meat in a go after I process all my yearly hunted animals. It takes some SERIOUS muscle to crank that sucker when full so please report back on how you feel the motor works when you use the new motorized LEM.

I often process 5-7+ animals (deer and feral pigs) on my own and stuffing day is the one day I need help... if I can't find help it is a loss of a whole day processing :(

I look forward to hearing about your experience in the future and best of luck!

I feel your pain. I ordered a 20 pound manual stuffer and promptly returned it when it was nearly impossible for me to crank and stuff simultaneously. I am almost always going at the stuffing process solo so the motorized sounds ideal. Some opinions I have gotten against the motorized stuffer is that you can't control how much or little the casing is filled compared to doing it by hand but I always found the tightness of stuffing or lack there of is usually based on how you let the casing off the horn, which I should still have control of.

 

[InThePittBBQ]

Chris there is a new LEM 30lb motorized unit on Ebay right now just under $500.00, it's pretty tempting at that price.

I am buried this fall with corn and sausage cooks between college football and Oktoberfest parties and really need to stop buying it and making more myself.

 

[rjob]

Chris,
Been reviewing electric stuffers also. One potential issue is the duty cycle of the motor is short 15 minutes. LEM, Waltons and the Sausage Maker all have similair statements. Don't have any experience with a stuffer just curious if the duty cycle would be an issue.

 

[crazymoon]

WT, I know the cabelas sells a motor that is an add-on and will fit their latest stuffers . I am under the impression that the stuffer cranking knob (square thingy) that the handle attaches to would still be on the stuffer if you removed the motor for all makes of motorized stuffers. You would only need to get a handle to fit the square thingy.?

 

[tallbm]

Chris,
Been reviewing electric stuffers also. One potential issue is the duty cycle of the motor is short 15 minutes. LEM, Waltons and the Sausage Maker all have similair statements. Don't have any experience with a stuffer just curious if the duty cycle would be an issue.

The 15 minute duty cycle depends. If it can clear a full canister/loading in less than 10 minutes than I don't see the issue. If it takes longer than 15 minutes to do so then yeah that may be an issue. Imagine 10 pounds every 30 minutes then it takes an hour to do 20 pounds. With manual effort (real muscle effort though) I can clear my whole thing in a couple of minutes no problem. Now I'm not talking about effectively stuffing casings, just clearing the canister for comparison.

Again the amount of sausage that can be moved in 15 minutes would be the deciding factor for me :)

 

[SonnyE]

If I were you...
I would insist on a better stuffer. And an electric would be the type.
I don't do sausage. But I do admire the LEM line of equipment. I think it fills a gap between hobbyist, and totally pro equipment.
Any time I'm considering a piece of equipment, I prefer to go toward the heavier end. If you are using a heavier piece of equipment, it will be underloaded, most of the time.
But... if you are using a marginal piece of equipment, it could be overloaded most of the time, and be finicky about a dryer mixture.

I don't know how you mix your batch, ie: 100 pounds at once, or several smaller batches.
But say you do mix the total amount in one big batch for consistency in the outcome.
Maybe a 30#, or even a 50# hopper would be best. So you can do the task without breaking your work flow to fiddle with reloading.
And the larger unit will inherently have heavier duty parts, electrics, and duty cycles.

Lastly, I trust LEM to stand behind their units.

A word about online reviews...
Who is writing them? Suzy homemaker might actually work for a firm that is a competitor, and tasked to write reviews during idle time. o_O So the BS factor needs to be sorted out.
Or maybe Joe Blow is just some sour grape with a vendetta.
It's up to you to sort the crap from the kernels.

 

[worktogthr]

Chris,
Been reviewing electric stuffers also. One potential issue is the duty cycle of the motor is short 15 minutes. LEM, Waltons and the Sausage Maker all have similair statements. Don't have any experience with a stuffer just curious if the duty cycle would be an issue.

I did read about that but I've seen videos of motorized stuffers in action and it definitely doesn't take more than a few minutes to empty the whole canister even at the lower speeds so this shouldn't be an issue.

WT, I know the cabelas sells a motor that is an add-on and will fit their latest stuffers . I am under the impression that the stuffer cranking knob (square thingy) that the handle attaches to would still be on the stuffer if you removed the motor for all makes of motorized stuffers. You would only need to get a handle to fit the square thingy.?

Yeah, this one comes with the hand crank also so that is always an option if I needed it.

If I were you...
I would insist on a better stuffer. And an electric would be the type.
I don't do sausage. But I do admire the LEM line of equipment. I think it fills a gap between hobbyist, and totally pro equipment.
Any time I'm considering a piece of equipment, I prefer to go toward the heavier end. If you are using a heavier piece of equipment, it will be underloaded, most of the time.
But... if you are using a marginal piece of equipment, it could be overloaded most of the time, and be finicky about a dryer mixture.

I don't know how you mix your batch, ie: 100 pounds at once, or several smaller batches.
But say you do mix the total amount in one big batch for consistency in the outcome.
Maybe a 30#, or even a 50# hopper would be best. So you can do the task without breaking your work flow to fiddle with reloading.
And the larger unit will inherently have heavier duty parts, electrics, and duty cycles.

Lastly, I trust LEM to stand behind their units.

A word about online reviews...
Who is writing them? Suzy homemaker might actually work for a firm that is a competitor, and tasked to write reviews during idle time. o_O So the BS factor needs to be sorted out.
Or maybe Joe Blow is just some sour grape with a vendetta.
It's up to you to sort the crap from the kernels.

I agree with what you said about reviews and thats why I posted this here and on other BBQ forums and sausage making social media groups because I want the opinions of people who actually use this equipment often and know the intricacies of making sausage. I do agree that I the larger equipment may be idea. The 30# LEM unit is about 100 bucks more so I have to consider that when I decide.

 

[SonnyE]

I agree with what you said about reviews and thats why I posted this here and on other BBQ forums and sausage making social media groups because I want the opinions of people who actually use this equipment often and know the intricacies of making sausage. I do agree that I the larger equipment may be idea. The 30# LEM unit is about 100 bucks more so I have to consider that when I decide.

I'm the kind that will spend the extra once I convince myself of the direction I'm going.
I've always been that way.

Sorry I can't be more useful than a box of generic beer.
But it sure sounds like your needs will be growing, and not shrinking.

You can always put 20 pounds of sausage in a 30 pound stuffer.
But you can't put 30 pounds of sausage in a 20 pound stuffer. ;)
And for test batches, you have your smaller stuffer.

 

[worktogthr]

I'm the kind that will spend the extra once I convince myself of the direction I'm going.
I've always been that way.

Sorry I can't be more useful than a box of generic beer.
But it sure sounds like your needs will be growing, and not shrinking.

You can always put 20 pounds of sausage in a 30 pound stuffer.
But you can't put 30 pounds of sausage in a 20 pound stuffer. ;)
And for test batches, you have your smaller stuffer.

I am leaning towards the 30lb hahaha just another example of this site spending my money...you're twisting my arm hahaha

 

[tallbm]

I am leaning towards the 30lb hahaha just another example of this site spending my money...you're twisting my arm hahaha

Just make sure you can lift that giant sucker as well as store it somewhere :)