Needed to rant so I turn to the internet. Who knew fixing a Nutribullet would be so difficult.

A bit of background – the Nutribullet I’ve been using for the past 7 years decided it had its last turn. The issue was the main gear that interfaces with the blender cup decided to grind itself to dust. This just happens over time with repeated use as the blender-cup interface is made to slip/lock. Sometimes there’s isn’t a good lock so it slowly grinds away material. Well last week it ground enough material to no longer lock into place – thus I ordered a new gear to fix the problem.

Tearing apart the blender was a simple matter, but removing the old gear from the motor shaft assembly was extremely challenging. The designers did a good job with keeping the system simple, but they really did not want you to replace parts yourself. The issue is that the tiny flat head screw that you can use to prevent rotation while twisting off the gear is so small that it easily strips/slip. Even with two people trying to wrestle the gear off was impossible. In the end I had to resort to using a lineman’s pliers coupled with a screw guide rail clamp to get enough holding torque on the tiny gear.

I think the moral of this story is that companies really should do a better job to enable everyday people the right to repair. There’s multiple reasons why this would be good for the company and the customer. For the company it shows a commitment to a lasting product and the opportunity to sell spare parts. For the customer its cheaper to repair a device than to trash and re-buy. Environmentally it saves material from entering the waste stream as well as energy needed to build a brand new device.

The design change to make this more readily repairable is simple – replace the tiny flat had screw with a hex bolt. Larger diameter = easier to hold and less likely to strip. No change to assembly time or cost.