My 84yr old Mother has a hobby of going to a local auction barn twice a week, where she usually bids on boxes of misc. kitchen wares. Over the years she has amassed about 8 or 10 pasta makers of all shapes & varieties.

One day I told her I thought I would like to try my hand at making pasta so she gave me a machine, which was still brand new in the box.

When I got home I unwrapped it and set it up to see how it worked. After thoroughly reading the instruction manual I tried all the different adjustments and played with it for a couple hours, then I read the enclosed recipe guide.

I then made a list of ingredients, checked my pantry and headed off to the supermarket.

I got all the ingredients to make three different types of pasta and the next morning I began my project. By late afternoon I had about 6 or 8 lbs of pasta, the worlds biggest mess in the kitchen and a right arm that was swollen and felt like it was about to fall off from all the cranking.

From my experience a pasta machine only does one thing- it proves what a bargan pasta is at the grocery store.

I made some about 30 years ago and still have my machine I even got a rack to dry the long cuts on . It was fun and worked and good to have in case the stores run out o ready to use pasta.
If you see one at a sale get it. You can make homemade pasta without the machine. just mix roll out cut and let dry on a floured board. You dont really need a machine.Just a good recipe.

I have (had--I unloaded one) TWO Atlas machines at one time.

A few things you need to know:

It's far, far faster; less work; and easier clean-up to make pasta the old-fashioned way--with a board and rolling pin. Oh, and way less frustrating. AND you don't have yet another appliance to find a home for.

Pasta machines are very specific about the fact that they SHOULD NEVER BE WASHED. Never be washed? After making something with raw eggs in it? There's no way in.... I'd feed my family food that had touched ancient raw egg. YUCK--that's absolutely disgusting. That one little instruction, in my book, makes them one-use items.

I make pasta often but I just roll it out myself. Pasta machines aren't expensive, but even so, I don't think they're worth the price when all you need to make great noodles is: a board, a fork, a rolling pin and a knife.

We've had an Atlas for about 30 years and my DH is the only one who makes his own pasta. He also the uses the Kitchen Aid mixer to grind meat for hamburgers when we buy a ehole beef tenderloin and he also stuffs sausage.

We have a family owned Italian store about a mile from here and when I want fresh pasta I buy it there. Otherwise I pick it up at the supermarket.

I have an Electrolux mixer received as a wedding gift. Bought all the gadgets that were sold for it at the time, say, 30 years ago. Included pasta extruder and plates. Too much work, tho it did taste good. But it's easier to just buy pasta at thye store.

When I was a little kid on the farm my Grandmother used to make home made egg noodles. She would send one of us boys to the hen house to get the eggs, and one of the other boys had to get her clothes line and stretch it from two hooks on opposite sides of her huge kitchen.

She then set up her breadboard and began mixing rolling and cutting the noodles. When she had them cut she would take ordinary wire coat hangers and fold a piece of butcher paper over the bottom wire, then hang the noodles on the coat hanger and hang that on the clothes line near the ceiling.

She had an old coal stove so it was always warm to moderately hot near the ceiling, even in mid winter when it was zero outside. When the noodles were dry she would put them in two or three wide mouth 2gallon glass jars and tuck them in the pantry.

She also used that same line to dry herbs or fruit. I can remember her sitting for hours peeling and slicing apples, which she then slipped on wire hooks she had made from old coat hangers and hung them on the line.

After all the fresh apples in the root cellar began getting a bit mushy she would use those dried apples to make pies, cakes and struedles.

First DH's grandfather insisted that my MIL get me a pasta "machine".
That was 50 years ago, next month, the day we came home from our honeymoon

I still have it, it's a hand crank ANGELA, and no - I have never washed it in soap.

In a pinch, if there's only 1-2 people eating...I will just roll the dough out with my heavy marble pin.

I don't like box pasta, got too used to the lighter fresh pasta.

I have the Atlas pasta machine (manually operated) but I prefer to roll out mine with a rolling pin.
Sometimes I make the dough in my food processor but usually make it the old fashioned way.....a pile of flour with a well in the middle, adding wet ingredients. It is therapeutic for a troubled mind.
And it tastes so much better than store bought pasta.

Lots of times I make my own noodles, but we never hang them up. They are put on a counter to dry. That is the way my Mother and Grandma made them. They are dried overnight then bagged and frozen. I never make a small batch that way you don't have to do it too often. Oh I use a rolling pin to roll my noodles out. Food processor for mixing up the dough. I do have attachments for my Kitchen Aid mixer but don't like using it for that. For grinding meat, it is good.

Sue

My mother used to make her own egg noodles and I think it was when we had too many eggs to use up. She made the dough on the counterand then rolled it out. She put clean sheets on top of a couple of full size beds and this is where she put the rolled out dough and of course the table was full too. When they were dry enough she would cut all of them up into the right sized noodles and then freeze them. Every Sunday afte church we had chicken noodle soup made with old hens and those homemade noodles it was the best meal ever.

Thanks for all your replies, gives me something to think about.

Judy

I make homemade noodles too, not always, but sometimes. They are delicious. I was curious though,what about other types of pasta? I can see rolling your own lasagne noodles (without a machine) but are there other types of pasta that you might want one for? I've always been curious too...

I have another crank pasta maker that looks like the old meat grinders that you used to clamp onto the side of a table or counter.
It's used for gnocchi and cavatelli. Form the dough into ropes and feed into the cutter.

I also have a ravioli maker that I bought in Italy. It looks like an ice cube tray, with serrated edges. Lay a sheet of pasta loosely over it, add the filling, then lay a top layer of pasta, and roll tight with a small rolling pin.

Oh, forgot to mention my chitarra.

Now THAT's a pasta machine I enjoy--except that it's packed away at the new house at them moment. It's a great gizmo, very old fashioned. It's just a bunch of thin wires stretched on a frame. You rold out your dough, place on the chitarra, roll your rolling pin over and get wonderful, fine spaghetti noodles. It's easy to clean, also.