Dead Instant Chappathi Maker Chefmaster Classique Restored To Working Condition
This was among nine items brought by a customer, who was thrilled to get back five items serviced after our first encounter. For those of you who are not familiar with this home appliance: This is a Chappathi maker; prepare the dough and put a small lump between the top and bottom plates and press it down, when the plates are hot. That will make instant Chappathi. If any of you do want to know more of this Indian relish, perhaps you can get more details from the web about this popular flat round shaped cake made out of wheat flour. Explanation beyond this may not be relevant for this article. Both the bottom and top side of this maker has coils that work directly on 230V AC. As you can see, it was in a bad shape, with the power cord strained and insulations broken in several places. The wire at the rear was also exposed posing danger.
I removed the mains cord from the covered connector underneath, which you can see in the second picture above. Then dismantled both the top and bottom for which I had to really struggle as there was a stubborn screw that probably had gone in wrong thread. I filed the sides of the screw to make it like a bolt and used a plier to turn it out. Both the top and bottom were made of cast iron with cover made of stainless steel plates, with the inside surface having ceramic coating. The coils were fixed at the middle of the cast iron in a snake like shape. The AC In passed through a thermostat which would cut the connection when the plates exceed the fixed temperature. Let us have a look:
There was no continuity from the AC in wire to the coil, which was traced to a badly affected crimped wire due to fungi attack.
I removed the wire and cleaned the area and reconnected it and crimped it properly using a plier. Then the continuity was found ok. I did this on all such crimped connectors. The upper coil was connected parallelly to the AC mains with the lower coil. As mentioned earlier, one of the AC in was through a thermostat. The coils showed about 200 Ohms, which was good enough for a coil of this type.
The neon lamp was in bad shape with one of the wires corroded and broken. I therefore replaced it with an LED with one IN4007 connected to AC in and 1 Meg resistor connector on the other side. The LED was getting around 1.752 Voltage which was safe enough. Let us have a look at this arrangement:
Then reassembled the unit and applied power to see the lamp glowing brightly and the coils were also getting hot on both sides. As I did not have any Chappathi to be made, I could not test it in the kitchen, but I am sure that it would work for a long time as I replaced even the mains cord with a fresh new one.
These types of appliances use a special mains cord with cotton insulation on the top layer like in the case of cloth iron. This is to avoid direct contact of the insulation with hot surfaces.
Mission of a different kind accomplished with mild electronic modification, which resulted in a hot satisfaction getting added to the collection!
This article was prepared for you by Parasuraman Subramanian from India. He is 74 years old and has more than 30 years’ experience in handling antique equipment like Valve Radio, Amps, Reel Tape Recorders and currently studying latest tech-classes conducted by Kerala State Electronics Technicians’ Association. He has done graduation in BBA degree, private diploma in Radio Engineering and retired as MD of a USA company. Presently working as Consultant to Hospital and other institutions.
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Albert van Bemmelen
June 28, 2025 at 6:14 pm
Prepare the dove was just an expression I hope. So this Chappathi maker (never heard about this maker before!) uses twice about 264,5 Watt on 230VAC. Which equals to 529 Watt out of (230)^2/200 ohm times two.
One thing we can take for sure is that fungus and corrosion do not stop at high temperatures. The opposite probably is true. (on trees in my country apparently grows more moss and likely fungus too because of the rising global temperatures).
Parasuraman S
June 28, 2025 at 8:26 pm
The correct spelling is dough. No idea, how the word got changed! Thanks for pointing it out and many thanks too for your expert comments, dear Albert!
Anthony Paterson
June 30, 2025 at 4:37 pm
I now replace neon mains indicators with an LED + 1N4007 + 3 x 1/4W resistors.The max voltage across a 1/4W resistor is close to breakdown on a 240v ac supply so I mitigate this by spreading the voltage across 3 resistors which balances the connections to the LED with 2 components on each leg of the LED. I ran this arrangement on a test-bed 24/7 for 5-years without any issues. I note you used a 1W or 2W resistor which can handle the peak supply voltage.
Parasuraman S
July 2, 2025 at 6:47 am
But adding more such components under a hotplate would melt the contacts and cause shock to the user. In such devices, safety is the primary concern. Many thanks!
Anthony Paterson
July 3, 2025 at 1:11 pm
The components are NOT under the hotplates but in the handle-assembly (bakelite?) Furthermore, if the temperature exceeded the melting point of solder then you would crimp the connections however, the LED wouldn't survive either!
Parasuraman S
July 4, 2025 at 4:15 pm
Yes, you are right! Thanks!
Waleed Rishmawi
June 28, 2025 at 8:55 pm
This is a Chappathi maker; prepare the dove and put a small lump between the top and bottom plates and press it down…lol. The dove, what are you making? Good repair and modifications . Have a blessed day
Parasuraman S
June 28, 2025 at 10:37 pm
The word got changed to dove instead of dough and I have no idea why! Might be an auto spell problem. Thanks, dear friend!
Humberto
June 29, 2025 at 2:11 am
Good repair, congrats
Parasuraman S
June 29, 2025 at 10:27 am
Thanks, dear Humberto!
Mark J
June 29, 2025 at 2:58 am
Parasuraman I never heard of these before. Well done on the repair.
Parasuraman S
June 29, 2025 at 10:27 am
Thanks, dear Mark!
Imoudu
June 29, 2025 at 4:36 am
You did bring my memories back to the picture of this confectionery (chapati)which I use to see at pastry kitchen when I was a chef at Sheraton hotel in my country.The head of pastry section of the kitchen then use to be an Indian,I guess he did introduce it,unfortunately I never tasted it, thanks for sharing sir
Parasuraman S
June 29, 2025 at 10:31 am
Oh, My! So, you have multifaceted experience and that is wonderful! To be a Chef in an international Hotel is a great achievement! Very glad to hear! Many thanks for sharing your memories!
I am also glad that there is one in this forum who knew what is Chappathi!
Yogesh Panchal
June 29, 2025 at 6:04 pm
Good Fix! Sir
We Gujarati's make Roti ( Chapati) & Khakra (Crispy thin Roti) on it.
Parasuraman S
June 29, 2025 at 11:32 pm
Yes, I have consumed these during my tour to North and West. Many thanks, dear Yogesh Bai!
AdamS
June 30, 2025 at 9:38 pm
Great repair Parasuraman, but I do like a chapati and reading this has made me hungry!
Parasuraman S
July 2, 2025 at 6:43 am
Ha! Ha! Many thanks!
Henrique Jorge G. Ulbrich
July 1, 2025 at 12:23 am
Very good, Parasuraman. Excellent report. I also never heard about Chappathi before. In your report you say "I filed the sides of the screw to make it like a bolt and used a plier to turn it out". This is interesting. A common problem in maintenance. What about explaining your method better or, even, prepare a report with examples, material used and of course pictures?
Parasuraman S
July 2, 2025 at 6:45 am
Shall do so in my next articles. It is a simple method. Just grind the sides of the screw head to make it hold by a plier. Many thanks!
Muykit
July 4, 2025 at 12:14 am
Understanding about what someone refers to as one quater watt resistors has always troubled me. I only know of color coding and figure and letter rating. (2) It may sound right to pronounce the word DOUGH as 'DAF', as someone may argue out that the word TOUGH is pronounced as 'TAF'. Wrightly though DOUGH is pronounced as 'DO'. Now this wrong word 'TAF' is again wrongly pronounced as 'DOV', hence the unofficial word DOVE. If you cant beat them, join them.
Parasuraman S
July 4, 2025 at 4:14 pm
Ha! Ha! Many thanks for your comments!
Muykit
July 4, 2025 at 5:36 pm
If the heating element has 200 ohms and pressumably 240 VAC is applied which results to 1.2 amps of current draw, then it is an approximately 288 watts machine. That is high enough to limit its working hours, and so cutting on production to save electricity for middle income home owners. 2) earlier on i should hav said the word DOUGH that should be pronounced simply as DO is pronounced badly as DAF. That not being enough, DAF again is prounced wrongly as DOV, and written as DOVE. What a can of worms we have here. Albeit the confusion, if you cant beat them join them
Parasuraman S
July 5, 2025 at 12:05 am
Thanks for this valuable analysis! You have a unique way of writing and I thoroughly enjoy it!