Okay, after reading a few bad reviews, I was a little hesitant to purchase this. But now I'm ever so glad I did! We used a scale for the gram weight of both flours and liquid, a beaten egg plus water. (My scale zeroes out when the bowl is on it when turned on. So we measured the weight of the egg first, quickly beat it with a fork, and then added water carefully until we attained the proper liquid weight.) We used semolina and all-purpose flour, measured precisely. There was nothing to it! We had perfect spaghetti, and I didn't think it was too thick, either. In short, I think this machine is amazing. I will update as I go along to keep you posted. Now for the BAD reviews I've read. PLASTIC BITS IN THE PASTA I read about this complaint several times in reviews. When I opened my pasta maker box and got the machine out, I looked it over carefully to see where it might chip off sharp pieces of plastic. I could find nothing to explain why others found slivers of sharp plastic in their noodles. Then I examined the pasta molds/shapers, which were, to my mind, the only possible culprit. Yes, we found a loose bit of plastic on one mold. I would recommend that one should scrub the molds with a brush before using them. They are manufactured, after all, and the loose bits of plastic that may cling to them should be removed prior to making dough and putting it through the extruder. SIMPLE FIX. THE NIGHTMARE TO CLEAN COMPLAINT is more difficult for me to figure out. I left my pasta maker on the counter overnight and didn't clean it until morning. It was EZ-PZ. In fact, I was amazed by how simple it is to take the machine apart, and the actual washing was a breeze. I soaked my parts in warm, soapy water while I wiped down my counters and stove. The parts came clean, no problem. BROKEN PARTS: I bought this pasta machine despite the reports that Philips doesn't offer replacement parts. My machine being brand new, I haven't deal with this issue yet and hope I never do, but my thought is that all of us should write letters to Philips requesting that they change this policy immediately and make replacement parts available. If the company wishes to maintain a solid reputation, not offering replacement parts for a fairly expensive piece of kitchen equipment is a good way to lose their foothold in the marketplace. The squeaky wheel theory, folks! Let's make a little noise to get this problem rectified! Update: I'm still shy of owning this pasta maker for a whole month, so bear in mind that I'm a newbie. But I am still in LOVE with this machine. So remember that as you read about my disasters. Giggle. I wanted to make lasagna sheets to create homemade ravioli. I expected the lasagna sheets to magically extrude from the machine, just as spaghetti and linguine does. NOT! I couldn't for the life of me get the ratio of flour and water correct. I started on Thursday. I had three fails that day. I saved the last batch of dough to roll it out myself, rather than just toss it. On Friday, which was yesterday, I arose from bed on fire to conquer that darned pasta machine. Hmm. I turned it into a science project. Would one more tsp of water fix the problem? I had two more fails. Then I went Internet searching for others who'd experienced the same problem. I finally hit pay dirt right here, in an Amazon review. A person in here said to stop all the weighing and craziness in favor of a simple 3 to 1 ratio of flour to water. Translated, I mean 3 cups of flour to one cup of water. Or, for a small batch, 1 1/2 cups of flour to 1/2 cup of water. Hear trumpets blaring! Envision me pumping a victory fist in the air. My machine started spitting out lasagna sheets! That last batch was as perfect as it's going to get. With all the hand rolling of failed pasta dough and that last amazing batch of lasagna sheets, I made 92 ravioli! For dinner, I ate twelve of them. I gently boiled them in salty water, lifted them with a slotted spoon, and drizzled a little Classico pasta sauce over the top with sprinkles of grated parmesan. My eyes nearly rolled back in my head. The ravioli was perfect. It tasted like something from a high-end restaurant. (I took my dogs for a long walk, hoping to burn off a few of the calories.) For regular pasta, I will probably still follow the booklet instructions, because my noodles were perfect straight from the recipes in the cookbook, but the next time I wish to cut out and press ravioli, I'll use the 3 to 1 ratio. WANTING MORE PASTA SHAPES? I see a lot of reviewers wishing for different pasta molds. Guess what? I found a wealth of them, including a pasta sheet disc for thin dough (.6 ml) in two widths, 95ml and 125 ml, plus molds for different types of pasta. Gnocchi. Conch shell. Extra large shells, as well. The sky is nearly the limit. These Philips friendly molds are made in Viet Nam and take a while to arrive, but the manufacturer has a sterling reputation in pasta making groups, and he even posts in them. His business depends upon his fair dealing with customers, so I trust him. You can even buy molds for kids. Little Mickey Mouse noodles, hippos, kitties, minions. Just go to Etsy and search for Philips Pasta discs. You'll find them. Note: If you order a mold set, you can then sometimes order a different insert for that mold housing to make other pasta shapes or other thicknesses, and that reduces your cost for a different extruder shape by 50%. So don't forget that and order a whole new housing and insert. I didn't know this with my first order. UPDATE: I am STILL love with this pasta maker. I figured out how my dough should look as I add liquids. Tonight, my son went out to change irrigation and asked me to have noodles made before he got back for his gourmet pasta dish. No big. Within ten minutes, I had them on a cookie sheet, sprinkled with potato starch to keep them from sticking together. Covered them with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out. Had the entire machine cleaned as well, except for the die, which I leave sitting out all night to dry, making for EASY die cleaning. I just poke around with the cleaning tool, the dry dough pops out, and leaves the extruding die almost spotless. A quick brush and scrub. All clean! For homemade fresh pasta, it could not be simpler. It is still AMAZING. I never featured myself as a fresh, homemade pasta queen, but now I am. I would recommend this machine to my best friend--if he/she wished to make fresh, homemade pasta. MY LAST UPDATE: My family has become so spoiled by homemade pasta that I honestly think they might throw rotten tomatoes at me if I tried to serve them the store-bought stuff. Last weekend, we were going on a camping trip. My son, an incredible chef. had made demi-glas for pasta, and though we were all ready to go, I'd forgotten to make the pasta! He said, "How long, Mom, to make two double batches?" We were going to be gone four days. I said, "Fifteen minutes to make two double batches and five to clean up." I am not a person who can walk away from a mess in my kitchen, and he knows it. So, I and his girlfriend made two double batches of pasta. His favorite is similar to linguini, only much thicker and wider. I can't remember the actual name of it, only that with a lovely sauce, it is absolutely AMAZING. So I and his girlfriend ran into my kitchen and whipped up four batches, actually two doubles. In twenty minutes, my kitchen was spotless, and we had two gallon freezer bags filled with fresh, homemade, incredible pasta for our camping trip. If lightly sprinkled with flour and tossed, it keeps beautifully in the fridge for cooking later, so we enjoyed fresh, homemade pasta for four days, out in the middle of a woodland. (Please note that I do not leave my kitchen dribbled with flour or an appliance that isn't spotless.) Who else can do that--unless they own a top-of-the-line Philips pasta machine? Over our camping trip, we dined like people ordering expensive pasta dishes at a five-star resta
