Cuisinart 4-Slice Tandem Toaster Teardown

ID: 23007

Description: This guide is part of a reverse engineering...

Steps:

  1. This Cuisinart Toaster's technical highlights include:
  2. Tandem, 2-slot toaster
  3. 1½" wide toasting slots
  4. Function control dial
  5. Bagel, Defrost and Reheat selections
  6. Blue LED shade control with large, easy-to-read numbers
  7. 2 or 4 slice button; cancel button
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  8. Unplug the toaster prior to teardown.
  9. On the bottom of the toaster, unscrew the 4 Torx screws (using a screw driver)
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  10. Pull the press handle down and away from the toaster to disconnect the body.
  11. Lift up the body of the toaster.
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  12. Pull the pin header cable to disconnect the body of the toaster from the main assembly unit.
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  13. Remove the 5 Torx screws to detach the heating unit from the bottom of the toaster unit.
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  14. Using a plastic opening tool, carefully pry open the metal casing underneath the toaster.
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  15. Remove the screws to detach controls from the plastic shell of the toaster.
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  16. Interior of the user control interface
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  17. Remove the soldered wire that is hooked to each part of the end plate assembly.
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  18. Heating Unit
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  19. This is the Circuit Board used for controlling each subsystem of the toaster.
  20. The integrated circuit marked 4541 contains an oscillator which oscillates at some hundreds or thousands of oscillations per second, the speed being determined by the browning setting. It also contains a binary counter which can count up to 65,536.
  21. The integrated circuit marked 4066 contains several logic gates which select the count value required for normal, defrost or reheat.
  22. During the count, the logic gates supply a small current to the transistor, causing it to energise the electromagnet. At the end of the selected count, the logic gates switch this current off and the transistor de-energises the electromagnet.
  23. While energised, the electromagnet holds the lever down. When the current is switched off the lever is released and the spring pops the toast up.
  24. Toasters of this age frequently use these "4000-series" integrated circuits as they can run off a wide range of supply voltages. Newer toasters use a microcontroller (essentially a simple micro computer) as this is more flexible in its functions and can also easily drive LEDs to show you what the toaster is doing.
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  25. Main Assembly Unit
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  26. Main Element Assembly
  27. Crumb Tray with Power Cord
  28. Circuitry with Heating Component
  29. User Control Interface with Buttons
  30. Press Handle Spring
    31. Step image
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