Die Maintenance

Dies must be washed routinely to ensure a quality product is made. Documentation must be made when dies are washed. To ensure that all obstructions are removed, careful inspection of inserts should be done after a die is washed and before it is used.

During production, inserts can become plugged or obstructed. This can result in a ‘split’ product. In some cases these inserts can be carefully ‘picked’ to remove the obstruction. As necessary, a die may have to be washed or a different die must be used in order to make a quality product.

Care must be taken whenever handling dies. This is certainly true for safety reasons as dies are very heavy. In addition, care should be taken not to scratch or bump the surface of any insert as this may cause distortion.

Die Issues Related to Wear

There are a few other issues regarding dies that can affect product quality. Some dies, such as elbows or stick macaroni, use a pin in the center to make the shape of the product. These pins can become off center and create products with one thick wall and one thin wall.

Die wear can be uneven from insert to insert. This is due to the variances in the ‘pattern’ or flow-of-dough across the die. The result is that some inserts may wear faster than others. In this case, a random sampling of sufficient product pieces will be measured, and averaging the results will generally allow reasonable comparison of die wear overtime.

Occasionally, some inserts may become defective during production. The Teflon used on the walls may peel off from the insert. If a die is ‘picked’ to remove obstructions and prevent splits, the insert may become damaged. In this case, an individual insert may require replacement.