Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Because mine did. On the handle, on either side of the knobby thing that the spring fits into. I've only been using it since January! It seems like that part could easily be made of some sturdier material than acrylic. It's not like it needs to be clear, right? Bah!

(I know they sell replacement parts. I'm just annoyed and wondered if this happened to anyone else.)

Oh no! Try an email - see what happens! Tell them how long you've had it, how much you use it, etc.

Yes, one of the little knobby things that holds the spring in fell off. I wrote to them and they got back to me the same day and sent me a replacement part (no charge).

Mine is fine, but I've heard they have great customer service.

So, I decided I'm gonna finally buy one of these. Does anyone use the Light Tension Spring? Should I get that too? It says it can be used for silken tofu, but I never press silken tofu, why would I need to press silken tofu?

No cracks, but I accidentally set the plastic part on the stove and it melted. I should get a new one.

I have tiny little cracks on either side of the knobby thing. It's not affecting anything yet, though.

Mine just did! I'm not sure if it's the same thing as yours, but a little piece broke off from the top part, where the spring fits in. It's still working ok though, so I'm not sure if I should get a new part or wait to see if it breaks fully.

Mine hasn't yet, but it's about to.

Yeah, mine broke too. One of the tabs that holds the spring into press part broke off, so mine presses the tofu lopsided now :/

Wow, that is really disappointing. I've always thought it was rather overpriced as it is, but if it's also not durable that is a real deterrent to purchasing.

I emailed them asking about details in their 1 year limited warranty, as I couldn't find the info on their website. I tried to give them a link to this thread, but their website wouldn't let me.

I maybe should just start a new thread about this, but I don't wanna: has anyone found uses for the light spring attachment?

I just looked back in my email to see how long I'd had the TofuXpress when they replaced the piece for me. It was less than a year. They didn't ask for any proof of how long I'd had it, but I told them in the email (last August) that it was a Hanukkah gift from the previous year.

Mine have cracked in several places. I had two, and now I've cobbled together one from the various parts, but that is cracked too so it's only a matter of time before it breaks. I really love it, but I'm disappointed with its durability.

I found another one by a different company and it looks much more durable and much more basic so I think I might get one of those eventually.
http://tofupresser.com/
But in looking at it, I also started thinking that I could probably make my own with two small plastic cutting boards and some clamps from my husband's woodworking tools.

OMG. Want!

Sheesh, 35 bucks for that?

Let's see. It looks like 1/4" plastic-- probably ABS. If you want to get super-fancy, you could have the two panels laser-cut. Let's assume you're making a couple of dozen. It'd cost under $100 for a bunch of plastic pieces, of which you'd need 2. You could also make it out of 3/8" acrylic, which could be nice but would be more brittle. It's not very large, though, so that would probably be fine and possibly cheaper and less smelly than ABS (which gets stinky right after it's cut and needs to be aired out).

You'd need two 3-or-4-inch 3/16" bolts, 4 washers, two of that thumbscrew nut thing, a couple of springs, and 2 nuts for the ends of the bolts to make it look prettier. Maybe little metal sleeves to keep the threads from wearing down the inside of the holes in the plates.

I'd have to check smallparts.com, but considering how cheap that kind of hardware is in bulk, you could probably put together a couple of dozen of these things for under $200 easily. There's no WAY there's 35 bucks worth of hardware in there.

You could even get fancy and put little drainage holes in the middle so water could get out more easily, although that might make it easier to crack, or you could get different kinds of springs and so on. It's such a simple design that there are lots of ways to embellish it.

I thought the other version wasn't worth 40 bucks, but at least it was injection-molded and not just a little plexiglas and some bolts...

I suppose if there's interest I could price out the hardware and get a quote for some laser-cutting. I'd want to try a couple of prototypes before sending them to anyone though. (This is a thing I designed and had manufactured, so I do know more or less what I'm doing...)

mine has looked kind of cracked for awhile but so far so good (knock on wood)

Solipsistnation: if you are going to make small quantities for sale, I'd be interested.

I've wanted a TofuXpress like forever, but in looking at it, it just didn't seem too sturdy (esp considering the price). Reading this, I'm glad I have held off.

I contacted them this week (tofu xpress) because they used to sell their parts individually so if things broke you wouldn't have to buy a whole new one, but now they don't anymore. They said they stopped doing that a couple of months ago so they could better track why people were replacing parts, but I'm disappointed with their customer service. In their response they pretty much put the blame on me. They said their product is extremely durable - yet, many on here have complained that theirs are cracked and I've read it elsewhere too. So they said that "under normal use" it shouldn't break, as if my using it a couple of times a week isn't normal. And then they said "maybe their product isn't suitable for how I'm using it." Nice. They offered to take $3 off the price of a new one, but after they blamed me I'm not really interested anymore. And if they were selling extra parts in the first place, that seems pretty obvious to me that parts are breaking.

Yikes, that is some really shitty customer service.

I know it's a really simplistic design and is overpriced, but part of the problem with the tofu xpress is that the design is too much. There are way too many places for it to break, and in my case that is exactly what has happened. If I bought one for $35 and it lasted forever, instead of 1-2 years, that would totally be worth it to me.

YES. Mine did. They have pretty cruddy CS honestly. It was my fault *rolls eyes*. I was really angry when I had to mail mine back, and they just put a new top piece in the box with my old bottom piece. Had to pay shipping for that? GRR.

I wonder if the company is going under. I say this speculatively purely because they've "temporarily" stopped shipping internationally, so many online retailers that used to carry them have been out of stock, and they no longer replace parts.

I like my tofuxpress (it's only a month old, so no problems yet), but I did feel like I was WAY overpaying for a relatively flimsy piece of plastic and a bedspring. My boyfriend bought it for me as a gift and he was pretty unimpressed when he saw it.

Sorry about your experience mtpete. That really sucks. Three bucks off a new one? Hell no.

Wow, that does suck. The two little tabs on the handle of mine broke off, but it still works fine. I just push down on the spring with it then lock it in place. BUT, if another part broke, I sure as hell wouldn't be buying an entire new one! I would be sad though.

I was showing that to a guy I know who does prototyping of things, and he said that yes, it's under $10 of parts, most of which is the springs.

It may or may not be worthwhile, but aside from the springs it would be quite inexpensive.

I'll take a closer look and see what it would take to prototype it...