Mikromatic by Top-O-Matic
Posted by Tim Aydt on Wednesday, 14-Nov-2012It's been a while since I had anything to contribute, but a couple of weeks ago I bought a Mikromatic cigarette machine and thought I'd post a review.
The Mikromatic is the first, real change in the design of a crank machine in many, many years. The concept is still the same, but the inner workings have been redesigned to be more compact.
The Mikromatic is considerably small than other crank machines, by almost half. It has a large handle, directly above the crankshaft to steady and grip the machine with your left hand. The crank action is the same as other machines, upper right, clockwise to lower left. This configuration allows you to hold the machine securely while making cigarettes.
It only makes king size cigarettes and the tobacco chamber seems to be smaller. This has it's benefits. I have yet to overstuff the chamber. The rubber base fits more securely than any machine I've ever had.
I have been very pleased with its performance and it would appear, so far, to be just as reliable as my T2 and Supermatics. The only caveat is that the cutting/compression blade doesn't seem to retract completely and requires a little push as I fill the chamber.
p.s. I intended to include a photo, but wasn't able to figure out how to do so. If anyone would be kind enough to explain how, I'll post a couple of pics.
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- Found the only flaw.
- Posted by Tim Aydt on Friday, 29-Jan-2016
Shortly after my last post, my wife managed to over pack the chamber with some very moist tobacco. The Mikromatic was locked up good. I couldn't get it to retract the cutter, so I had to force it on through the cycle. (On other machines, I've messed up the cam forcing it backwards. I've learned not to apply to much force in reverse.) After this, we started to experience problems. Tubes were constantly being pushed off the nozzle and only partially filled. Every now and then, the spoon would shoot out the side of a tube, destroying it.
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On initial inspection, I found that the spoon was bent and it was crimped in the center. By this, I mean, if you think of the profile of the spoon as a capital C, in the center it was now a lower case c. I found a drill bit the right size and used pair of vise grips to straighten it out and re-size it. This made it function better, but it still has problems. On complete disassembly, I found the cause.
The compact design requires a groove in the backside of the channel that the spoon slides along for the lever to attach to the spoon. Forcing the cutter into the overpacked chamber pushed the spoon back into this groove, causing the spoon to closeup at that point.
None of the local tobacco stores still carry the Mikromatic and I refused to buy any other model, so we had been limping along using a crippled machine. Until last week. I was out of town and happened upon a tobacco store that had a Mikromatic in stock. After using the new one for a week, I now see that my old one had a lot of issues during the last year.
I'm going to order a new spoon and cutter to see if I can resurrect my old machine and bring it back to like new status. I'll post a follow-up once that is done.
- 3 Years of use
- Posted by Tim Aydt on Sunday, 04-Oct-2015
After three years of making two to three packs per day, I either got extremely lucky getting the machine I have, or the MikroMatic is the best matic on the market. I haven't cleaned or tuned it in over two years and it is still turning them out. If I ever have to replace it, I'll buy the same.
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- Re: Mikromatic by Top-O-Matic
- Posted by Tim Aydt on Saturday, 07-Dec-2013
After over a year of use, making two or three packs a day, the Mikromatic has proved to be the best machine I've owned. Never jammed, never locked up, I've only cleaned it twice. I will continue to post periodic updates.
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- Re: Mikromatic by Top-O-Matic
- Posted by Tim Aydt on Tuesday, 09-Jul-2013
Over six months in and the Mikromatic appears to have the potential to be the most reliable matic I've used in the ten years I've been doing this. Never been overstuffed, never jammed, it has problems with high humidity conditions similar to the others, but not quite as bad.
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I give it high marks. Let's see how it does over the next year or so.
- Re: Mikromatic by Top-O-Matic
- Posted by BigRude219 on Monday, 07-Jan-2013
I don't know if many people know this but the Mikromatic does indeed make 100's without any problems what so ever. I've used both. King's by mistake ( picked the wrong box ) But it does make 100's. Bought it on 1/4/13 and it's been great thus far. Produced about 2 packs short of a carton. Great machine. I've done the research and as long as you clean it after every use, heard you can also use " cooking spray " to keep the parts oiled up. And definitely don't over stuff, everyone has stressed that.
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Happy smoking =)