BELSHAW DONUT ROBOT 42
November 20, 2006 3:16 AM   Subscribe

 
I had no idea I wanted to know about Belshaw Donut Robot 42. Reading that post makes me wonder how I ever managed to survive without knowing about the Belshaw Donut Robot 42.

Plus that I now want a dozen donuts. Lovely.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 3:46 AM on November 20, 2006 [2 favorites]


I want one.
posted by TwelveTwo at 3:48 AM on November 20, 2006


Goddamn I'm hungry for some donuts.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 3:58 AM on November 20, 2006


Concensus: Donuts please!
posted by Jofus at 4:12 AM on November 20, 2006


That was kind of fun.
posted by roomwithaview at 4:13 AM on November 20, 2006


This is the best of the web.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:13 AM on November 20, 2006


Ahh, donut robots ... what can't they do?
posted by rudster at 4:36 AM on November 20, 2006


And certainly amongst the most fattening of the web.
posted by imperium at 4:36 AM on November 20, 2006


The Belshaw Donut Robot 42: The answer to life, the universe, and expanding waistlines.
posted by Malor at 4:38 AM on November 20, 2006


Now he just needs a delivery machine.

/must eat donuts
posted by MetaMonkey at 5:03 AM on November 20, 2006


The Donut Robot 42 has made my day.
posted by blacklite at 5:19 AM on November 20, 2006


ROCK.

But not TOTAL ROCK, for the Belshaw Donut Robot (Model 42) doesn't appear to have an automatic glazing attachment.
posted by eriko at 5:37 AM on November 20, 2006


Best post of the week... now where the hell are my donuts? I WANT donuts..I want them NOW.....
posted by HuronBob at 7:06 AM on November 20, 2006


Best post of the month. Wow.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:08 AM on November 20, 2006


Very excellent. When I was in college the food service where I worked had one of these that they never ran. I eyed it every time I went to work, wondering if I could get it to work, but alas, I never was able to convince the powers above me to run it.

My favorite part of this story is that the guy spent $900 on a donut machine (with apparently no way to actually get rid of the donuts), and was only willing to blow $5 on a postal scale at Staples for his mixing needs. "The reason they do this is because industrial food manufacturers are communists who hate America."

Excellent!
posted by OmieWise at 7:12 AM on November 20, 2006


put your money where your mouth is... let's all chip in and buy this one! You can keep it at my house, I'll make donuts whenever you come to visit, you bring the wine... a nice merlot perhaps...
posted by HuronBob at 7:19 AM on November 20, 2006


Belshaw ain't the only game in town y'all. The added bonus of the lil orbit machine is that the founder looks like he would cut your head off.
posted by ernie at 7:27 AM on November 20, 2006


OMG, I worked with a Donut Robot 42 at Shipley Donuts in Corpus Christi, TX back in the 80's. I used to spend the majority of the graveyard shift baked to the tits and mesmerized watching it plop, flip, and cook the cake donuts.

Thanks for the memory, I'd forgotten all about that sucker.
posted by davelog at 7:29 AM on November 20, 2006


Unavailable for comment.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:35 AM on November 20, 2006


This. This. This is brilliant.

Brilliant.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 7:38 AM on November 20, 2006


Donuts. The number 42. Coincidence?

Clearly not. Donuts are obviously far more important, existentially and philosophically, than I'd given them credit for. This warrants an investigation. I'll start with the chocolate glazed.
posted by Zinger at 7:41 AM on November 20, 2006


Mmmmmmmm. Donut robot.
posted by zekinskia at 7:43 AM on November 20, 2006


Elsewhere in donut robot land:
="http://static.flickr.com/44/132919602_24f610ac5e_d.jpg">

(plop...plop...plop...)
posted by jdfalk at 7:49 AM on November 20, 2006


feh! it worked in the preview.
posted by jdfalk at 7:49 AM on November 20, 2006


Donut robots were unknown to me until I went to Prince Edward Island. There on Saturday was an open air market, a donut robot, and a line of about twenty people. This robot must have been a junior model because it only shot out a dozen donuts a minute, and everyone ahead of me was getting at least a dozen fresh tiny delicious little donuts with cinnamon and sugar. I waited patiently, got my two dozen, and had eaten a full dozen before I managed to bring the bags to my friends who were waiting for donuts.

The only thing more awesome would be a robot made out of donuts made by a donut robot. Grey goo with holes in the center and delicious glazing.
posted by Nelson at 7:51 AM on November 20, 2006


At the risk of being labeled anti-donut, I have to ask: wouldn't this make your house reek to high heaven of used greasy shortening?
posted by PlusDistance at 7:52 AM on November 20, 2006


HuronBob, you'll need a 3 phase power supply.
posted by Joeforking at 7:56 AM on November 20, 2006


Oh man, when I was a kid they had one of these at the downtown Eatons department store in Montreal. It made some fiiiiine donuts. And yes it is completely mesmerising. I think watching it lowers your blood pressure so you can eat a bunch and break even on the health-o-meter.
posted by fleetmouse at 7:58 AM on November 20, 2006


I see your Donut Robot.

And I raise you ... Donut Robot - MARK II!!!!
posted by grabbingsand at 8:07 AM on November 20, 2006


PlusDistance: You are SO not getting it, are you?
posted by ardgedee at 8:08 AM on November 20, 2006


FATTIES FATTIES FATTIES!

HURF DURF DONUT-ROBOT-42-OUTPUT EATER
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:08 AM on November 20, 2006 [1 favorite]


6.5 donuts per minute are going to eventually overwhelm your defenses.

Oh yeah? Youtube link
posted by lalochezia at 8:33 AM on November 20, 2006


I met the nicest girlfriend I ever knew in the queue at a Donut Robot 42. I shared my donuts with her after the machine broke down before she received her bag. We had a donut eating contest. Reader, I failed to marry her.
posted by punilux at 8:36 AM on November 20, 2006 [3 favorites]


When I was in college the food service where I worked had one of these that they never ran. I eyed it every time I went to work...

We had one of these that did work in my dorm in 1988. It looked ancient, but they did fire it up about twice a month.

Looking back on it , it was pretty sick what you could put together on donut day. They had a "condiment" bar at the end, where you could take a warm donut and slather it with frostings of many colors, sprinkles, nuts (seldom used), and chocolate baking chips.
posted by glycolized at 8:38 AM on November 20, 2006


A vendor was using one of these (or something identical) at the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas in October, 2005.

Watching it was oddly mesmerizing, and the output was simply delicious.

I went with cinnamon and sugar... and sometimes late at night I wonder if I should have done powdered sugar instead.

punilux: I hope you regret that decision as much as I do for you.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:15 AM on November 20, 2006


DONUTS! Yesh! If I but had a laundry room to put one in....
posted by Lynsey at 10:40 AM on November 20, 2006


mmm.... I had some cider donuts fresh off of one of these at a you-pick place a couple of months ago. Taaaaasty.
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 11:06 AM on November 20, 2006


Ynoxas : Only every time I eat a donut.

I also remember seeing a manual version of the DR42 at a funfair once. It was oddly reminiscent of an up-market restaurant where you pick your dinner from the fishtank; your donuts were individually hand-cranked to order and you watched their greasy progress from oil to sugar to soon-to-be-transparent paper bag.
posted by punilux at 12:39 PM on November 20, 2006


I want to know more about this robot.
posted by [@I][:+:][@I] at 1:52 PM on November 20, 2006


Don't you people have a local Krispy Kreme where you can go watch through plate glass as their industrial automated donut factory cranks 'em out by the hundreds? Complete with glaze. That's something to see.

Of course, it's not as cool as having one in your laundry room. But still.
posted by not that girl at 2:10 PM on November 20, 2006


Sign me up for some fresh warm chocolate glazed donuts boyeee! Hooo boy that thing is awesome! I'd like to have one, along with a real movie theatre popcorn machine.

There's a link in the comments on his livejournal to the IMDB page for "The Doughnuts" which was one of my favourite short stories as a kid. Never saw the movie but that story sure makes ya want some doughnuts!
posted by autodidact at 3:11 PM on November 20, 2006


Which spelling do you guys prefer, "Donut" or "Doughnut"?

I like the longer way because it is more full of doughy goodness. Of course the shorter way is a bit kitschy and I suppose the donut has become a bit of an american icon so perhaps it is appropriate to slangify.
posted by autodidact at 3:15 PM on November 20, 2006


Toronto residents should all have fond memories of the TIny Tim booth in the food building at the CNE... it's basically a machine like this one except it pumps out wee, tiny little donuts which get covered in powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.

That said, it is cool to have your own, though no so cool to start a fat fire in your laundry room. Sounds... dangerous.
posted by GuyZero at 3:20 PM on November 20, 2006


Oooh - pictures and videos! And Tiny Tom, not Tim.
posted by GuyZero at 3:22 PM on November 20, 2006


The doughnuts should be dropping into a box of sugar....
posted by RufusW at 3:35 PM on November 20, 2006


kalessin writes "(please note: I'm actually vociferously against fat bashing, and so on, but since I figure it's inevitable that Metafilter is about and for fat-bashing, I figured I could just get the comment in now and be done with it.)"

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over?

autodidact writes "Which spelling do you guys prefer, 'Donut' or 'Doughnut'? "

The correct one. They're made of dough, not do.

GuyZero writes "Toronto residents should all have fond memories of the TIny Tim booth in the food building at the CNE... it's basically a machine like this one except it pumps out wee, tiny little donuts which get covered in powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar."

Oh dear God yes. I loved loved loved loved those doughnuts as a kid. So hot they practically burnt your lips off. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:47 PM on November 20, 2006


I like the comment at the bottom from anonymus:

I'm totally linking to this from my Flickr photo of the nameplate on another Donut Robot 42 (http://flickr.com/photos/meyerweb/132867103/in/set-72057594113810129/). The one I shot is located in Cleveland Heights, OH, and is owned by a guy who lives a block away from me. Every October he sets up the Robot in his front yard one Saturday morning and gives away free donuts to anyone who cares to drop by. He usually gets several hundred people, and occasional writeups in local papers. It's a party and a half.

Sounds like a cool neighborhood!
posted by HyperBlue at 5:53 PM on November 20, 2006


kalessin, how about you drop the condescending tone?

Also, there's a difference between 'fattie bashing'--which I have never seen here--and a recognition that obesity is a health issue which comes with increased risks of diabetes, heart disease, etc.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 4:35 AM on November 22, 2006


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