Atta Chakki Buying Guide & Steel vs Wooden Atta Chakki

Though there are many people who buy readymade atta, the number of people who opt out for conventional atta grinding is not less. In our hectic schedule sometimes we forget to send grains for grinding so unwillingly we have to buy readymade atta. If we are not used to that atta (because it’s texture is different from what we regularly use) rotis don’t be so soft as always. In this situation a thought strikes in mind if I had atta chakki at home!

Nowadays having atta chakki at home is not a luxury but it’s a need of an hour. It gives us freshly ground atta, masalas, etc. We don’t have to depend on the ‘chakki wale bhaiyya’ in the time of need. We can get fresh atta whenever we need. The important thing is that these chakkis are not much expensive. Considering it’s usefulness one should think about buying atta chakki for a home.

Let’s see more about atta chakki.

Types of Atta Chakki

There are basically two types of atta chakkis if you want to buy it for household purpose.

1. Stainless Steel atta chakki :- As the name suggests all the parts of this chakki are made of stainless steel. It has open structure. You can see all the parts of machine.
2. Wooden box chakki :- Wooden box chakki has a sleek, stylish and modern look. The machine of the chakki is enclosed in a attractive wooden box. So it gives an elegant look to the chakki. You can keep it easily in your kitchen or living room just like other furniture. By being there it enhances the look of your kitchen. So many families go for wooden box chakki.

Steel vs Wooden Atta Chakki

Comparison between stainless steel chakki and wooden box chakki

Stainless Steel chakki and wooden box chakki can be compared on the many features. Some of them are listed below.

1) Look – Stainless Steel chakki has typical machinary look so it is not so look wise it’s not so attractive.

In case of wooden box chakki, the machine is enclosed in a colourful wooden box so it looks like any other furniture in house. As it looks good you can place it anywhere in the home without ruining the look of the room.

2) Grinding capacity – Both the stainless steel chakki and wooden box chakki have the same grinding capacity. Both the chakkis have same hopper size and same engine strength. They have engine of one horsepower (1hp). While buying any of it just keep in mind that the machine should have copper winding. At a time 4.5 to 5 kg grains can be ground in the chakkis.

3) Grinding quality – Though both the chakkis have same grinding capacity some grains like pulses are ground better in stainless steel chakki than it’s counterpart. It’s reason will be explained after few points.

4) Operation – A wooden box chakki is completely automatic. All you have to do is just pour the grains to be ground in the hopper, fit correct mesh and blade and put on the machine.

A stainless steel chakki is operated manually up to certain extent. After pouring the grains in the hopper you have to keep watching the flour outlet and keep on adjusting grain and flour levels.

5) Noise production – Stainless Steel chakki is open from all the sides whereas wooden box chakki is enclosed one. So obviously wooden box chakki produces less noise compared to stainless steel chakki.

6) Warranty – A stainless steel chakki has overall one year warranty, most of the time.

In case of wooden box chakki the warranty for different parts is different. For example warranty for plastic parts may be 1-2 years. Motor may have 2-5 years warranty etc. While buying a chakki just negotiate dealers. Sometimes you may get additional warranty by dealers on some parts.

7) Maintenance cost – Maintenance cost of both the chakkis is negligible as compared to their usefulness.

In stainless steel chakki the grains are ground/ crushed between two circular stone crushers. With the time these stones be smooth and we don’t get the required texture of flour. This is the situation where we are supposed to change these stone crushers. It costs nearly 2000 rupees. On an average after 8 to 9 years you have to change them.

Wooden box chakki grains are ground using various blades. There are 8 to 10 types of blades for different grains. And same number of meshes are used for sieving flour in the flour outlet. These blades and meshes have to be changed after every 2 to 3 years. They cost around 200 to 300 rupees per blade or mesh.

If you do not change stone crushers or blades you won’t get fine flour. So it’s necessary to change these parts as they get erroded with time.

8) Consumption of electricity – Both the type of chakkis consume 0.75 to 1 unit of electricity per cycle.

9) Cost – You can buy a stainless steel chakki at 8000 to 12000 rupees. A wooden box chakki is bit expensive. It costs around 12000 to 18000 rupees.

10) Mobility – Both the types of flour mills have small wheels underneath. With the help of them we can move it at desired place easily.

Some additional information

You can run stainless steel chakki for more than an hour continuously. An wooden box chakki can not work continuously for hours. After every cycle you have to give a break of 5 to 10 minutes before starting it again.

Hope this article prove useful while buying a atta chakki for your family.