Marcato Atlas Pasta Machine, Made in Italy, Black, Includes Pasta Cutter, Hand Crank, and Instructions

love this machine. purchased a cheap one a year or so ago from some vendor on eBay. the first time i tried to use it, i threw it to the floor and gave it a good blunt kick. it went in the trash. please be advised, though, that particular unit was a very cheap knock off. so i bought one from bedbath and it was okay, but for the price it just wasnt reasonable. came across the atlas and it went on sale here, so i ordered it. got the red one. that was a month ago. what ive found is this: dont be intimidated. you will find that the pasta is pretty forgiving. so long as the dough is firm enough when you roll it and cut it that it will cut. if you run your sheets through the blades to cut your pasta and it all sticks together, it is too soft. you either add it all back together, add more flour and knead it again, or simply let the sheets hang and dry for 40 minutes and then run them through the cutters. like i posted above, it is pretty forgiving. my last batch, i boiled some spinach in a cup of water over the stove burner, mulched it with the blender, let it cool, added a teaspoon of salt and then added bread flour until a nice dough formed. rested it for twenty minutes in a ziplock sammich bag. then rolled out spinach spaghetti. it was very easy, no real measuring, and i didnt even add eggs. also, i doled out size 7 sheets. next time i will dial it to a 5 for thicker strands. play some trial and error and have fun doing it. experiment with the types of dough you like. different flours, spinach or carrot (steam and then mulch in water with garlic in the blender works very well), eggs or no eggs, salt or more salt. it's fun to experiment. also, most website recipes call for semolina flour for authentic italian homemade pasta. the word on the forums is: wheat durum semolina flour is what is used in italian factories, but in the small shops regular flour is all that is ever really needed. just a hint on that. if all you have is all purpose flour, that will work just fine. it wipes down well so clean up is effortless. havent had any problem with dough sticking to the machine blades, but the bottom has a set of three plastic brackets that can be removed so that a brush can be used to scrape away dry bits. another word from the internet forums is vaseline oil, what here in america is called mineral oil, if you ever need to lub it at all. that said, i havent had any problems with any discoloration of my pasta. the booklet comes with instructions on how to use it as well as a few basic recipes. this does make for some very thin spaghetti noodles if you dial your pasta sheets all the way to a 9. like ramen noodle. dialed to a 7 is a little thicker than vermecilli. i think i will go up to about a 5 from now on to have it more like languini, which is a pretty perfect noodle for most dishes. the point is that you can experiment to find what is best for you. this is a pretty versatile machine, it is a little workhorse. i'm uploading a couple of pictures, there are already so many uploaded. but this was a batch that i used one egg and parsley garlic and roasted red bell peppers and bread flour with a teaspoon of salt. rather basic recipe that came out pretty perfect and it was fun and very easy to eat. happy rolling.

Bought this after much research and I'm glad I did. This pasta maker is sturdy, durable and looks great. It fits easily on an island or kitchen counter and once you learn how to use it, is easy to operate. An added bonus is they sell some of the parts septate if you ever need to replace one.

Great quality. Works well. Little pieces of pasta do sometimes get stuck in the grooves, but flour helps. I also find it is easier to brush them off after they have dried. It sure beats cutting pasta by hand, and if kept in a dry clean environment looks like it will last a very long time.

My grandsons totally enjoy this project!

I've only used it once so far but let me tell you, I would've given up on pasta making if I had to run the dough or myself. Easy to set up and break down to store. Many thickness settings and three types of pastas (sheets for lasagna or stuffed pasta, and then a fettuccine/linguine type as well as a thinner pasta).

I am making pasta (for the first time) for Christmas gifts. I thought I'd give this a try after work last evening just to get a feel for it as well as run a batch through all rollers to extrude any little metal pieces, etc. It was extremely easy to use and, once I figured out the best side to approach it for the cutter attachments, it was easy to use with two hands. I see lots of fresh pasta in my future. Only cons were the handle can pop out if you're rolling too fast and that the recipes in the manual use weight measurements. I guess that's okay if you have a working scale handy but I didn't. Pros are ease of use and that I can conceivably make fresh pasta for dinner after I get home from work and eat at a reasonable hour. A few tips: I was pleased to find out (through Google search) that you can wrap the dough in plastic and keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours before rolling. Just let the dough warm to room temperature first. Also, there are lots of great videos on youtube including how to make tri-colored pasta (I'm going to try this too).

I love it so far! It is a nice looking machine, totally quality WITH NO PLASTIC!! It was perfect in it's color and manufacture and is heavy so seems very quality. I've used it twice: Once to make crackers (this is a marvelous way to use pasta machines, as your crackers can be rolled perfectly - even thickness, and as thin as you want w/out using a roller and being totally frustrated trying to get thin crackers) and once to make egg noodles. It worked well both times (remember to keep your dough dusted with flour), easy to clean up (just brushed it out) and the best part: it didn't break down after the 2nd use as my first cheaper pasta maker did. Making crackers and homemade pasta are now easy and fun.

This manual pasta maker is absolutely well-constructed. It’s elegant, cleans easily, and is truly one of those items that does one thing very very well. It’s pretty intuitive to roll pasta with this, but if you get stuck, there are YouTube tutorials with excellent tips and how-to’s.