Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I tried to ignore the numerous one-star reviews, assuming that perhaps the owners didn't know how to maintain the blades properly or had expectations too high for a $20 meat grinder. I scoured the internet for every article I could find on manual grinder assembly and tuning, with the thought that I might sharpen the blades, tweak the fit, and make a useable tool out of what I could clearly see was a cheaply-made product. Alas, the problems with this grinder run so deep that no amount of fixing will redeem it. The casting quality on this is atrocious; it more resembles something you'd find in the garden department than the kitchen aisle. The pin at the end of the augur on mine was slightly askew, which caused continuous scraping of the augur on the interior body when the front screw was tightened down. (Hilariously, the instruction manual suggests loosening the front ring if this happens. Never mind the gap that opens between the blade and the plate, allowing meat to smear without cutting.) The threads on the front were also so horribly machined that it took four or five tries to properly get the ring threaded each and every time I put it on. The thumb screw which attaches the handle had been tinned the length of its threads, so I had to forcefully screw and unscrew it, blowing tin shavings out of the bore, until it would thread on completely. And this was just my assessment getting the thing together! Despite my mounting concern, I went ahead and attempted to grind 3 pounds of diced, partially frozen pork shoulder. A promising few threads of meat emerged from the end of the machine before merging together into a pink mush of smeared fat and meat. I soldiered on, cranking the nigh-impossible-to-turn handle, forcing cubes of meat down dangerously close to the augur with my fingers, stopping three times to disassemble the thing and clean off the knot of fat and meat around the ill-fitting blade, the resume my desperate task. I tried this with the ring tight, and with the ring loose; pushing the meat, and letting the augur work alone; fast turn, slow turn, onward! As result of my dedication, the interior quickly became a horror show of mashed up, recirculating meat. If you've seen those "pink slime" expose videos, you know what I speak. I washed and dried the thing, a task made no easier by its sandpaper like interior, and carefully dried the blades. As of this next morning, rust has formed on the area where the augur meets the crank, and there is tinning missing along most of the edge of the augur. I assume it is somewhere in the mashed pork I froze last night, a feeble attempt at thrift. I've eaten many questionable things, but ground up Chinese "tin" is where I'll have to draw the line. The grinder is being returned; I'll try one of the better reviewed stainless-steel models, or may just turn to a cast-iron relic from eBay. Don't doubt the bad reviews--this grinder really deserves them all.