After browsing the topic specific to the SC/TO set-up, I came across a post from Sea330 about an aluminum stirring rod that he had created. The rod he created can help solve one of the key issues of melting related to plopping the oven top over the stir-crazy base. So I inquired, he sent the only other one he had and I promised to provide a review! There are a number of pictures here so everyone can see what I'm talking about!
Remove four screws underneath base holding motor in.
Remove the two nuts holding the base together. (I used a 9/32 socket)
A picture of the stirrer in there.
An image of the stirring rod resting on its side. If you can compare to the stock one, you can see how it is identical.
This is the stirring rod standing straight up. The threads are perfect matches to the original, even fitting the stock cap if you wanted to do that for some odd reason! I plan to use a nut and washer to keep everything on there tight.
The bottom cut-out fits the motor perfectly. I had little to no play in the one he sent me, but to be safe you could always use some plumbers tape if wanted.
This is a picture of the stirring rod being set back into the bottom, fitting nicely into the stock cut-outs.
This shows it completely reassembled. The height is perfect and the stock rod holds in place as the original did.
The stirring rod is a direct replacement of the original plastic one and was turned by hand by Sea330 out of aluminum. It is a flawless recreation. I feel this is a very worthy update mainly because I fiddled around with the socket/bolt combination before this. I did get something that worked effectively but it took a good deal of tweaking to get it to that point (finding all the parts, adjusting nut heights, having to add plumbers tape to motor, compensating for play in socket, etc). The time saved makes it worth every penny in my book.
When this arrived, it was as simple as taking the four underside screws off and the two nuts holding the base together. Once off, simply pop it in, bolt it back together and watch it turn as good as the original. Some may see this as unnecessary, but I am completely confident that this part will now outlast the machine itself and be transferred from machine-to-machine in the future. It also alleviates any concerns I have of everything melting! Thanks to Sea330 and hopefully any fellow members with an SC/TO set-up can find this useful. I know he has no plans to make them commercially, but it never hurts to ask nicely