Yes, we got it working. I had to get a an ice pick, hammer, needle nose pliers, flash light and basically chip the sinew, bone and crap off the auger. That being said, it stood up to the banging I gave it. I had put a lamb bone in it, at first I thought it was the bone but after looking at it, it was all the silver skin and sinew that has wrapped around the auger and froze it. It is up and running like a champ. The Lem 12, is the one we got. It is made of heavy duty steel. With all the banging I did with the hammer and ice pick, it didn't even leave any dents or chips in the machine. So far very happy but we haven't used it very much yet. It works wonderful on chicken and turkey necks. It also worked great on hunks of pork. A whole chicken took less than 2 minutes. However, the hole that you put the meat into is small. You have to cut up what you put in it.