Our Custom 14 FP has been a reliable workhorse for about 5 years. A
little over a year ago, the original metal blade developed cracks that
eventually caused it to lose grip on the shaft. I picked up a new
blade and away we went again. The shaft doesn't appear excessively
worn, and when you put the blade on and rock it back and forth quickly
there isn't a lot of excess slop to the fit; it feels pretty much like
it always has, I believe.

It has worked perfectly until a couple of months ago. Now, after
mixing up a batch of dough or something else where the bowl is fairly
full, it is literally impossible to remove the bowl up off the unit.
This is under normal mix time usage; no overheating going on here.
Now I have to unload it with a spoon or some such, until mostly empty,
and then if I pulse the blade a few times, it "lets go" and allows me
to remove the bowl. Even grabbing the blade's plastic collar and
pulling up will not get it off, nor will forcing the bowl up with
palms slid under each edge below. It almost seems that it becomes
slightly wedged onto the shaft, even though there doesn't appear to be
anywhere near the slop in the fit that I would think would be required
for this to be happening.

I've been avoiding the dishwasher for the blade, thinking the heat was
probably the cause of the original blade's cracking... but even
running it through the dishwasher again, thinking perhaps it wasn't
clean and was sticking somehow, makes no difference. I've filled the
blade shaft area with rubbing alcohol and scrubbed all around in there
to be certain there was no foreign material possibly causing the
problem. And since the blade is only about a year old, I guess it has
to be something going on with the shaft but I understand there are no
parts available for these things, so I'm hoping someone out there has
an "oh, yeah" on this. If not, it's probably down to the Kitchen Aid
store for a more dependable unit, much as I hate to abandon the old
trusty thing.

Ideas?