Congrats on the Hobart. Best there is as far as I can tell. I've got a SS 1 hp import from Northern Tools which takes #12 Hobart plates but it has a different sized shaft so cant use the knives. Fortunantly it came with two knives and plates and I snagged another larger plate (1/2") online. There are a lot of mailorder places to buy replacement parts. Just plug Hobart grinder parts into Google and you should get a bunch of hits. For a sausage recipe might I suggest Big Dave's Cheesy Jap sausage. It's some mighty fine stuff. Purty sure its in the recipe section.
bigwheel