I bought it at auction. It appeared to have been left in it's cabinet in a hot, dry place for many years. It had no rust, but it had this goldish/brownish gunk everywhere, especially on the face side, as it had collected on the front of the machine where it had run out of the mechanical areas.
It's been cleaned and cleaned and cleaned with sewing machine oil, kerosene, denatured alcohol, tons of q-tips, t-shirt strips, toothpicks and cotton balls. I could be wrong, but it appears to be clean.
I have worked on a couple of controllers, but I'm not sure I've worked on this one.
This is my everyday driver. I've made several quilts on it and really like the machine. I finally cleaned up my 301 and used it....and WOW! was it fast! I loved it! I went back to the 401 yesterday and it was soooo slow, I was surprised. I've considered exchanging the cabinets. That, however, means adapting the cradle to the 401 cabinet. Also, the 401 cabinet doesn't have a knee adapter.
Maybe Mickey is right. Maybe it's dry. I'll work on that and see if it helps.
bkay