Most likely the foot needs to be rewired inside. Wires don't last forever; sounds like the insulation on the wires has deteriorated.

That happened with one of my machines. There's some wiring problem. I had to replace it. I did use a cutting board under it for a while just in case. I didn't want the carpet to burn.

I would be afraid to use it if that happened to me. It sounds like an electrical problem. My DH always says, "If you can't fix it with a hammer, its got to be an electrical problem, LOL! Be safe and get that checked out, please!

I've had to replace my foot pedal on a Kenmore many years ago because it got hot. But it shouldn't get hot, so be careful. A "HOT" electrical anything is not a good sign.

Buy a treadle....... :mrgreen:

Some how I think I am going to be flamed for that statement! :lol: :lol: :lol:

But honestly it sounds like the winding or the resistor is old and worn. Just replace the pedal and that should fix it for the next 15 years!

Billy

My feather weight pedal was doing the same thing the other evening. I guess it is time to buy a new one. Is that something you carry Billy?

Actually the pedal that came with my 301 does not work right at all. It makes the machine go way too fast, and then it "diesels" to use a car term. It looks like an aftermarket one. So I tried the pedal that came with my Featherweight and it worked so much better. Well, better till it started overheating.

Yep I carry the pedals for your machine,

Billy

Many of the old machines had pedals constructed so that they NEEDED breaks between stepping on the 'gas' to cool them down. That's why some older Singers have the 'button' foot controllers - the ones with the wierd square solid button next to the actuater. Many times when people 'gas' it (engage the actuater by depressing it)... their foot gets lazy or tired or something, and when they let up... they don't let up all the way. Kinda like when people drive with the foot on top of the brake pedal all the time. Don't do that.

The idea with those older Singer pedals was that the solid button was to rest your foot on, then you'd tip your foot sideways to run the machine... then tip back off of it when not running, in between seams, etc.

For newer machines. Just do this: Get into the habit of taking your foot all the way OFF the foot pedal when not stitching. Put your drive foot on the FLOOR when you're not actually stitching. Don't leave your foot partially on the thing, cause inside there... it's still 'on' and heating up... even if your needlebar is not moving. That will heat up, melt, overheat and start a fire...

Talking about that pedal, I have some Singer interoffice memos talking about that pedal. The engineers were talking about you put your whole foot on the pedal and use your heel to operate the machine. It was designed to keep your foot from getting fatigued from long periods of use. That is why the foot control is so big.

Some useless Singer trivia for you!

Billy

Yes, that's it. There's a good write up of that on the yahoo vintage Singer site. What's interesting to me is that they didn't come up with that design until the bakelite model pedels. The other tin? ones, are still like a normal old lever switch. At first, i thought that those lever switches were supposed to be used in conjunction with knee press actuators installed into cabinets. But now I've seen so many of them on electric portable machines... that cannot be. The bakelite pedels are interesting.

Billy... do you know how to test a plastic/composite surface to find out if it's really Bakelite? (I bet you do...). If not, and you think it's worth it... I can post that.