Foot Controller problem
 

I'm not sure if I've posted this in the right section but moderator can move if it's incorrect.
I have a Janome Magnolia 7330 machine that I purchased new in Sept. 2009. Less than a year after I purchased the machine I started having problems with the machine. I would stop sewing (take my foot off the foot pedal) and my machine would keep sewing. Sometimes it would just start up on it's own. Sometimes it would sew very slow & sometimes it would take off like a rocket without me ever touching the foot pedal. I took it in for warranty to an authorized Janome service tech. & he said the foot pedal was faulty & he replaced it with a Model YC-485EC-1 foot controller. It cost $75 to replace the pedal (I got reimbursed because it was under warranty). All went well until about a year ago. Now my machine does not always start after I push the foot controller. Sometimes I have to "tap" it several times before it starts. I've tried blowing canned air inside but have not actually taken it apart for fear of making things worse. Any suggestions as to how to fix this problem without having to spend $75 for a replacement. There are no screws on the outside of the pedal for me to take it apart. How do you get something like this apart? Here's a picture of what I have. Thanks for any help on this.

Have you tried to peel back the black tape on the bottom? Could be where the screws are. I have one foot that has a slot for a screwdriver that pops the bottom off.

I ave heard that floor rheostats (foot pedals) can get something inside them, some little piece of debris or some grit, etc., and that can cause problems. I would take it apart if I could do it without breaking something and see if it needs cleaned inside. Good luck.

Do you have any pets? Most of the time, it is pet hair inside the foot control. I have taken mine apart and found a lot of carpet lint..(had new carpet put in) didn't even see the fuzz....until I vacuumed the first time. My controller was the white plastic one, not the metal one. I suspect you can open this one without any trouble. Make sure you take a picture of the in side, in case there are any screws or springs inside, you will want to know where they go back in.
My white one had a spring I needed to pay attention to....but put it back together, still working great. This one is at least $100 to replace. Ridiculous. Good luck and I hope you are able to get inside and clean without any issues.

I don’t know if this is your problem exactly but it does happen to me. I will be sewing and my machine stops. I worked out that it’s the connection from the foot into the sewing machine (Janome). I have to wiggle the connection or take it out and put it back in until my foot controller shows up on the screen and it’s all ok again. I took it to be repaired but was told just to put up with it as it doesn’t happen all that often. If it happened a lot l would look at getting it fixed somehow. Hope this helps.

Another thing that can cause this kind of problem is dust or lint in or around the sensor that tells the machine to stop and go. Dust well around the bobbin casing and it may be an easy access to the back of your machine to dust with canned air. I had something similar happen to a Kenmore I have here. A bit of clearing the lint and it went back to working. Lint was in the way of the connection.

I would not recommend canned air around any of our machines. Repairmen only use it to clean parts, not the machine under carriage or elsewhere. Instead, the mini vacuum attachments for your vacuum cleaner work great.
All of the debris is sucked up, rather than pushed further into the machine. Most of the quilt and sewing websites sell this handy set of attachments. Amazon has this for $7.31.
https://www.amazon.com/Schneider-Ind...BNNZ2065X7YDZ8