jillmc

I went to an estate sale after seeing a photo of this machine in the ad. A friend lost everything in a house fire last summer, and she lost her Bernina, so I was hoping to get her a machine to use while they rebuild their lives. The owner gave me this machine for free because she did not want to move it to storage, and she did not know if it worked. It looked neglected, but it ran for a few seconds when I plugged it in, so I brought it home. I finally got the top open, and boy is it gummed up inside. I used pipe cleaners to get the surface fuzz out, and oiled a few places, but it is seized. It will move if I turn by hand, but it is tight. Best way to un-gum? The closest service tech is 50 miles away, and I would love to get this clean and running by myself. Hope springs eternal! Thanks.

jillmc

Woohoo! My husband came to see what I was doing.....he took the motor cover off and we removed a wad of red thread that was wound around the motor-how does one get yhread inside the motor??? And lo and behold, it now stitches! Has a ways to go, bu5 at least I am now hopeful!

Tartan

I wonder if you could put the white Lithium lubricant on the gears that I used on my Featherweight gears?

Rhonda K

Congrats on the rescue! Your friend is lucky indeed that you can help replace her machine.

Mickey2

Don't use anything but the best oil on this model. It should in theory be very easy to clean it up, but if grease or bad quality oil has been used it can need a bit of cleaning. The only thing that tends to stick a bit on these is the cam stack and parts on connection with the stitch selection. It's all about cleaning and oiling, have the machine on a table in a heated room, test sew, clean and oil.

You seem to have sorted it out very well. Rememer to have the top of the freearm off, it leaves space to clean around feed dogs and there a few oil points. The paint on these scrates easily, so remove presser foot and needle befor you attempt to pop up the top of the free arm. It's one of the most sought after vintage zigzaggers, and it's not often it comes for free.

sewbizgirl

These are the best machines *ever*. Great save!

jillmc

Thank you....I will attempt to get the top of the free arm off next. This poor baby is pretty tattered and chipped....breaks my heart. But we all get a little tattered with age, so that is no reason to ignore her! I have a 930 that is in excellent condition....just likes to continue stitching when I want it to stop! But I can work with that.

SusieQOH

Wow, that's great! What a nice thing to do for your friend. And you have a handy husband!!

leighway

Really breaks my heart, as well to see the condition of the body...I wonder if one of those fellows who paint featherweights could do a repair job of sorts on the nicked/dinged portions? When I think of the workmanship that went into these machines and see how some of them have been neglected, it really makes me sad.

SusieQOH

I'm curious as to the age of that Bernina. Mine is newer and I don't know much about the older ones.
Any idea?