Cathy,

The wiring on my Free Long Bobbin Rotary ..... yes that's what it says on the machine, was so bad you couldn't touch the machine without getting buzzed.
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So I rewired it using a modern style cord block:
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Since there was no place to mount the cord block I used some 1" x 1/8" aluminum stock and made a mount. I bolted the mount to the cord block with a screw and nut, then used an extra long presser foot thumb screw with a lock washer and a rubber disk to mount the aluminum bracket to the bed. The threads for the thumb screw and the hole in the machine are the same.
Works pretty good and doesn't look bad at all.

However if I ever find any Chicago plugs I will ..... well, I'll consider restoring the wiring to it's original configuration.

Joe

Grey,

The one cord coming out of the motor will have two wires in it. Each wire goes to one side of the field coils.

Joe

First of all, if this is going to be a motor rebuild I may not be up to the challenge. Here are a couple of photos or the motor. There is no second power box and no hole in the base for one. There is no light attachment. First is the rear view showing the motor, cord & back of the base.
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Next is the motor as it came off the machine, so I guess it's the rear view of the motor. It's as far as I got in disassembling it. The next pics are close ups of the motor. They may be of no use and I'll privately send any pics you'd like to see.
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Are these the connector points? You can see some wire coming out of one hole but not the corresponding hole on the other side. Please understand this is the first time I've seen a sewing machine motor.
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Joe - I have one of those "Free Long Bobbin Rotary" machines too, but mine is a treadle. Must have been a marketing idea to try to get on the new "rotary" bandwagon.

GreyQ, the cord from the motor - can you show the other end? there has to be some sort of a junction somewhere between the motor and the foot pedal and the part that plugs into the outlet. And it might be as simple as two wires joined together with a lot of electrical tape over them. With Joe's first picture, you can see the "junctions" where the wires are connected (that one scares me too!) and in the second, the outlet box is the "junction" on one side the cord will go to the wall outlet, and on the other it goes to the foot pedal.

Since you have a cord coming out of the motor, you probably don't need to do anything inside the motor - unless it's too light weight, or damaged to close to the motor to be usable. We have to replace from inside the motor because of where the damage is.

Grey,

I can't see from your pics, and doubtfully from any pics, but the brown wire will split inside and one side will go to one place and the other to another place.

The two square brass tubes are the brush holders. The two carbon contacts inside are the brushes.

My Greyhound has the same motor but I haven't had it apart. It looks like someone has wrapped the connections with the old sticky electrical tape so it's hard to see what's going on in there.

Be very careful when you take it further apart, there are some wires inside that can be broken too close to the coil and then you're in trouble. The coil is the wires wrapped in the fabric tape that pass through the shiny metal plates.

I think the brown wires are attached to both the brushes and the coils but I'd have to have it in front of me to be positive. I've worked on others like that.

Rewiring a motor isn't hard, but you have to be careful and pay attention to details.

Joe

This is a pic of the only cord attached, just a power cord. The 2nd pic is the foot pedal in a bag but you can see the copper rings that would connect to a power box. It's a Singer toe control type. So if I get a plug block like Joe's, I just plug the motor power cord and the foot control into that and then plug the plug block into the wall? I'll be very happy if I can just put the cover back on the motor and pretend I never saw it. Will the Singer foot pedal work with a New Home if I get a replacement cord with a plug in to fit a plug block. Just plugging away here (groans, boos & hisses allowed).[ATTACH=CONFIG]460424[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]460425[/ATTACH]

Maybe it was just plugged into the wall and the operator had to use mesmerizing psycho-kinetic powers to make it go. Or it just goes & you have to throw the fabric under it & hope for the best but I can't see where the foot pedal or a light would connect. Thank you Joe & Cathy! I'm going to have supper & watch Downtown Abbey & Sherlock!

You shouldn't need to do anything with the motor, and no- Don't plug it into the wall - the motor will take off like a bat out of . . . (ok, so how do I know this?) Though if you unplug it quick, you will know if the motor works.

You need the plug thing like Joe shows in the picture above, and the motor will plug into the "Motor" outlet (the light outlet is always hot - just like plugging it into the wall). That would normally be part of the foot pedal cord, and it would have the wall plug on the other end. This is a very common configuration.

Both my electric New Homes have a pronged cord attached to the motor (like yours) Who ever attached the new cord to yours sure left it long enough, they probably didn't have the tools to cut the cord short and strip the insulation, so they just used it the length is came from the hardware store.


For $30 you can get a new cord with the outlet type plug built into it, and a nicer style foot pedal (sewclassic) then you only need to connect the wires to the foot pedal and plug everything in and you'll be good to go.

Okay, GrayQ, we'll go on the assumption you aren't super experienced with electrical concerns? That's fine, but by the time you're through with a few SM's you will know more, but hopefully NOT by learning the hard way! Electricity needs two (2) conductors to work. Let's call them in and out, positive and negative, hot and neutral or... In some circuits we also have a ground wire, that 3rd hole in the living room outlet that only your computer seems to need. It is a safety return path to ground incase a neutral wire is detached and you're touching a conductive part of the appliance and then touch a grounded metal faucet or light switch and all the stars are aligned to save you from becoming toast.

You need to verify that one conductor and only one goes to each of the carbon "brushes" . It would be great if you were to purchase a very inexpensive electrical meter, or continuity checker, so that, unplugged you could verify continuity from one of those AC plug blades to one of the brushes. Then check for continuity on the other AC plug blade/brush circuit. And although it's not perfect, you can check to see if either of those AC blades has continuity with the metal motor housing. (It shouldn't) Hopefully I'm not mashing this up into too small of bits, bit I don't want you to get hurt and electricity can hurt, even KILL!! So be careful, work slow. If you have a GFCI outlet you can, when you're done, plug in there, because although the ground isn't connected, it will trip faster. Lastly, and I need to check to be sure, but I don't think there's any reason you can't have a test rig made up with a light dimmer switch so you can bring the motor up to speed slowly. Or you could wire a thriftshop sewing machine footpedal into a plastic outlet box, with a plug lead from an extension cord from the thrift store, and be good to go. This would be something to set on a wood top work bench, and plug into a GFCI outlet. Can you cut corners? you bet, but there are risks involved.
Did you happen to test the motor already while it was still initially assembled by plugging it into an outlet quickly? If you did, and it worked, it's not necessarily a guarantee that it's still safe after reassembly. You can do this. Just be careful.-- I assume no legal or financial liability for anything I've said here--