The Sewing Place

Bernina Artista 200 buttonholes with foot 3A with sensor

Elnnina

Bernina Artista 200 buttonholes with foot 3A with sensor
« on: August 23, 2019, 14:42:44 PM »
Please does anyone have this Bernina Artista 200 machine along with the buttonhole foot 3A which is the slide and has a sensor on the side?

I have successfully sewn many buttonholes on this machine in the past, sometimes I have had trouble with it misbehaving and found this was due to fluff or debris up on the inbuilt sensor which is situated up in the machine near the needle and thus I now always make sure that I have cleaned away any debris - this is where a dental mirror is so useful.

However all this week I have been trying to sew buttonholes, and yesterday thought I had got this all sorted but no.  I have my previous notes on how I did the buttonholes and the settings, but this time around I can do a perfect buttonhole but when I go to do another one all I get is a straight continuous line of satin stitches, it does not stop and go back up to stitch the top bar and then the  second bead.

I am at a loss to understand why it is doing this, I have saved the settings and luckily I have not yet tried sewing the buttonholes on my top - anyway as it is a type of cotton lawn I do not think this would tolerate too much unpicking.

I have three other tops all ready cut out waiting to be put together and they all need buttonholes.

I am obviously doing something wrong but I do not know what - can anyone help please - thanks.


fajita

Re: Bernina Artista 200 buttonholes with foot 3A with sensor
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2019, 17:57:31 PM »
I have Bernina 550QE, and this year had trouble with my buttonholer (3a). Unfortunately mender man said it needed a new foot because the sensor had gone. Annoying really, as I haven't done more than about two dozen button holes since I got the machine five or six years ago.

Elnnina

Re: Bernina Artista 200 buttonholes with foot 3A with sensor
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2019, 20:06:53 PM »
Well since spending this afternoon trying to get a proper buttonhole instead of a line of satin stitches, I rang the dealer I bought it from and he was extremely helpful - it was lucky that he had a 730 which is the same machine in front of him.  I now have sewn ten beautiful  buttonholes  five plain and five corded, and no problems.  Don't know why it was playing up but whilst I was talking to him I mentioned that whilst trying to sew a buttonhole my screen kept on changing and stopping the machine saying that I needed to clean out the bobbin area, or that I had run out of thread, this happened many times and was beginning to drive me mad.  I was taken through an area I have never been in before and have at the moment disabled  the lower bobbin sensor.  I was also told where the bobbin sensor is - it is tiny and in black actually on the open door of the bobbin compartment, and this has to be scrupulously clean so I gave that a good wipe over as well.

Tomorrow I will enable the bobbin area sensor and see how it behaves.  If it carries on stopping the sewing then I have no choice but to take it in to be looked at.

Nevis5

Re: Bernina Artista 200 buttonholes with foot 3A with sensor
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2019, 07:09:23 AM »
Oh no, @Elnnina  ! As you know, that's exactly the problem I was having with my Bernina 570.  I haven't completely fixed it yet either, despite cleaning it and trying out buttonhole levellers etc.  I just use the manual buttonhole setting now.  Annoying. 

I'll be interested to learn if your dealer (also my dealer ;) ) comes up with a solution.  He couldn't find what was wrong with mine :(  but offered to send it back to Bernina.  I wish I'd let him now :(

Elnnina

Re: Bernina Artista 200 buttonholes with foot 3A with sensor
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2019, 10:33:32 AM »
Yes Nevis5 it is the same dealer.  I had to take the buttonhole slide foot off the machine and hold it with my left hand and then push the slide back towards the ankle and let go and it sprung back as it should so that was fine.  As you know about the sensors being clean I always make sure that they are - if you can get hold of a dental mirror that will be useful in seeing exactly where the sensor is tucked up in the machine near the needle, and then keep on wiping this so any debris and dust from the needle penetration is removed, and the other sensor on the foot is much easier to clean.

I was also getting interruptions on my screen saying that I needed to clean the bobbin area or wind a new bobbin, and this made the machine stop so many times it was driving me mad, and I was constantly having to bring the machine up from its 'flatbed' setting to open the bobbin case to clean that area.  On my machine once the door is open there is a black plastic part, and part way down this black plastic part is yet another sensor and that has to be clean as well as if this has any bits of fluff on it will trigger the message on the screen that the bobbin area needs cleaning.  Steve then took me through to a part of the machine I did not know about via the buttons on the front of the machine called 'Set up button'  and  I disabled this  via the 'Messages and Voice Control' and the 'lower thread control'. 

So, so far ten lovely buttonholes stitched in next to no time, and this morning I will venture into the machine again and reinstate the 'lower thread control' and then see what happens.  I might even be brave and try stitching buttons on as this is something I have never done before, I have the foot as it is one that came with the machine.

However Steve worried me somewhat, whilst he is still working and working even harder as several other dealers within a radius of where he works have gone, either moved away, retired or passed away, he is beginning to think about his own retirement which is still several years away yet but that means there will be nobody within distance of several of us to service our machines or to buy a machine - what are we going to do.  I suppose if we are given sufficient notice then we can have our machines serviced and all in good order and that should see us through to the end of our sewing days.

Elnnina

Re: Bernina Artista 200 buttonholes with foot 3A with sensor
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2019, 10:53:21 AM »
All the buttons have now been sewn on via the machine and a lot easier than I thought it would be - I was a bit anxious about the needle hitting the button and causing some damage to the machine/timing - but luckily I was able to alter the width needed and even managed to make the foot a bit higher in order to create a shank.  Now all that I have to do is get the buttonhole  chisel out and cut the buttonholes open.