The Sewing Place
Machine Talk => Vintage Machines => Topic started by: Lachica on April 11, 2018, 12:01:40 PM
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I've just bought one of these. It's very portable, much lighter than my big Pfaff, so I plan to use it at sewing club where I can't lug my big Pfaff upstairs. The Bernina seems in good condition, I've cleaned & oiled it, there's no rust and very little wear, though the smaller belt will be replaced as it has a set in it where it's been in one position for a long while. It makes lovely neat stitches, all of them (the cam stack is in good condition). I've brought it on holiday to have a play! The shell satin edging stitch works very nicely, I'm thinking it would be good for a toddler's dress, using embroidery thread.
I notice that a shank adaptor is available to enable use of modern snap-on feet. Anyone got one? Does it work?
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I bought one of these adaptors some time ago for use with my 730 Record, and it does fit well, but I can't really say that I've used it a lot. Like you I need to replace the belts at some point as it affects the smooth sewing, and makes the machine snatch at the fabric.
I don't know anything about which patterns are available on the Minimatic, but on the 730, the embroidery stitches are excellent quality.
Enjoy!
Jessie
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Among the 700 numbers are some of my favorites. I have the 730, it's portable but heavy. Some of them are more portable, my 900 is a bit lighter and it has the handle on top of the machine. 707 might have some advantages that way. They run nice and smoothly, and as long as they are kept up they are among the most trouble free machines I have used. My 730 has been in for service a few times in it's life, not many at all. Very nice zigzag and the freearm is narrower than on many other machines.
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Yes, @arrow, the freearm is tiny and I think will be much easier for sleeves in toddler dresses than using my big Pfaff. I've been reading the manual and am excited to try out some of the edging techniques. It has 6 feet, all the standard ones it was supplied with. Unfortunately it only has one bobbin but I have a couple of plastic ones which fit the bobbin case but don't fit on the bobbin winding spindle very well. Their groove isn't well defined but if lined up with the pip on the spindle they wind ok. Easier to buy some new I think. My big problem is that there's no needle threader -yesterday I had to remove the needle, use a hand threader then refit the needle. I didn't bring my needle threader from my overlocker on hols with me :'(
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Thanks @b15erk, that was a quick reply! Good to know they fit, but I shall restrain myself until I have a use for more feet.....I recently gave away a whole load of clip on feet that I had spare :angry:
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I haven't been that lucky with clip-on feet, the types I have had have been flimsy things. They weren't genuine Bernina tough. There is a snap on foot for the newer Berninas, and I think there should be for the older ones too. There are some types of feet where the old Bernina version had some advantages; they sort of line up better with the feed dogs. I don't have complete overview of this, but there has been a couple of cases were the converter foot for low shank want that good. General low shank doesn't always go well with all makes and models which in theory are low shank, I have broken two darning / embroidery feet because the alignment with the needle arm was wrong. On an old 99 nothing broke, but the foot dragged the presser bar half way up with the needle movement and made an awful noise. Sometimes the only thing is to try and see.
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Played embroidery today. Used bobbinfill on the bottom and embroidery thread, dialled down top tension a lot, to get these
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Also followed manual to try out a shell edging using blind hem stitch with standard foot
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I was fascinated to see that the manual devotes 2 pages to patching and 3 to darning! Talk of darning 'fine socks' and a different method for darning wool. How times have changed in 50 years. I was going to use stabiliser for the embroidery stitches but the manual says use paper! 'Not tissue paper, which is rather thin, but typewriter paper should suffice'. I used printer paper, and it worked perfectly.
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For the embroidery stitches, have you tried using normal thread in the bobbin? You might not have to adjust the tension so much as special bobbin threads may not have been around when these machines were made.
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I don't know if you should bother, but I think there are two types of bobbins for these models. I can't find the place were I read it, but the difference was "black latch" or "gold latch" bobbin case, something like that. I think there were one for thicker threads, not sure if there are any for the transparent fishing line type. Bobbin tension can be a bother, a second bobbin case set for embroidery thread can be handy since this machine in general doesn't need much fine tuning for regular sewing. The tension tends to be very forgiving when once set.
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Thanks @StitchinTime and @arrow. I won't be doing much embroidery on this as have my Pfaff for that. I thought it might do a nice twin needle pintuck on fine cotton for a toddler dress and likewise, scalloped hem, though reading the manual, this looks really fiddly and involves feeding Perle cord(sic) through the foot for a second pass on top of the first stitching. Don't think I can be bothered! @stitchin time, good point about the bobbin thread, I hadn't thought of that.
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I notice that a shank adaptor is available to enable use of modern snap-on feet. Anyone got one? Does it work?
I have one of these that I bought for my Bernina Artista 180 and I am currently using on a vintage Frister & Rossman. Doesn't give me any problems. Most of my snap on feet are from a Brother machine.
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@crafter, that'll teach me to give away all my spare snap-on feet!
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@arrow, have you any experience of Bernina foot controls? I can't easily control the speed, I'm wondering if there's a fault with the foot pedal. It looks to me as though it's just an on/off switch but maybe the white ceramic thing in the middle is a rheostat?
The machine itself has a min/ max slider switch but that doesn't seem to make much difference either.
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Meter seems to confirm it's working as on/off switch. There is a small amount of resistance change at the very end of the footpedal movement, which makes me think it might be possible to adjust travel on the thumbwheel? @Roger, any thoughts, I think you're also a vintage machine fan?
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@b15erk @Madame Cholet I've just found your comments about 730 foot pedals. Mine was easy to take apart, just 6 screws. No sign of carbon discs and no muck. On the back it says ' Bernina type 200 speed regulator' so I think I've answered my own question, there's a fault. I might do as you did and buy a generic one, if I can be sure it'll work.
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Related question: how does the motor cover come off? Might as well check the max/min switch while I'm at it.
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I think there are two screws under the machine, it migh come off on it's own, one some machines I think you have to remove the side panel to get it off.
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My pedal is slightly different, but the squarish white thing is the cartrige for a stack of carbon disks. The battery like cylinder with a wire out of each end is the capacitor that often needs replacement as the decades go by. They can cause speed issues, machines to run by them selves, blow up with a bang, or just make it all stop running. You can simply remove it and see what happens. (I kept it and showed it to a repair guy and he found a new one). My 730 has the large green metal pedal, my 900 Nova has a round pedal and the carbon resistor is just a tiny solid square bit. I think you might have the type with one or two stacks of carbon disks.
For speed adjustments you usually try different settings, and the idea is to get an even movement of the parts that move in and out of the cartridge (I'm not sure if its the correct terminology). When you press the pedal all the way it is suppose to touch the copper conductor parts directly and bypass the carbon disks. The carbon cartridge slows the current and it gradually increases speed as the pedal go down. From the picture I can't see exactly how it works with the spring action and adjustment nut, but push the pedal and observe how the mechanics work. The game is to find the spot (simply turning the nut to a different position) where the speed gradually increases and as the pedal comes fully down it obviously reaches full speed. I'm not sure if the explanation helps, but it is usually not too difficult for a DIY adustment. On the motor there's a switch for one even speed and another for gradual speed. Make sure you are not testing the pedal on the even speed setting, it should be a nice medium-slow stitching pace however far down you push the pedal. I'm probably just rambling on with all the stuff you know well and are onto already :P
Is it an original pedal? Berninas can be fuzzy with replacements, even with the basic pedal like this I know some have needed to get both a second and third replacment before it worked. In theory it should be fine, but it's one of those odd things that's happened more than once and I guess that's why some go for the more expensive Bernina brand replacements.
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Thanks for your quick reply @arrow. There's only about 4mm of movement on the central rod which goes through this the carbon rheostat. The capacitor looks fine, the wax ends are still intact (haven't seen one like this for decades).
With regard to the max/min switch, thanks for your comment, I'll see if I can get in there. The manual describes it as an 'adjustable motor' with 'min' being half the revs so presumably it switches out half the motor windings.
The pedal does look a bit different to the one shown in the manual, but the photo is of a continental 2 pin plug, mine is obviously made for the British market and has a 3 pin plug.
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Sorted, thanks @arrow. I adjusted the thumbwheel and it now accelerates smoothly. The max/min switch is working, it obviously needed the pedal to be adjusted first.
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Bad news - just done a small amount of stitching, sat in front of machine with foot nowhere near the pedal, and the motor started humming. Next thing it's stitching full speed ahead! Pulled out mains plug, fetched my husband, plugged it back in & off it went all on its own. >:). Took the foot control apart and the end has melted out of the capacitor. I won't be doing any more sewing this holiday unless I can find somewhere to buy a replacement capacitor. And borrow a soldering iron :angry:
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Can't you simply cut off or unscrew the capacitor? The only trouble will be TV interference, and maybe wifi or phone signal interference. It's minimal though. Keep the cylinder and a replacment can be found more easily, at least for an amateur like me.
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Yes, @arrow, snipped the capacitor out & carried on stitching. No interference problems, TV and radio are via internet.