Speed Demons and Slow Pokes

The adventure continues with the Bernina 1006 and 1008's as I try to get them up and running again. I had temporarily given up on one of the 1008's when it was dead in the water but I tried one more time to see if I could get it to at least turn on. I could hear the switch click and connect but then nothing so I took the cover off again and looked at the switches but something didn't look right:

Contacts on left above #66

There was only one contact in place but there were slots for two. I reluctantly opened up the back of the other Bernina 1008 so I could see how it was supposed to look and, sure enough, there were two metal strips that made the contact when the switch was turned on. Digging around on the back of the machine, I found the one that had fallen off. Making sure both were snugly in place, I put everything back in place and voila! It not only turned on but the light was working now. Here's what I figured out: the contact for the light was the one on the left and it had fallen out and wedged itself onto the shelf right below the switches, probably long ago since it didn't have a working light when I got it. While pulling the cover off over and over again I dislodged the motor switch, the contact on the right. This wasn't rocket science but I did feel pretty victorious. Now it's all in place and working nicely:

Light and motor contacts

The foot controls were still a problem with racing too fast so before I ordered one I decided to take the worst one apart. Checking on a Youtube video, I found out I might need new tiny carbon brushes but no, they were still good. At this point I adjusted the speed dial again and found I could turn it more than before. Now I got curious about the settings on the other one that was working well and while I was at it I might as well take the third one apart and check brushes on each one. In that process I found one of the brushes very short but think I might have broken it myself so I ordered a new set and adjusted the speed control on each. One foot control is waiting for the new brushes but the others finally work better and are all cleaned up: do you ever look at how dirty foot controls can get down on the floor? Yuck!

I decided to make dust covers for these little ladies:

Bernina 1008, 1006, and 1008

There was a canvas cover that came with one of them but it was stained so I threw it in the wash only to find part of it shrunk. That left it with puckers on the sides and just a mess so I took it apart, traced off a pattern and made a new one:

Bernina 1008 dust cover, back side pocket

It seemed a little too short and not quite to the contours of the top so I tried again:

Bernina 1006 dust over, front with decorative stitches on pocket trim

That turned out much better but I find the spool pins that do not retract are keeping it from laying down nicely but that's just the way it goes. I went back to the original cover and when I put it back together again I could see how much it had shrunk: at least an inch on each side of the top panel! That it was too short and I needed to fill in that gap so I added red bias tape:

Bernina cover out of canvas with new side edge

And here are all three machines with their new covers:

I love the pockets on each side with different orientations for the openings. It's nice for a manual, cords, and foot controls but you would need a separate box for all of the Bernina accessories. Here's one last photo to show the difference in the stitch selection between the model 1006 and 1008:

Bernina 1008, 1006, and 1008: note stitch patterns differences

Hopefully I have slowed down the Bernina speed demon foot controllers and now I'm working on a Necchi Lydia 544 that is getting a new set of hook gears. All is finally in place but it is not running very fast. What is making it such a slow poke? I went back and started taking parts off until it would run smoothly and as fast as I could get it to go. It's not very fast. Back to the drawing board to figure out if I've done something wrong or if there is a motor problem, or something else. I'm happy to be at home this week, even with the below zero weather, since I'm staying inside anyway. We are getting ready for New Years Day and homemade donuts! That's a little treat I like to make and invite the neighbors over so I better put this sewing machine business away or they will surely think I've gone crazy. No, not crazy, just addicted.