Bernina, Bernina, Where Have You Been So Long?

The title of today's post comes from the old song Corrina, Corrina:

Corrina, Corrina,
Gal, where you been so long?
Corrina, Corrina,
Gal, where you been so long?
I been worryin' 'bout you, baby,Baby, please come home.

I had a Bernina Record 730 given to me by a co-worker back in the summer of 2014 but it was a bit of a mixed blessing. The push button on the light didn't work and there was white smoke coming out of the motor! At the time I had Rick Engle, bless his heart, look at it and even though he changed one of the belts he had to admit the motor was on its way out. It came with all of its accessories, extension table, carrying case, all of the cords, but I had to put it away. Two years later I bought another one but it had a broken gear and I relegated it to a parts machine. Since I've been selling Bernina's lately I looked at what I had left and found the two parts machines, a Record 730 and a Minimatic 807. Could I use any of those parts now?

Bernina Record 730 with new light

Out came the 730 and the push button light situation. It was an easy replacement with only a few screws to remove the plate and two screws to remove the light. It worked perfectly so I was feeling a little bold and decided to test out the motor again only to find the white smoke. Could I just switch motors? Maybe. I took a look to see how they were being attached only to find four screws once they were released from the base plate. Let's give it a try!

Screws in only 4 places to attach the motor

First I removed the good motor from the parts machine and cleaned off the housing. It wasn't really bad, just grimy. I checked the brushes to find them in good shape, too. 

Brushes saved from the bad motor

Next I removed the bad motor, noting it was attached nearly the same but there are always little differences. I couldn't help but see how discolored the shield was over the wiring as noted below:

Amber colored shield circled

That's what it looked like inside of the motor, too: sticky and amber in color. All put back together with the housing cleaned up, it worked great. It's not a new motor but certainly functional and no more white smoke!

Motor in place

It might not be Corrina, Corrina, I've been worryin' about you baby but more like Bernina, Bernia, where have you been so long. Now she's back and working just fine.