Bernina1130 buttonholer

In article , small change of uttered

Given that it's a Bernina, that sounds quite likely, although I'm a bit dubious about him not having a spare foot if he's a dealer. Is it the pull-down stalk thing you've managed to dismantle?

I've never had that sort of problem with my Brother, and when I misplaced the buttonhole foot during the Big Move, it was easy enough to get a generic replacement which is actually better than the original.

I think you misunderstood - they've offered to recalibrate the foot for free, not sell me a replacement, and I haven't dismantled anything. "Pulling it out" refers to taking it out of the storage box.

ps

Penny, when the same thing happened with my 1230, the pattern stitches/ alphabet/numbers also were messed up. The local Bernina shop from whom I had bought the machine had since gone out of business, and I had taken it a couple of times for routine cleaning, etc. to a dealer 200 miles away, on the way to my mother's house. After my mother had a stroke and came to live here, I was so comfortable with the service and people in that shop, I had my machine professionally packed and sent it there by UPS.

As best I can remember, re-calibration was what it needed.

I LOVE my Bernina. The only thing about it that has ever really irritated me is that the zipper foot isn't adjustable, and won't let me stitch close enough to cording when I used cable cord thicker than 1/4". So any time I made cushions, out came the Featherweight. Then I discovered that the FW's adjustable zipper foot works great on the 1230, with the Bernina adapter! Made me a very happy camper.

Doreen > Had any one ever had to have the electronic/memory button holer calibrated

In article , small change of uttered

Well if the only place it's been is the box, how can it be out whack? It also sounds strange that it's the foot that's gone wrong - hence being surprised he can't recalibrate the machine end of things without your specific foot. I don't even need to bother with foot switch and power lead for my chap.

Sounds like it's a bit of a lemon to me. Still, if he's tweaking it for free, you might as well let him.

I understand why needing the foot also sounds odd, but my dealer made the same request. It may be that the adjustment is sensitive enough to be specific to the way each machine/foot work together, do you think?

Doreen > In article , small change of uttered

well, there is a chip in the foot, and a computer thing that reads off the foot in the machine. So, I would think that getting them precisely aligned to read perfectly would be part of the calibration. I hardly ever use the thing, it's probably 15 years since I last used it. (!!!) I use the machine pretty hard: I am not surprised that something might be a hair out of whack after all these years.

As for a "lemon", I don't think so. I can't think of many pieces of precision equipment I own that wouldn't need a bit of adjustment after either 15 years of hard use or 15 years of non-use.

ps

In article , Doreen of EarthLink Inc. --

uttered>I understand why needing the foot also sounds odd, but my dealer made >the same request. It may be that the adjustment is sensitive enough to >be specific to the way each machine/foot work together, do you think?Possible - esp on a bernina - but if that's the case, it sounds like it's going to need doing every 10 minutes.

Only once in 12-1/2 years, so far (knocks on wood) : )

Doreen

She who would like to be obeyed > In article ,

In article , Doreen of EarthLink Inc. --

uttered>Only once in 12-1/2 years, so far (knocks on wood) : )>Not bad then

too many years of classroom bernina's has given me a bit of a jaundiced view of them ;)

The thing I have found with those old battered classroom Berninas is that with multiple very careless users, they have survived 30 years of stitching... Think how well they would do with one very careful owner, regular servicing, and decent quality thread and needles! :)

I had a class once where the school had packed away all their 'decent' machines and left out for my Saturday class a collection of prehistoric Berninas that had been abused forever and not serviced in so long... Once I had found bobbin cases for them all, bobbins, replaced all the needles, and got them threaded, we did manage to stitch, but the class was not as successful as it should have been because we were left with the crocks. They took up waaaaaay too much time in getting them ready and fixing problems, and if one of the mum's hadn't brought her own machine (she has metal allergies, so didn't dare use other machines) and I hadn't had Lily with me, we'd only have had two working machines for

12 people!

Then in another school, the equally ancient Berninas have been nursed along, fettled and polished by Wilf, and work nicely. The room is always immaculate, and is a huge pleasure to work in, despite the very basic machinery. One more school had brand spanking new Husqvarna Fresias last time I was in, but the room was diabolically untidy, the scatter of dropped pins everywhere was dangerous, and rather than the machines being set up on tables the right height, they were set on high benches with lab stools to sit on! No way to control the foot pedal properly, and the machines so crammed together there was no room for the work between them! Despite the machines being new, there were feet missing, and the person who usually taught there hadn't a clue where they were!

One school: tatty old machines, but a perfect working environment! Another: beautiful machines, but the working environment was useless! I know which I prefer!

The button hole foot for the 1130 has optics in it that is read by a circuit board. There are a couple of adjustments on the board that have to be made and you should be ok. I've seen some problems with the foot where they freeze up at times and cause problems as the optics can't be read if it's frozen. The shop I used to work at closed up but I have adjusted many and I freed up some feet to work when they were frozen. This is just a FYI from a x-tech. Hope it helps.

I hope I am that kind of owner! I do believe that, barring an unfortunate 'lemon', the performance of quality machines almost always reflects the kind of care they're given.

And I haven't read this ng long enough to know exactly who Wilf is, but am convinced he is a Treasure.

Doreen in Alabama

Kate Dicey wrote:

thanks very much for that useful information.

Penny S

Indeed - and I'm sure you'll take very good care of yours.

Wilf is my much treasured Old Sewing Machine Guy. I have been buying new and used sewing machines from him for 20+ years, getting exemplary service from him, and wonderful support from the whole team at the shop.

I go in these days, and it's Hello, Kate! What have you done with the family? if they are not with me.

I have, over the years, had Wilf service my Frister & Rossman Cub 8 until it died of a seized motor (classic case of using a light weight home machine for professional quantities of sewing - and that was BEFORE I started getting paid for it!), bought the Viscount 2000 from him, plus the Lily and the 910, then an Elna Lotus - and he's saving another for me! - and had all my machines serviced by him when necessary. Oh, and my first used Toyota serger...

The ones I didn't buy from him were the Lotus decal 1923 Singer 66 I bought as a student in 1976, the Cub 8 that I bought before the sewing machine shop here in town shut (good little shop - I was sad to see it go), the treadle (a gift), the Featherweight (another gift) and the Jones (yet another vintage gift!), and the little 4 thread Toyota I had to get last summer as a back-up, that I bought in Tunbridge Wells because Wilf didn't have one at the time. He'll get it to service once the guarantee runs out, though.

If you find a good place like this, it Really REALLY pays to cultivate it!

Lucky you! Wish we could clone him.

I do think my man, Charles Burke at Heirloom Stitches in Montgomery, AL is quite wonderful...he's just so far away. There are bound to be others much closer, but it's a case of being comfortable with the known, and nervous about the unknown.

Doreen