Rumbols

I got my Janome 6600 8 years ago and ran it for 3 years about 6 days a week before I had it serviced. Now I service it once every 18 months. My Bernina 440EQ tells me when to service and it has been in the repair shop more times than my Janome and the Bernina is only 3 years old. I love the older machines where you can do the maintenance yourself.

CorgiNole

I've got two very old Berninas. I love that I can open them and do a lot of cleaning myself. Though did get a little frustrated this summer when the 801 quit working mid-stitch. Turns out, that when I took it in after purchasing off eBay for maintenance, it was so clean (I had just taken the 'welcome to your machine' class at our LQS) that she didn't oil it, thought it was done. Thankfully it was just a lack of oil that froze the machine. I did find a surprising amount of lint inside when I first learned how to open her.

I need to bring my 830 in for maintenance after the holidays. A Craigslist purchase, so I'm sure there are some areas that will need oil that I don't know how to reach.

Cheers, K

nhweaver

I am with you, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. My Janome 10000 is 10 years old, and works like a charm. It hasn't been serviced in at least 8 years. Over the years, I have vacuumed out all the "holes", and seams with a computer vac.
I take apart the entire bobbin area once a year or more.

Prism99

I'm wondering how you cleaned out the bobbin area. Did you remove the needle plate to remove lint? I have a Bernina 1230 and stopped having it professionally cleaned years ago. I clean it thoroughly myself, including vacuuming when necessary. (I tape a straw to my vacuum's crevice tool so I can poke it around inside the machine.) With this type of fairly frequent cleaning, I can't imagine enough lint accumulating in my machine to require professional servicing.

Kim Bohannon

very good advice! I did not know that lint would build up in the upper part of the machine, I will keep my eye on that area now, since I service my own old machines. THANK YOU!

nannyrick

It is a good thing to do at least once a year. Thanks for the post.

Taino Jan

If you have it serviced on your birthday you won't forget when it was in the shop last.

ckcowl

also-it probably cost so much because of the condition it was in-amount of work he had to do---if you take your machine in for regular service (like once a year- or once every 2 years) it will probably not be that much- it costs me $40 for an annual check-up-cleaning service. and my shop tends to get after me saying with the amount of sewing i do every 6 months would be reasonable...
buying the little vacuum attachment kit makes it easier to clean out the hard to get to areas- and can help you go longer between service visits...they are not very expensive- very well worth the money!

moreland

My machine is Artista 135 S. I think I've had it 8-10 years. In the first 5 years I faithfully took it in every year, then the dealership changed a couple of times and I just got out of the habit. I have one like yours that has run many many years. I loaned it out (probably gifted it, really) , but I don't think the older metal machines are as touchy as the newer more automated ones, although I don't know that for sure. It hasn't been to the shop in a long time either.

moreland

I do take off the needle plate and take out the shuttle and all. I thought I would try your vacuum method with the straw. I think the lint build-up was probably in the area to the right of the bobbin area. I cannot figure out how to get into my machine, or I would do so. On the less automated ones, I always cleaned, greased gears, oiled, etc. myself. The timing was also off on my machine and I was breaking needles fairly often, which the repairman thought was probably because of the timing.