BirdyFeathers

We have opened up the foot controller to clean and rewire it and noticed that there is a piece of electrical tape inside. It looks like it is keeping metal from hitting metal so it won't short out. Am I missing a piece here or is the tape a common thing? I am really hoping to get to use the original foot controller. I hope these pics are helpful. Thank you!!
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ArchaicArcane

That's not normal at all. In fact, I think the "shorting bars" have been assembled upside down. Someone has definitely been in there playing without knowing what they were doing.

If you look at the copper pieces that are just to the right of the tape in your photos, compare it to the pictures on this page: http://www.archaicarcane.com/singerattheraces/

They look upside down to me, which might cause them to short unexpectedly, causing someone to put an insulator between them?

BirdyFeathers

Thank you very much!! Your info and the pics about the foot control really helped us out!! You were correct that the shorting bars were not facing the right direction. We have them facing correctly now, did some adjusting and it works perfectly!! I agree that must have been why the tape was needed as it was shorting out.

ArchaicArcane

Yay!! Glad to hear you have it sorted That's a very good machine you have, it deserves to have a good working foot.

manicmike

After seeing ArchaicArcane's post, I looked at my older controller (which ran much too slow, incidentally).
The copper strips are the shorting bars and are supposed to do nothing (they do not make contact with anything) until the pedal is fully pressed. When you 'floor it', the copper strips touch the metal plate (which is attached to the long screw down the middle), and current flows without resistance along the copper and plate, causing the motor to run at full speed (which it would have done anyway, but the carbon pile would get hot). If you take away that electrical tape, you'll find that yours will make contact and thus run at full speed if you *don't* press it at all, because someone has put it in wrong.
As a side note, I disassembled my rheostat and cleaned every one of the carbon discs as per ArchaicArcane's blog post (although I rubbed the excess carbon onto clean paper, instead of with a pencil eraser) and the foot now works much, much better (thanks). One of the copper strips was also broken, though, and I'll make a new one now I know how it all works.
Mike

EDIT: Oops! Took too long to post. Good you got it all sorted out. I'll leave my post anyway in case someone else finds it helpful (like me, when I forget it in six months).

blueheavenfla

Thank you for the foot control repair post. I have filed it for future reference (which I am sure I'll need)

ArchaicArcane

Happy to help everyone!

One thing I didn't mention in that post, because I haven't had time to test it and take photos:

The little rectangular platform that shorts to the shorting bars? It's adjustable up and down the bolt. If you find that you have to really mash the gas ("need to cut a hole in the floor to push far enough to get to full throttle... " type of thing..) that platform may be a little too low, and not quite contacting the shorting bars when you push all the way down.

I've had one or two pedals that have done that.

Alternatively, if it hits full throttle way before you think it should, it may be a little too far up and shorting before it's supposed to... just make sure you take a peek at the adjustment I mention in that article -after- any adjustments to the platform, one can affect the other adjustment.

This -usually- only happens when someone takes the whole pedal apart and re-assembles incorrectly.