profannie

Hi everyone,
Could someone use a foot pedal from a certain brand of sewing machine and make it work on another after rewiring it?
I got a free Bernina 817 that I want to give to someone, but it is working with a knee controller attached to a sewing cabinet. There is a plug that goes from the sewing machine to the controller. I tried the machine with the foot pedal of my 831 and it was sewing smootly and quietly. When I tried it with the knee controller, it was noisy and not very sensitive. It doesn't do justice to the sewing machine! But even a generic foot controller that would fit is quite expensive: 60$. How about using another one that is sitting around? Could I just rewired it with the correct plug to fit in the sewing machine?
Thanks,
Annie

Candace

I do this all the time. You may want to check the wiring and the knee controller itself, though. Usually the knee controls for Bernina are nice and many prefer them to the foot control (not me:>). But, it may be a simple fix with the knee control mechanism.

profannie

It doesn't seem to be a Bernina knee control; more like a generic one coming with the cabinet. I don't think there is anything wrong with it; only it`s a chunky piece of metal and it can't compete with the sensitivity of a foot pedal.
Thanks, knowing you are doing this all the time, I will try it!

Skyangel

I bought a Bernina 910 a couple of years ago and the cord was wired to a Kenmore foot control. The original Bernina controller had broken and the seller just said "this is a generic foot control replacement". Of course, I recognized the FC as one just like my 158-series Kenmore! so she admitted it came from the thrift store and I negotiated a lower price to compensate. In my case, you have to have the right FC to have the needle tap up-down feature and I was able to find a Bernina FC for about $75. But otherwise, the Kenmore FC operated the machine, just not smoothly , and not correctly. I could tell the difference, but yours may work just fine.

profannie

Skyangel, thanks for sharing your experience. The 910 being an electronic model, I would expect it would make a big difference to have another foot control. But the 817 is entirely mechanical, so if the Kenmore foot pedal was operating then it should do. Anyway it can't be worse then it is now.
By the way, how did you like your 910? I resist the temptation to got one for a decent price this morning because I have a very nice 831 and a modern computerized Artista 730 (but the blue color of the 910 is so nice that I tought for a few moments that I could sell my beloved 831; then I felt unfaithful and moved on).