February's Machine's Tweaks

I love sewing on the 329K StyleMate, but learned quickly the only way to turn it off was to unplug it from the outlet. In my case, that meant groping around under the table for the power strip I had attached under the table's surface, often needing to get on my knees to accomplish the task. Getting on wasn't difficult--getting off my knees can be a strain.

I decided to add an on/off switch to the main cord, near the body of the machine, so a flip of my thumb would interrupt the flow of electricity to the machine. I knew I had a few "o-n-o-f-f modulators" in my bin o' parts . . .

. . . and I dug out a couple. The first one was a nice dark brown which would blend well with the existing color palette.

I've learned from years of repairing machines that the prep work is as important as the actual repair so, just in case, I marked one of the wires so I wouldn't lose track of what matched with which should both wires need to be cut. I love the silver Sharpie pen for marking dark surfaces.

At the time, I missed the fact that one wire was smooth and one was ribbed, and neither needed any more identification than that.

When I opened the switch, it was apparent that only one wire was to be threaded through the body.

When the switch was closed up again that wire's insulation would be pierced by a couple of metal prongs at each end of the switch. The whole thing would rest in the middle of the split power cord, like this:

Well, try as I might I couldn't get this switch to work. I tried running the other wire through the switch instead. No luck. Thinking that perhaps the insulation was too thick for those tiny prongs to pierce, I shaved some off and tried again. Still no interruption of power to the machine. So this switch was set aside and another brought into play:

And, gloriosky Zero!, it came with instructions. Yay!

 

A wire did need to be snipped for this switch (but not both, so my careful marking was for naught) but I'm loaded with tools for just this kind of project and before long I had it wired up.

 

You can see in the left picture the sections where I'd cut away some of the insulation (on the uncut wire) trying to get the first switch to work.

This switch worked like a charm.

The instruction were very helpful, and gave an explanation for why the first switch wasn't working:

The emphasis on FLAT CORD is important. Flat cords have only 2 wires. Round cords contain 3.

I had never gone back and tried cutting away some insulation from the proper wire (the first one I threaded into the brown switch)! On the chance that the switch works properly when the correct wire is put in it, I put these instructions and the brown switch together and stored them away for another day and machine.

A week or two ago I popped into my LQS with my mother and bought an LED bulb and all the O-rings they had (3) for the minor repairs needed (for this and future machines). Now I have a bright, cool light . . .

. . . and a functioning bobbin winder (someone else put that plastic bobbin there) . . .

. . . and I'm happy as a clam at high tide.