Friday, March 21, 2014
How to wire in a motor controller
I have a 50s vintage Morse zig zag sewing machine in the basement that has the two plugs coming off the machine, one for the motor and one for the light. Here's what the plugs look like, along with the $2 motor control I picked up at Goodwill to connect up to the machine:
Typically the two sewing machine plugs are connected to a motor control/power cord that has a small outlet block to accept the two sewing machine plugs, like this:
The problem with the above setup is that if the sewing machine isn't housed in a case or cabinet, the two plugs and outlet block are a bit cumbersome when using a machine in this configuration. What I like to do is to wire a motor controller and power cord directly to the sewing machine. Here is a rudimentary wiring diagram showing which wires go where:
Here is the finished product:
I made a video that illustrates how I performed the surgery, see below. It's nearly 29 minutes in length so you may want to get comfortable... or put on your jammies and get a pillow since you'll probably be falling asleep within a few minutes of starting it:
3 comments:
Thank you for this video. I have brought home a Montgomery Ward model URR-787A that belonged to a relative. I now feel comfortable replacing the foot control and will remove the 2 outlet part for the light. You said the foot control can get hot. There is a burned area under the cabinet where the control was mounted. Scary! There is no bottom to the controller and it is broken inside. I hope to get the machine going soon. I still have a flower girl dress that was made for me on this machine when I was 5 in 1960. Thanks again!
This is a fantastically well shot video with unusually clear step by step explanation. However, I'm curious why you chose to permanently wire on the "new" electronic foot control and power supply rather than wiring a two outlet block to the new control and cord? I'm hoping to find a tutorial this useful on that procedure so that I can compare both ideas before starting to wire a control and power cord for my White 611 Sewmaster.
My reasoning for hard wiring was that this machine wasn't in a case so there wasn't a convenient place to mount an outlet block.
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