Motors...

In the Main board, power board and motor removal tutorial, you get to see the main motor used in the Brother PE150. This motor drives the needle mechanism and the spinning outer hook in the base of the machine. There are, however, two more motors in this machine. These two motors control the X/Y movement of the frame holder. These pictures, which are of one of the machines in my spares pile, show the size and location of the X and Y motors, and the gearing they are attached to:

For the record, I've never had one of these motors fail. I expect that's because, all things considered, they don't actually do a great deal.

More soon, no doubt....

D

Any requests?

Even though at the moment there are hardly enough hours in the day, I've decided to invite some topic or project requests. After all, the nights are now drawing-in and my work on rebranding our estore is nearly complete. I therefore expect to have some spare time on my hands. So, if you are contemplating making some changes to your machine, investigating a fault or fixing a new part, and you'd like to see a tutorial about it on this site, feel free to drop me a line and I'll see what I can do. I've stripped these machines back to the bare case, and fully re-assembled, so no subject is beyond this site. Or you might just want me to complete the tutorial on how I deep clean my machines!

More soon, no doubt....

D

Buying spare parts...

I didn't get chance to finish the cleaning tutorial today however I have been asked about where to buy spares. I get my original Brother spares from Bedford Sewing & Knitting (click the name to open their website and note that you will need to call them with your requirements). I use BSK as they are in the UK, as am I, but in my quest for cheaper spares I've found a few places elsewhere in the world although they do not, apparently, supply to the UK.

So, for the USA, you've got UED and BOS and for Europe I found Convena. No doubt there are others but these sites have online searchable catalogues (by manufacturer part number) and price lists.

Having said all that, I'm determined to find a cheaper way to fix these machines. For example, the £60 replacement motor for the PE150 is made by Johnson Motors (minus the PCB assembly, which is serviceable for a few pence, but that's a tutorial for another day). This is the current incarnation of the motor and I expect, if it could be bought on its own, would be less than £10 but can I find a supplier who will let me buy just a couple of units? No - minimum order is 5000....

More soon, no doubt.