- We have 1 ELNA Supermatic manual available for free PDF download: Manual ELNA Supermatic Manual (35 pages) Brand: ELNA Category: Sewing Machine Size: 14.43 MB.
- Oct 04, 2014 There was only one machine I knew for sure came in a metal case (Elna model 1) and this was the wrong colour, so I was extremely excited when I took the machine out. It was a gorgeous Elna Supermatic, complete with 11 cams plus the buttonhole attachment, a few feet and the cover plates for the feed dogs.
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I can't begin to tell you how many countless hours I've spent disassembling, reassembling, and adjusting this machine. It's not that there was so much wrong with it to begin with, but it did need some routine maintenance. The bobbin/race area needed cleaning up, and the old motor pulley had a flat spot, which made the machine sound like a weed whacker when running.
Then I decided to upgrade the cam holder. This Supermatic had the original, screw-down cam holder. The cams were a pain to remove. Later Supermatics came with a push-button cam holder--when the button is pushed, the cam pops up on it's own. Long story short, I upgraded my machine with the newer style cam holder, since all the cams I had were intended for this type anyway.
I did all that work on it, and then it sat unused because of the melting noise suppression capacitor on the inside of the machine. This capacitor prevents interference with other appliances in the home, like the radio, or T.V. Take a look at the photo on the left and follow the white wire away from the silver, flat-head screw (on the right side). Where this wire ends, you will see the bottom of the capacitor, and a large glob of brown wax. You can also see the wax has splattered around the inside of the machine . . .
. . . and on the inside of the base of the machine.
This was a problem from the first. The machine sizzled the first time I used it. It was the capacitor. The bottom was cracked, and some of the wax had melted out of it. And once I heard that the darn thing could actually explode unexpectedly (and very loudly), I became afraid to turn on the machine. What can I say? I'm a chicken.
Now that I've been doing a lot more decorative stitching, I want access to all those fancy stitches I could be stitching out on my Elna Supermatic. So, I decided to disconnect that pesky capacitor. Even after examining wiring diagrams, though, I wasn't sure if disconnecting one wire from the terminal would be enough. And I wanted to make sure that no more power is running through the capacitor.It has six wires: three on the top, three on the bottom. Only two are easily accessible from the bottom of the machine. Space is tight around the motor inside this machine, and I couldn't see where the rest of the wires were connected. After some disassembling last night, I found I couldn't get the machine apart because two of the screws holding the top and bottom half together were really stuck. Then this morning, it occurred to me.
I have one of these. So I used it, and a flashlight, to see around the motor. I could finally see where the three top wires, and one bottom wire were soldered--none were attached to the power supply.
So I cut out the two white wires from the bottom. I should probably mention at this point that the machine was unplugged and any remaining charge in the capacitor had plenty of time to dissipate. As you can see, one of the wires is discolored. This is the wire that was attached to the part of the capacitor that was melting away.
And this is what the inside looks like now. When I first plugged it back in, it ran on it's own, and I was sure I had just made matters worse. However, when I took the bottom of the machine off again, I noticed I forgot to put the spring back on the peg. See it dangling there at the top of the photo? It supports the weight of the knee lever, and keeps it from running the machine until it's pushed.
Elna Supermatic Sewing Machine Wiring Diagram Schematics
I put it back, and the knee lever worked correctly again. After that, I did an hour or two of sewing, stitching out some cam samples, playing with the tension, and some of the feet. There was no more sizzling noise coming from the machine. I didn't electrocute myself. Nothing exploded, or caught on fire. So--I would call this project a success! And (bonus) my Kenmore circular decorator fits this machine--just imaging the possibilities. I'm glad I can use my Supermatic again. :~)Due to the amount of studies I have had recently, I had about a week were I did not work. When I went back in on a Saturday morning there were three machines awaiting me. One was a modern Brother overlocker, with no pedal (I'm yet to decide what I'm going to do with it), one was a Singer 5528, the second of them I've had in as many months and I keep meaning to devote a post to them and the third was in a very square metal case. There was only one machine I knew for sure came in a metal case (Elna model 1) and this was the wrong colour, so I was extremely excited when I took the machine out. It was a gorgeous Elna Supermatic, complete with ~11 cams plus the buttonhole attachment, a few feet and the cover plates for the feed dogs. Half of the case forms the flat bed for the machine and the machine is a knee control (I love knee controls!). This machine is made in Switzerland and has all metal gears and parts, that I can see, the body is aluminium and consequently the machine is not all that heavy.It wasn't until a week later I found time to take it home and look at it, there is no way I am selling this machine, I am BUYING it!
Firstly I removed the cover from the free arm and the throat-plate just sprung off, the bobbin loads from the back, I then removed the feed dogs so that I could get the bobbin holder and the hook apart, for ease of cleaning. The surfaces here have been de-rusted at some period in time as the chrome is less than shiny in parts.
To get the bobbin holder free from the hook there are two little screws (with little springs coiled around them) that need to be removed, they are directly opposite each other and the holes can be seen in the photograph below. Just be aware they are very springy and are very easy to lose if they spring away somewhere.
The next thing I did was remove the base of the machine (remove screws circled in red in image below) so I could see up the pillar, it is incredible. The motor and all the necessary electrical parts to control the speed of the machine through the knee control are mounted in there. The motor is geared into the machine much higher up the arm and cannot be seen in the following photographs.
Finally I checked and oiled all the moving parts under the faceplate and cam door. The faceplate cannot be opened unless the foot is down. The machine is threaded by passing the thread down the back of the faceplate, through the tension, from back to front, and then through the take-up lever and then as usual.
Whilst I was oiling this machine I noticed it had a hard spot, I thought maybe something wasn't oiled properly but despite oiling all the usual spots the noise persisted. When I actually plugged the machine in and ran it the noise increased with the speed (as was to be expected) and the machine clunked dreadfully. It wasn't until a couple of days later I found enough time to go and look at it again.
Sewing Machine Wiring Diagram
It came to my attention that the noise was not always in the same place in the machines rotation, this implied the motor was at fault. Eventually I disengaged the machine from the motor as for bobbin winding and the clunking continued, definitely the motor. With the base removed it became obvious that every time the machine clunked the entire motor was moving, which it definitely was not supposed to do. The problem was, how to see up the arm to see the gears? I did not have the appropriate circlip pliers to remove the handwheel and try and see in that way but eventually remember we had a camera for seeing in confined spaces. This worked and I can now say that to all intents and purposes it looks as if the gears up there are chipped and resulting in the machine not running smoothly. When I am finally finished for the year (another 4 weeks) I intend to go through the painstaking process of removing the motor and actually being able to personally see the extent of the damage. It is annoying to have such a beautiful machine, complete with accessories and be completely unable to use it!! At least I only have to pay $10 for it as it is completely unsaleable.....!
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