How to remove the free arm metal cover on a Bernina 140

Bernina calls this the stitch plate (where the feed dogs come up and the needle goes down). To remove the plate, turn off the sewing machine. Remove the sewing table if it is in place. Take off the presser foot and remove the needle. Open the free-arm cover (bobbin cover in the sewing machine front view, page 4) by tilting it down towards you. Press down on the back right corner of the stitch plate and lift the stitch plate off to remove it. See page 68 of the manual for the Bernina Artista 170 for the pictures that go with the above steps. Bernina has the manual on the product page: https://www.bernina.com/en-US/Machines-US/Series-Overview/BERNINA-artista/BERNINA-artista-170 . The current link to the manual is https://www.bernina.com/BERNINA/media/Support/Sewing_Quilting_Embroidery/artista/artista_170/Documents/EN/008853-73-04_Naehen_a170_EN_online.pdf .

I hope this helps.

Cindy Wells

The Bernina Patchwork 140 does not do embroidery from a file (either built-in or external). You can do some free-hand embroidery by lowering the feed dogs. Depress the feed dog position button on the right hand side of the machine. It's below the balance dial and between the foot control socket and the power cord socket.

I hope this helps. ManualsLib has the manual for the Bernina 140; it's a shared manual with the Activa 130 and 131.

Cindy Wells

Not sure I understand your question. Is that the old Bernina 830 Record? Removing the extension table will reveal the free arm. On the other hand, if you want to open the free arm to clean and oil, look inside the bobbin department and there is a little metal tab on the left top side that, when pushed, will release the cover.

BERNINA Sewing Systems


For the newer computerized 830, here's the manual:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjB0Z7Xyb_YAhVM8WMKHeXSB8MQFghIMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bernina.com%2FBERNINA%2Fmedia%2FSupport%2FSewing_Quilting_Embroidery%2F8_Serie%2FBERNINA_830%2FDocuments%2FEN%2F032299-53-04_1204_B830_EN_online.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3AHGuyLUld3qgcmW-8Fr-Q

If it has just happened after servicing, take it back where it was serviced. They should be able to adjust that for you.

V-Belt replacement 801/801 Up Machines

Only the belt cover needs to be removed for this belt change. This is done by removing the three screws on the end/belt cover. Loosen the 5mm Allen socket head screw below the step pulley to relieve the belt tension. Remove the lower motor belt. Lift the step pulley and slide off the hand-wheel, (assuming that you have already removed the release knob and clutch ring).



Additional top cover removals 807/801 Minimatic machines

Early 807 machines had two expansion nipples in the top cover that fit into receptor holes in the upper arm frame. Simply pull up the top cover.

Very late models may have a push button latch mechanism, same as on the 801 machines except those fitted with carrying handles, i.e. 801 Sport, 810 machines.

This is accessed by opening the light cover and finding an aluminum knob in the upper left hand corner of the upper arm frame. Push this in and the cover will release. Lift off the top cover.

With the bobbin case out of the machine, touch the cutter button. Do you see the cutter arm move from left to right and then back left. If not the cutter arm is out of place. If it does it is something else.
I usually check two things:
1 - your cutter blade might be missing or dull and needs to be replaced. I would not recommend doing this yourself unless you are very good.
2 - many times there is lint or loose threads around the cutter in the area to the left of the needle plate that needs to be cleaned out. You can remove the cover to this area by first removing the needle plate and bobbin case. Then the cover is accessible to pop off by sliding the tip of a small screw driver under the cover at the bottom right corner of the cover. There should be a little opening. Carefully pop the cover off but be careful that the blade mechanism does not come off too. With your finger carefully hold the silver metal blade area steady and pick out the loose threads/lint from around the copper looking metal part. There is velcrow on the tip of the copper metal part so be sure that you don't remove that too. That's what holds the thread for the blade to cut it. If velcrow is missing, or the silver metal part is out of place that could be the problem also.
I recommend that any repairs/service be done by an authorized Viking dealer. You can find a local dealer by checking the Viking website at http://www.husqvarnaviking.com/us and going to the Locate a Dealer link.
Good luck

You remove the whole free arm cover with the needle plate attached. Then it can be removed from underneath. Open the bobbin door and squeeze the silver tab on the left near the top. The cover should pop up.
Hope that helps!

Not sure what you mean by 'throat plate' - do you mean the stitch plate/needle plate ? If-so, the best way is to drop the feed-dogs by pressing the button in the bottom of the handwheel end panel and you then press firmly on the back right-hand corner of the stitch plate - it should then pop-up on the opposite corner and you can remove it. It's held-in by two spring retainers. When replacing it, position it so that the hole in the front right corner of the plate is over the locating lug first and the right-hand side of the plate is in place, then press the left-hand side down into the grey plastic surround in the free-arm.

Hope that helps.

Tricky !!! I dont know why the door is stuck, but its possible that the spring-loaded plunger in the top of the bobbin door is stuck into the cover of the free-arm. If there is suficient gap between the top of the bobbin door and the free-arm cover, you could try sliding a thin piece of metal or a very small flat-bladed screwdriver between the two, in the dead-centre of the bobbin door - that's where the plunger is located. By gently manouvreing the screwdriver in, you might be able to release it - be careful, because it's possible that the retaining circlip has dropped-off the bottom, in which case, the plunger and its pressure spring might fly out when the bobbin door opens. If that doesn't work, you could try unscrewing and removing the stitch plate and, again, with a small flat-bladed screwdriver, see if you can release the free-arm cover catch that's next to the top-left-hand-side of the bobbin door, but that's a very risky approach, because the feed-dogs will be in the way and you dont want to mangle any of the hook/shuttle parts etc. You need to find out why the bobbin door is not seated properly - it may be that the bottom hinge that also carries the hook/shuttle retainer has come out of the left-hand hinge mount in the free-arm. Good Luck.

Check whether the feed dogs are coming above the stitch-plate at their maximum height. They should be about 1mm above the stitch plate when driving the material under the foot. I assume, by the way, that you haven't got the feed-dog drop button pushed-in at the handwheel end !!! If the feed-dogs are lower than 1mm, or not above the stitch-plate, the dog cam cam-foller will need adjustment. You have to remove the front cover to get at this and it should be done with a special gauge, so really its a service agent job, however, for what its worth;
With the front cover removed to gain access to the free-arm mechanism, look to the right of the hook race and on the end of the bottom drive shaft there are two black plastic cams . The right-hand one regulates the movement of the dogs front-to-back in association with the stitch-length stepper-motor, which drives the upper shaft in the free-arm. The left-hand cam regulates the up-down movement of the dogs and the cam follower (a piece of right-angled plated metal) has to be adjusted to determine the maximum height of the dogs aboe the stitch plate. The cam follower rubs against the top edge of the dog cam. There should be a small spring that pulls the cam follower down onto the cam at the front - if that's missing, the feed-dogs probably wont move quite correctly. To adjust the dog height, turn the hand-wheel until the feed-dogs are at their maximum height, unscrew the small screw in the left-hand side of the cam follower a couple of turns (dont, for goodness-sake, take it out !) - the feed-dogs should then pop-up above the stitch-plate. You now have a problem without the proper gauge ! You need to gently push the dogs back down against spring pressure until they are the correct height above the stitch-plate and tighten the screw on the cam follower. This should, at least, get over the problem - it wont be exactly right without the gauge and there is another adjustment that should be done to ensure the front and back of the dogs are at slightly different heights, but it should be good enough without this.

Good Luck !!!