Thanks for the nice comment 😁. I don’t think I will ever see a penny from Bernina. They are all about keeping people dependent on their dealer network. From the comments I get it seems that the dealers are more intrested in making sales on new machines rather than keeping the great older models serviced and repaired. ☹️ Thanks for watching !
9 years later, this helped me. I’m 20 years old using my mothers sewing machine to alter a dress and I could not figure out what was going on. Thank you for this!
thank you so much for this video. I was ready to take my Bernina 730 in for maintenance, as I was receiving the same messarge over and over, regarding my bobbin. After numerous attempts to clean it, I found your video. It was a perfect recommendation for what I was going thru. I followed you steps, one by one, and when you noted about the oval opening on the bobbin case, I discovered I was using the wrong bobbin. I still went by thru all your precise steps, and all of a sudden I could sew straight thru the entire seam. What a pleasure it was to find you, and your great instructions. You proven to me that being 82 yrs of age, doesn't mean you are unable to learn some new tricks! You have really enlighten my life, and saved me quite a bit of money, as well. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, and may you have 'Good Health, Harmony and Happiness in your life. Barbara Leftwich
Bill, thank you for your videos! I got my first Bernina in June of last year from the original owner... a 200 that was partially upgraded to a 730 (has usb but no port for bsr)... I've had issues with the thread cutter (now fixed) and the bobbin sensor has never worked right, but this video has given me some great advice that I can't wait to try out. I've enjoyed all of your videos... I even used the original one you posted about checking the hours when I bought the machine (mine had 10 sewing and 3 embroidery when I bought it!)... thank you SO much.. very helpful and informative... I *wish* you were my dealer!!
I sure will... I've heard rumors from other owners that the motherboards are getting hard to find and that scares me a little bit since I spent so much on mine and it's as old as it is... do you know if that's true or not? Thanks
Spamnot Nospam I am guessing that you are talking about motherboards (or as Bernina calls them the "main print" board) for the 200. So far I have not had any problems getting the main print boards. If you have a 200 you can actually use a 730 main print board but you cant use a 200 main print board in a 730 because the internal electronic outlet for the BSR foot would not be there. It's not something I would be concerned about as there are lots of these machines out there.
This video is so informative, however I have an Artista 180 with the bobbin thread issue. My machine stope during embroidery to check lower thread, but there is still plenty of thread left on bobbin. Can you PLEASE do a video on the Artista 180?? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE
Where can you buy the bobbin thread Monitor? Mine is not working according to the test I did after watching your video. I have pulled it out but can't find the part that matches the part number on my non working monitor. Thanks so much! Your videos are fantastically clear.
I have a 200/730 Bernina that is cutting the bobbin thread too short and won't continue embroidering until I pull out the bobbin thread again. A little frustrating. Any ideas of what I can check would be much appreciated. Thank you!
I did the test and it confirmed to replace the thread sensor of my Bernina Artista 200 730. I can't find this part in my province of Quebec, Canada. Not available at Ebay. Would you know ,please, where could I order one in USA or another country? Tanks in advance for fast reply !
hello !! let me start my saying that your video have helped me out a lot !! I have a 730 and when I tried to email you at the email below it said it was invalid. I'm not sure what I did wrong but on my 730 when my needle comes down it is hitting the top medal part of the casing when my bobbin is placed and breaking my needles ... i have pictures to help better describe, i feel like my needle is sitting to much toward. thanks !!
Hi Jessica, Give the email address a try again. It's joekind@comcast.net Then you can send some photos and better explain the problem. A video clip would help if you could send one. Bill
Hi, Thank you for the video. It helped me a lot learning about testing and setting the sensors. I have Artista 200. I am getting upper thread break message. I took the cover off to check it and I noticed there is no electronic sensor like other models. How does the upper sensor works? It has been a while since I bought the machine. I think the sensor had never worked. When I took it to dealer he might have just turned it off. I started getting it again after I did factory default reset because the light would not turn on.
The upper thread sensor is a optical sensor that is mounted on the inside of the front plastic cover. It's approximately right behind where the reversing button is. It is triggered by the movement of the "take up spring". When this spring moves for each stitch, it moved a black plastic lever. That lever passes through a optical sensor. If the sensor does not detect the movement of the lever you get the message you are getting and the machine stops. Causes for this can be that the optical sensor is dirty, or the take up spring is bent, broken or jammed. Usually when something happens to this take up spring you start breaking thread a lot. I do have a video posted that shows you some details about this take up spring. Just look through my other videos on the 180, 200 or 730 and you will find more info on this. If it seems like nothing is wrong you can always turn the upper sensor off. Thanks for watching! Bill
Sorry but there is no optical sensor near the reverse button. Like I said I don't see electronic optical eye that is being tripped by the take up spring. There is a coil in that area in the other side of the bracket near the take up spring. Part take up spring is coiled on a large screw. There is nothing attached to the take spring that resembles a trigger for an optical eye. The thread passes through between the back of the coil assembly and leaf spring with a piece of metal screwed on the leaf spring. The metal spans across the two metal that comes out of the ends of the coil. The thread is in between the two end metals of the coil. There are two wires coming out of the coil. The end connector is plugged in the second male connector that says yellow in PC board. I don't see how the thread movement is being detected. The coil seems to be some sort of pickup that detects the vibration of the leaf spring. Anyway I tried to move the leaf spring while watching the service screen for the upper thread sensor and it is not changing like the lower sensor does. Maybe that is why it never worked and the dealer just turned it off when I took it in for repair. When I reset to default the sensor was turned on I got upper thread break message. Do you have a photo where the optical sensor that you are talking about? Maybe I am looking at the wrong area. I checked your other videos. I did not see anything that shows the upper thread optical sensor. My sewing machine was one of the very first model of Artista 200. Maybe the sensor was changed later on with optical eye. Thanks again. Luis
+lnfortun I believe the coil you are talking about , the one with the big screw head on the end is the take up spring. When you threat the machine and take the thread down the front of the machine and back up to the take up arm. Just when the thread goes up to the take up arm it gets hooked in the take up spring. If yours is not broken and is still there. You will see that the spring is hooked in a black plastic part at the opposite end of the large screw head. That black plastic part moves along with the spring on each stitch. Going back in the machine further you will see a arm or lever attached that is part of the black plastic piece. That arm or lever is what passes by the optical sensor. That sensor is a very small circuit board mounted on back side area of the reversing button and the other button cluster just above the reversing button. This sensor looks nothing like the one mounted on the bobbin case door. Wish I could send you a photo of it. Check my other videos for more...
+lnfortun Seems there is not enough space here to communicate properly. Please email me at joekind@comcast.net The part you are talking about with the wires coming out of it is a thread clamp. That is there so the thread cutter works. The electromagnetic switch clamps the top thread so the cutter blade on the bobbin can cut the thread. It has nothing to do with the upper thread sensor. Most likely there has been a problem with that sensor for a long time and a dealer turned it off. When you reset the machine it would of been turned back on by factory default. Sometimes dealers find its cheeper and less time consuming to just turn it off rather than fixing it correctly, the way they should have in the first place. Bill
+JoeKind1958 , You were right. I took the front off and found the optical sensor. I must not have plugged the connector to the PC properly the first time I disassembled the machine.. Even though it looked plugged in I re-plugged the connector and now the sensor work is working. Thank you.
I have a Bernina 200 Artista bought new when they first came out. My question which I am having difficulty finding the answer is... Can I still download from a PC to the machine designs. I started college and only had time for many years to use the main sewing functions. Now I would like to start using the embroidery function and am not sure where to start as I am sure the firmware is outdated and not sure what operating system if any it is compatible. Any help is appreciated. The Bernina here locally just totally confused me over the phone. I don't think he was sure himself. Thanks in advance.
DesertMoonBathNBody Bernina once had a download site for the 200 where you could plug in a dial up modem accessory that would take you to that site for direct downloads. The idea was a bit of a flop so Bernina discontinued that web site many years ago. Depending on the firmware version of your machine, I think 4.04 or newer, you can use Bernina USB sticks to transfer .art format designs from your computer to the machine by loading the designs on to the USB stick and open them with your machine. What you can do for sure is to directly hook your 200 to a computer and using many different types of Bernina software, send designs to your machine that way. Now getting into talking about software, I could write a book on that. What software you can use depends on the operating system that your computer uses. At the very least you can download Berninas free ArtLink software from the Bernina web site and use that software to view designs and send them to your 200. That will get you going in the right direction. Thanks for watching😁 Bill
Bernina needs to pay you to do more videos. I like the machine but need some boot camp on how to use. You do a good job of explaining. Thanks
Thanks for the nice comment 😁. I don’t think I will ever see a penny from Bernina. They are all about keeping people dependent on their dealer network. From the comments I get it seems that the dealers are more intrested in making sales on new machines rather than keeping the great older models serviced and repaired. ☹️
Thanks for watching !
9 years later, this helped me. I’m 20 years old using my mothers sewing machine to alter a dress and I could not figure out what was going on. Thank you for this!
thank you so much for this video. I was ready to take my Bernina 730 in for maintenance, as I was receiving the same messarge over and over, regarding my bobbin. After numerous attempts to clean it, I found your video. It was a perfect recommendation for what I was going thru. I followed you steps, one by one, and when you noted about the oval opening on the bobbin case, I discovered I was using the wrong bobbin. I still went by thru all your precise steps, and all of a sudden I could sew straight thru the entire seam. What a pleasure it was to find you, and your great instructions. You proven to me that being 82 yrs of age, doesn't mean you are unable to learn some new tricks! You have really enlighten my life, and saved me quite a bit of money, as well. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, and may you have 'Good Health, Harmony and Happiness in your life. Barbara Leftwich
Bill, thank you for your videos! I got my first Bernina in June of last year from the original owner... a 200 that was partially upgraded to a 730 (has usb but no port for bsr)... I've had issues with the thread cutter (now fixed) and the bobbin sensor has never worked right, but this video has given me some great advice that I can't wait to try out. I've enjoyed all of your videos... I even used the original one you posted about checking the hours when I bought the machine (mine had 10 sewing and 3 embroidery when I bought it!)... thank you SO much.. very helpful and informative... I *wish* you were my dealer!!
You are more than welcome!!
If you know of someone who is looking for a nice used Bernina, send them you way!!
I sure will... I've heard rumors from other owners that the motherboards are getting hard to find and that scares me a little bit since I spent so much on mine and it's as old as it is... do you know if that's true or not?
Thanks
Spamnot Nospam
I am guessing that you are talking about motherboards (or as Bernina calls them the "main print" board) for the 200. So far I have not had any problems getting the main print boards. If you have a 200 you can actually use a 730 main print board but you cant use a 200 main print board in a 730 because the internal electronic outlet for the BSR foot would not be there. It's not something I would be concerned about as there are lots of these machines out there.
This video is so informative, however I have an Artista 180 with the bobbin thread issue. My machine stope during embroidery to check lower thread, but there is still plenty of thread left on bobbin. Can you PLEASE do a video on the Artista 180?? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE
Where can you buy the bobbin thread Monitor? Mine is not working according to the test I did after watching your video. I have pulled it out but can't find the part that matches the part number on my non working monitor. Thanks so much! Your videos are fantastically clear.
I have a 200/730 Bernina that is cutting the bobbin thread too short and won't continue embroidering until I pull out the bobbin thread again. A little frustrating. Any ideas of what I can check would be much appreciated. Thank you!
I did the test and it confirmed to replace the thread sensor of my Bernina Artista 200 730. I can't find this part in my province of Quebec, Canada. Not available at Ebay. Would you know ,please, where could I order one in USA or another country? Tanks in advance for fast reply !
@JoeKind1958/Bill, can you remove just the hook on the artista 200 (not the entire bobbin assembly)to do the thread tension test?
Hello, I tried to boot in service mode. Now the machine won't start at all. Is there a way to reset them?
hello !!
let me start my saying that your video have helped me out a lot !! I have a 730 and when I tried to email you at the email below it said it was invalid. I'm not sure what I did wrong but on my 730 when my needle comes down it is hitting the top medal part of the casing when my bobbin is placed and breaking my needles ... i have pictures to help better describe, i feel like my needle is sitting to much toward.
thanks !!
Hi Jessica,
Give the email address a try again. It's joekind@comcast.net Then you can send some photos and better explain the problem. A video clip would help if you could send one.
Bill
Hi,
Thank you for the video. It helped me a lot learning about testing and setting the sensors. I have Artista 200. I am getting upper thread break message. I took the cover off to check it and I noticed there is no electronic sensor like other models. How does the upper sensor works? It has been a while since I bought the machine. I think the sensor had never worked. When I took it to dealer he might have just turned it off. I started getting it again after I did factory default reset because the light would not turn on.
The upper thread sensor is a optical sensor that is mounted on the inside of the front plastic cover. It's approximately right behind where the reversing button is. It is triggered by the movement of the "take up spring". When this spring moves for each stitch, it moved a black plastic lever. That lever passes through a optical sensor. If the sensor does not detect the movement of the lever you get the message you are getting and the machine stops. Causes for this can be that the optical sensor is dirty, or the take up spring is bent, broken or jammed. Usually when something happens to this take up spring you start breaking thread a lot. I do have a video posted that shows you some details about this take up spring. Just look through my other videos on the 180, 200 or 730 and you will find more info on this. If it seems like nothing is wrong you can always turn the upper sensor off.
Thanks for watching! Bill
Sorry but there is no optical sensor near the reverse button. Like I said I don't see electronic optical eye that is being tripped by the take up spring. There is a coil in that area in the other side of the bracket near the take up spring. Part take up spring is coiled on a large screw. There is nothing attached to the take spring that resembles a trigger for an optical eye. The thread passes through between the back of the coil assembly and leaf spring with a piece of metal screwed on the leaf spring. The metal spans across the two metal that comes out of the ends of the coil. The thread is in between the two end metals of the coil. There are two wires coming out of the coil. The end connector is plugged in the second male connector that says yellow in PC board. I don't see how the thread movement is being detected. The coil seems to be some sort of pickup that detects the vibration of the leaf spring.
Anyway I tried to move the leaf spring while watching the service screen for the upper thread sensor and it is not changing like the lower sensor does. Maybe that is why it never worked and the dealer just turned it off when I took it in for repair. When I reset to default the sensor was turned on I got upper thread break message.
Do you have a photo where the optical sensor that you are talking about? Maybe I am looking at the wrong area. I checked your other videos. I did not see anything that shows the upper thread optical sensor.
My sewing machine was one of the very first model of Artista 200. Maybe the sensor was changed later on with optical eye.
Thanks again.
Luis
+lnfortun I believe the coil you are talking about , the one with the big screw head on the end is the take up spring. When you threat the machine and take the thread down the front of the machine and back up to the take up arm. Just when the thread goes up to the take up arm it gets hooked in the take up spring. If yours is not broken and is still there. You will see that the spring is hooked in a black plastic part at the opposite end of the large screw head. That black plastic part moves along with the spring on each stitch. Going back in the machine further you will see a arm or lever attached that is part of the black plastic piece. That arm or lever is what passes by the optical sensor. That sensor is a very small circuit board mounted on back side area of the reversing button and the other button cluster just above the reversing button. This sensor looks nothing like the one mounted on the bobbin case door. Wish I could send you a photo of it. Check my other videos for more...
+lnfortun Seems there is not enough space here to communicate properly. Please email me at joekind@comcast.net The part you are talking about with the wires coming out of it is a thread clamp. That is there so the thread cutter works. The electromagnetic switch clamps the top thread so the cutter blade on the bobbin can cut the thread. It has nothing to do with the upper thread sensor.
Most likely there has been a problem with that sensor for a long time and a dealer turned it off. When you reset the machine it would of been turned back on by factory default. Sometimes dealers find its cheeper and less time consuming to just turn it off rather than fixing it correctly, the way they should have in the first place. Bill
+JoeKind1958 , You were right. I took the front off and found the optical sensor. I must not have plugged the connector to the PC properly the first time I disassembled the machine.. Even though it looked plugged in I re-plugged the connector and now the sensor work is working.
Thank you.
Bill haw I turn off the sensor in my Bernina ?
I have a Bernina 200 Artista bought new when they first came out. My question which I am having difficulty finding the answer is... Can I still download from a PC to the machine designs. I started college and only had time for many years to use the main sewing functions. Now I would like to start using the embroidery function and am not sure where to start as I am sure the firmware is outdated and not sure what operating system if any it is compatible. Any help is appreciated. The Bernina here locally just totally confused me over the phone. I don't think he was sure himself. Thanks in advance.
DesertMoonBathNBody Bernina once had a download site for the 200 where you could plug in a dial up modem accessory that would take you to that site for direct downloads. The idea was a bit of a flop so Bernina discontinued that web site many years ago. Depending on the firmware version of your machine, I think 4.04 or newer, you can use Bernina USB sticks to transfer .art format designs from your computer to the machine by loading the designs on to the USB stick and open them with your machine. What you can do for sure is to directly hook your 200 to a computer and using many different types of Bernina software, send designs to your machine that way. Now getting into talking about software, I could write a book on that. What software you can use depends on the operating system that your computer uses. At the very least you can download Berninas free ArtLink software from the Bernina web site and use that software to view designs and send them to your 200. That will get you going in the right direction. Thanks for watching😁 Bill
I followed this and got a yellow window with "lower thread detection" with a red X on the left in that window.
I was unable to test sensor. Will attempt to find video to turn off sensor
Can I still upgrade my 200 to a 730??
K