Foot Control

Kathie and I took a day trip to Fredericksburg, Virginia today.  As usual, we hit all the fabric stores and quilt shops for Kathie and thrift shops for me.  In one Goodwill, I spotted a like-new foot control for $2.99.

 Because I'm too lazy to fix up the tub of foot controls in the shop, I am always happy to pick up a working model.  I looked at the power cord and saw that it was a three prong grounded type.  That's good.

Then I looked at the cord that hooks to the sewing machine to see if I knew what machine it came from and saw that it has a three prong socket at the end of that cord.

  It is not a sewing machine foot control at all, it is a speed control for any motorized piece of equipment.  Well, a sewing machine is a piece of motorized equipment, isn't it?  I now have a "shop foot control" to test any machine having the motor & light block type of hookup.

 Just plug the MOTOR connector into the plug from the "shop foot control" and step on the pedal.  I wish I had invented this myself.  To add more flexibility, I could put a male wall plug on the end of some common power cords and be able to test machines that do not use the motor & light block.  And it gives me a way to get rid of some of those old foot controls if I should ever get around to fixing them up - I will just wire in a 2- or 3-pin socket and turn them into speed controls.

Ed's Vintage Sewing Machine Store