Monday 17 October 2011

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.

Saturday 15 October 2011

Google +1 button

I'll be adding a new page this weekend which covers "A Good Clean". Until I do, I've been reading about the Google +1 button which appears after each post. You can read about it here. But basically, if you like any of the content on this blog, simply click the +1 button. Easy!