Kenmorre 385 pedal replacement

[JP_dog]

I picked up a kenmore 385.17928090 today. It looks and sounds good but didn't come with a pedal, and I didn't look closely at the power connector to notice it was a 3 prong, I had it in my head it was a figure 8 connector and I could steal the one of my wife's brother.

Anyway, I see the cord only has two wires on the wall outlet end, but I suspect it is only 2 wires all the way to the machine end, particularly since you can buy a straight-up power cord [no pedal]. From looking on YouTube it seems as though all the pedals are indeed 2 wire pedals, and I can't imagine kenmore/Sears would buck the trend here.

So, my question is this, what is the least expensive method of putting a foot pedal on there? Can I get a simple $12 kenmore cable and a surplus pedal and wire it up? anybody know of a wiring diagram that might show this? Bear in mind I am a HAM and know my way around a soldering iron and butt connectors plus I love a challenge.

Ps, if anyone has a link to a manual I would appreciate it, I haven't gone hunting for one yet.

[gmcttr]

First you need to figure out which of the 3 prong Kenmore plugs it is. Here are two styles...

http://www.sears.com/kenmore-foot-co...p-02097830000P

http://www.sewingpartsonline.com/foo...032270116.aspx

Another photo and a great place to do business... http://shop.sew-classic.com/Cord-3-p...hine-LC-10.htm

[SonOfMartin]

eBay has 3 for sale - may not be at the price you're looking for - but may be worth saving the hassle. I searched for (sears, kenmore) 385.17928090 pedal

[Ramblinrev]

I can't imagine kenmore/Sears would buck the trend here.

Sears from that era was notorious for sticking proprietary fittings into their electrical products. That way the _only_ way you could get them fixed was by Sears. It's one of the things that swore me off Sears for many years. Don't assume anything about Sears electrical products. They were big enough and important enough to leverage the proprietary changes.

[VictoriaGuy]

You've gotten some great advice already. I agree that the simplest solution would be to pick up the exact thing you need from Ebay.
As you are a ham with an electronics bench, you could wire up a pedal pretty easily if you aren't interested in keeping the machine 'original'. Most of the older pedals have simple wiring- common, lead for lamp, and lead via resistor for motor. You can also wire in a newer 'electronic' pedal (speed-control type) fairly easily.
Tons of info online, as you've discovered by now....
Be sure to post pictures as you go!

[JP_dog]

It is an lc-10 type connector. I am not so worried about keeping it original, it is a tool really, not a show piece. I will see what I can scrounge up locally and go from there. +1 on going the simple route via ebay, but then I never do things the easy way

[IRONFISH45]

I refuse to deal with Sears, however many years ago, you could call them and they would find what you need and sell it to you. You might find the price is worth it to you.

Why do you think the machine is okay if you could not test it? Kind of like looking at a car and buying it without a test drive or mechanic giving it a look see.

Hopefully your new injector will be a wonderful piece of equipment, I am probably just sour grapes, because I look at a lot of machines that are a "pass on it", I am not great at repair, however, I do a better job than the local shop does. I run across a lot of door stoppers and boat anchors.

Look in some of the thrift stores, Salvation Army, Goodwill if you are desperate, often times people discard parts of thread injector's sometimes they are inexpensive other times you could by them new, two of them for the price of the used one that may or maynot work.

Oops I see you live in Anchorage, that kind of puts a different look on the situation. GoodWill has a web site, a version of Ebay, they list stuff from their stores all across the USA. Gotta watch the shipping charges. Not sure if they ship to Alaska.