We have been having the most amazingly lovely weather for the past week here on Anglesey so this quilter has been a gardener. Now that spring has arrived in style there has been a lot to do – there still is! – but considering the sun-burn (really!) I’m going back to being a quilter and one of my first tasks is to test-run my Bernina 930 Record which so nearly ended up in the skip, but was rescued by my husband and restored to life by hours of electro/mechanical obsession. The machine is not much younger than my son who is 26, and it has been my ‘workhorse’ all that time, though now joined by two Janome machines. It has made, repaired and quilted during all those years so you can imagine how I felt when there was a bang and a puff of smoke appeared from it. It felt like the end of the road… but no! Apparently, there is a common fault on the motor control board. Bernina seem to regard the 930 as obsolete. Few, if any, electronic parts are still available and the motor control board for mine is definately not; but all is not lost… a transformer which powers the LED lights went ‘pop’ and took a few components with it in a plume of smoke. We could not find any service agent who could repair it as the special Bernina repair kit for that particular fault is no longer available; so it is rather surprising that the Bernina 930 Record attracts such high prices in America and the UK. My husband repaired the motor board, bought a 1981 service manual on the Internet, gave my Bernina a good service and adjusted the clutch. I think I now have the cleanest, happiest, purriest machine in the world back in my workshop ready for active testing. If you have a Bernina 930 Record which has suffered this board problem, DON’T GIVE UP, and don’t send it to the tip! Find a dedicated engineer with a knowledge of electronics and mechanics. The Bernina 930 is too good to loose. I wonder how many of these wonderful, sturdy machines have been lost. I have to go now – I have a machine to test-drive! Dorothy 28th March 2012