If you get an old Bernina and do not have the manual, you can simply email Bernina. I acquired a Bernina serger from my mother-in-law and she sent the wrong manual. After a lot of searching online, I simply used the contact form to email Bernina customer service. They actually dug the manual out of their archives, scanned it, and emailed the PDF to me. I was thrilled.
Thank you, DeNae On Mon, Feb 6, 2012 at 11:24 AM, Elena House <exst...@gmail.com> wrote: > I missed the start of this thread, so apologies if this has already been > mentioned or doesn't really apply to what you asked! > > However, if you want an old Bernina, I highly suggest an 830 Record > Electronic, which in spite of the name is pretty much mechanical, apart > from the fact that you do need to plug it in (apparently the Electronic > part has something to do with how the foot pedal works; the machine is > supposed to have full power at all speeds). About a year ago, I inherited > one from my grandma-in-law, along with several dozen attachments, and it is > a thing of beauty and a joy forever. > > It has 20 mechanical stitches--not all of them merely decorative--along > with zig-zag and straight. It has 5 needle positions (far left, kinda > left, center, kinda right, far right), and adjustable stitch width and > length, top and bottom tension control, an automatic bobbin winder, and a > knee control presser foot lifter. It has a basting stitch option, does > darning, has an automatic buttonhole system, and comes with attachments to > help you do eyelets, although not automatically. > > It's also strong enough to go through several layers of leather, which is > good, because I'm currently using mine to make the husband a Jim Morrison > style leather jacket. I know that my Gma-in-law used it a lot while she > had it, and apart from a piece being broken off before I got it, it was > still in excellent condition after all that use. I took it for repair and > a tuneup, and the guy I took it to went on and on about how strong a > machine it is, and how major an event it must have taken to break that > piece--like a car crash, or something. (Wish I knew what actually > happened!) Anyway, although he had to do a bit of work to track down the > replacement part, he was able to do so, and the repair and the thorough > tune-up that I had requested together only came to around $90--I think the > part wound up being around $20. > > It was so popular that Bernina revived the name in 2009 for their > top-of-the-line model, but the kind I'm talking about was made in the 1970s > and can be gotten for a few hundred on eBay, whereas the new kind is many > thousands, and nowhere near as tough as my old one. Mine is a '79, and > according to the Bernina site they started making them in '71; the next > model (the 930) came out in '82, and is also good, but doesn't have the > reputation of the 830 Record. > > The only truly bad thing I've ever heard about it is that some don't like > the foot pedal, or that the pedal goes bad after a few decades, but can be > replaced with a universal one. When I first used mine, I hated the pedal, > but after a couple of hours I got used to it and now feel no need to > replace it. The only other thing that annoys me at all, although I'm > slowly getting used to it, is that in order to go in reverse you push a > lever up, rather than down, unlike all my previous machines. It slows me > down, but then I don't go in reverse that often, so I can live with it. > > Oh, but it is kind of hard to figure out without the manual. It's not too > hard to find a copy for sale or even for free download online, though. > When I first got mine, I couldn't find the manual, so I looked around and > managed to download it in PDF form somewhere (can't remember where, sadly) > ...although of course, shortly thereafter I found the original manual. > > I'm keeping my 830 as long as I possibly can! > > -E House > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > h-costume@mail.indra.com > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
