I checked over the Elna I got the other day - everything runs smooth and nice. I cleaned out lint and old oil then oiled her. Then I got to looking at the bling she came with. She came with a two speed foot control - sweet. I found an original kit she came with. All but 2 bobbins, I got a dozen discs, there isn't a scratch on that machine. BUT somebody dropped a bunch of green paint all over her cord. Then I dug into the basket the lady gave me. When I got it I just sort of glanced around it a little. Many of the spools for thread are wooden. There was some quilting thread. There was a spool of silk thread. Old packs of 35 cent needles some quilt scraps and some wide bias tape. Dried up un-opened Fray Check still in the package. I got a real nice pair of pinking shears too. In the bottom of the basket buried deep in the thread tangles was a free motion foot. The rest of the feet were in the kit. I wonder if she was a quilter? I haven't named her yet - we haven't gotten THAT familiar yet...
Then I looked at the Bernina I got at GW a few weeks ago. I used heat and got the knobs and levers to turn - yeah. I had oiled it but to no avail. The power cord doesn't work and the knee control doesn't have much play. She has a couple nylon gears that kind of scare me. The table is VERY nice. Again a lot of old wooden spools of thread.
Then I read the manual, got out a dead Elna to see if I could fix her. I read the service manual. AH I can do this. The screws wouldn't come out. I oiled a few times today. Maybe tomorrow if it doesn't unscrew I'll try heat - just now thought of it.
I'd say the two machines are a decade or so apart in age. The Bernina is a bit older. It amazes me to look at the engineering in those old machines. They were so intricate and yet they have held up over such a long time. Then I looked at my old Singer 403 of the same time frame. It was all metal even the gears. I also have an old Necchi Nora - it has a broken plastic stitch length adjuster - The Bernina and the Elna have nylon gears. I guess the sewing machine companies were fooling around with plastics and nylon back then - The machine works are a wonder though. Each of them is different in how they work. It totally fascinates me. Then I look at an old Japanese straight stitch. No nonsense there. It is so amazing how these are put together!!! You sure don't see much when you look in the new plastic and stamped metal machines - is it any wonder they don't hold up and you can't get anybody to repair them??? Yeah I have a bunch of old machines. Yeah the DILs think I'm a hoarder... well they are correct. (AND I hoard fabric too - OH, the shame of it all...) I guess I can't bear to see those old machines discarded by the same people that talk about everything being 'green' Wanna go green? Get a vintage sewing machine and learn to use it - re-make some clothes instead of discarding them. Ok you might have to piece them together or make t shirt quilts or make some quilts out of old clothes - BUT go green!