I hope I can help you. I haved a 730 record and bought an 830 record for my daughter. If you look on the back of the machine you might see hinges back there which will indicate the top flips back. My experience on two old Bernina's is that the closing mechanism thingy gets sticky and is very hard to open. On one machine I remember I had to really use my muscles to lift the front edge of the cover. Once I had it opened up I used sewing machine oil on that little brass ball that works as the closing latch. I think on the 830 you first need to swing out the panel that sits on the left and covers the presser foot bar and needle bar; once that is opened the top can be opened. I know nothing about the 530 but I suspect that it has the same ball type latch that is just stuck from age. (I've heard of people ruining the 830 by using crow bars because they didn't realize that the left panel needs opened too! I did not have to use any tools to open the two stuck machines I ran into - just lots of muscle and finger strength!)