Our "local" dealer is 70 miles away and not a fan of vintage machines. When we were asking something about an old Viking (they sell both) he said that he gets the old ones in all the time and just tosses them in the dumpster because they aren't worth dealing with.
He wasn't snide about it - just stating the economics of it. He also said that it was against corporate policy to sell used machines for parts. I've so wanted to go dumpster diving behind that shop. . .
The other "local" Bernina dealer we talked to (about 200 miles away) told us that the old machines weren't' any good and we should get a new one - and that was because we were looking for needles for the 830 Record. That guy was snide - he really didn't like people who had the audacity to work on their own machines.
I was hoping someone here has taken the top off one and knew if there were any tricks to getting it off.