Does anyone have experience with the Elna 8000 Computer?
 

I was given one as a gift from a dear friend and have a few questions about it. I can't seem to find much information online.
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I had an Elna 7000 I got new in 1990 I think. The 8000 was the fancier on and very similar to mine. My 7000 was a great machine with beautiful stitch quality. I gave it to my niece when she developed an interest in sewing . The 8000 was called the Diva, I think. If you have a question about operation I might be able to help.

Excellent! Ok, so here's my situation.
1: How do you install a walking foot on this machine? The shank holder/foot holder should just come right off. However, it seems it's made a lot differently. I have pictures, but can't upload them right this minute. I will update my post shortly.
That should do it. I've been practicing with it for about 2 months now so I know how to operate it fairly well.

It seems rather involved..

The Elna 8000/9000/Diva series has a proprietary shank and you cannot put a standard walking foot on it. The top attachment point looks like a slotted square or rectangle. You must find the specific walking foot made, and they have, in general, been "unobtainium" for the last 8-10 years. Your best bet would be a brick and mortar sewing machine shop that sold Elna back in the day (before they ceased operations and the brand name was bought by Janome), who might still have one on a rack.

Elna walking foot

There is also no adapter you can use or find to allow a standard walking foot to be used.

Be aware this series of machines does not stand up to FMQ. They do beautiful stitches for clothing and home dec (and piecing), but aren't designed to be quilting workhorses.

I just figured that out early this morning....it has a spring loaded mechanism that is an absolute PAIN to reattach.
It must have taken me 2 hours.

I don't do quilting at the moment. My main focus is apparel, and I specialize in polyester fleece and polyurethane laminate.

I just circled back to this thread and l’m glad to see that mkc has answered your questions so well. I never had a walking foot for my 7000, though I did have a darning foot and the machine did wonderful free motion. It really was a great machine for dress making. Enjoy your 8000.

I owned a Diva/9000 for many (20) years. It was great for detailed, precise sewing relative to clothing (not sure it would like the urethane and fleece OP works with - it was more designed for lighter weight fabrics) and OK for light home dec (pillows, zippers, etc). I used it as a piecing machine when traveling, but that wasn't its best use. I sold it to someone who actually wanted it primarily for the walking foot I had for it ;-)

For some reason, it's not picking up the bobbin thread.
Does anyone know how the bobbin case/rotary hook is supposed to go?

If you do a Google search (Elna 8000 manual) you will find at least one site that has pages of the manual in jpeg or PDF format. That might help answer your question.

You might ask over on one of the sewing-type forums, since that era/type Elna is primarily used for heirloom clothing sewing and the like. Not many quilters using them. Patternreview is one such site that I know of which has machine brand subsections.