Mickey, thanks for the heads-up on those parts.
Over $100 Aussie, -I could live with that if its the correct parts, but it's a lot to waste if they're not correct. I'll probably take a gamble on it, we'll see.

I, too, had trouble reconciling the bobbin area to what I see in the manual. It is rather different the way to put the bobbin in. The hook and bobbin are positioned so that if it were turned around, it would be a vertical front loading assembly. Yet the slide plate is on the side. Strange.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Have you seen https://translate.googleusercontent....LKYwaWoCLDljuw ??

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

So Janey & John, I assume you have a 117? Does it look as though these parts on ebay (as below) would be right for my machine?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1SET-Rota...MAAOSwruxbA825

(Janey, I'm not neat either... well I can be, but there's something about 'controlled chaos' that appeals!)
Oh !!!
Now I've seen that other link I'll never be the same again! Thanks SO much.

Sorry, no Bernina here. I just like to research. ;)

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Keep on the case! ;-)
(Those ebay parts referred to above would cost me about A$140 - and some pics I've seen show a fairly decent size spring in there somewhere) I'll just hope someone with a 117 will catch this thread.

Well, I just shot my ebayload on a rather nice looking Bernina 540 'Favorit'. I'll pick it up on Tuesday, it'll be interesting to see if the bobbin parts are the same as my 117 as you suggest they might be Mickey. Here it is.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...921/tdfDu5.jpg
I love the '50's styling, -even that 'orrible snot-green colour is cool in this context!
I'm hoping it doesn't have any stripped plastic gears... I would have thought this era would have had all steel gears, but I don't really know. Fingers crossed.

I just ordered some rotary hooks and bobbin cases from Bernina (for the flat beds), and they were close to $500 for the pair!!! There's a Co. that sews kevlar for space applications, and they use the hook until it's ruined, then replace it. They ordered 12 of them!

If you can find a used one on Ebay or some other place, snatch it up.

I have a manual for a Bernina 117K in English and a 117K, L and KL in German as well as a photo of my 117K. If someone can tell me how to upload or post them here, LMK. All of the Ks and the Ls that I have ever seen are a lovely green color. I have not seen a black one, nor one that says "Industrial" on it. Although Bernina 117s (and Pfaff 130s) are the only true semi-industrial sewing machines that I know of. (And by that I mean they can have a domestic motor on them or a clutch motor and industrial table and knee lift on them...)

Ouch!!! 500 smackeroos! My 117 is destined to be be a nice decorative shelf-queen if that's the case.
I will continue to check ebay, but the real problem is I don't know exactly what I'm looking for!