1959 Berinia 530 sewing machine ??

[fido]

This is my Singer 15K80 which I bought a few years ago for £10 at a junk shop in Elgin. I bought it to sew new cushion covers for my camper restoration but I've never used a machine before and had nil success. I think there is a fault as it keeps breaking the thread. I got someone else to make my covers in the end. It is a manual machine converted to electric operation and there is an added lamp at the back.

 

[twintubdexter]

an interesting note...

...concerning that $200 sewing machine & cabinet I "bought" from a not-so nice lady on Craigslist...she called me this morning and said she decided to give the machine to her daughter. It was Monday when I originally called her and we agreed that I would buy it but the ad was still running today with the same price. I called her back and used a feature on my phone that disguises my voice and discovered it's still for sale but she wants more money...a lot more. She could have at least told me this rather than to just hand me a lie. I guess it's a seller's prerogative to change their mind but I would have prefered an honest answer, especially from what appeared to be a nice old lady. At least on ebay sellers are held to a set of standards...sorry for the venting and I do appreciate all the information members provided on this topic.

 

[hydralique]

At least you discovered the seller's duplicity before you drove all the way to Redondo Beach. It'll serve her right if she can't find a buyer willing to pay more than what you had agreed to who isn't a flake.

 

[foxchapel]

volsboy1 - that Bernina

. . . is TDF gorgeous. You could probably sell it for the same price paid when it was brand new. Vintage Berninas are highly valued. There is an excellent Yahoo Group for these older machines : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BerninaThirtySomethings/

It will need to be serviced, preferably by a Bernina technician (no affiliation) before you even try to sew with it. The oil and lubrication will have dried up and gunked up. Otherwise, damage could be done to the machine. The gears are (I think) nylon, so you don't want to force it to run if it is indeed locked up from years of sitting.

Knoxville has a good Bernina dealer, Cookville does or did, and there is one in Cool Springs area of Brentwood/Franklin. I have no idea about dealers west of the TN river.

If I didn't have too many machines already, I would want to buy it. ~sobs~

 

[retromania]

I have several sewing machines, but I mostly use my mother's Singer 15-91 in cabinet with matching stool. I feel so dainty sitting at the machine and I ain't dainty! I'm 6'1" and when I stand up my thighs grab the cabinet and I have to be careful not to turn it over! LOL. It's a basic machine, but has some attachments that allow it to perform other functions. It's smooth, quiet and makes a very nice stitch.

 

[retromania]

fido

I love your 15K80! It is similar to my 15-91. The wooden base w/extension table is so cool. Would love to have one of those. I have priced them on Ebay, but I'm just not willing to spend the money.

 

[foxchapel]

... those old Singer cabinets . ..

retromania - I know what you mean about that cabinet. They were built for petite women, if you ask me. (and the 15-91s are great machines) I've got a Singer 201k that came with cabinet. Being right under 6-ft tall, I cannot even get my knees under the silly thing to use it, so the cabinet is useless to me. Machine is sitting on a table in a lovely wooden base that looks like the lid to a shoe box and it's perfect for my setup.

 

[danemodsandy]

That's The Nice Thing....

....About the Singer Swing-Away/Flip 'n Sew cabinet from the '70s that I showed above - I can sit and work at it very comfortably, and I'm six-four.

Other cabinets don't necessarily work well for me, and I've tried more than a few. The more inexpensive the cabinet, the dinkier it is, as a rule. The Swing-Away/Flip 'n Sew was $400 back in the day, so one would hope it's of a reasonable size, right? $400 was a ton of discretionary income back then.

 

[fido]

I think the Singer 15-91 might have been the model my mother bought just after WW2. There was a waiting list at that time so she had to put her name down some months before she got it. It had the same arched top case as the one in the link. Mine has a much less elegant rexine covered case which is a bit scary to use. You just lower the case over the machine and spring loaded catches engage in slots in the wooden base. You then pick up the machine by the handle and hope that those 60 odd year old catches still do their job properly!

Redirect Notice

 

[fido]

Oooops

Link didn't work, try this one:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3556/3821035613_e1c3313296.jpg

 

[retromania]

fido,

Your machine and case look to be in mint condition. That's a nice size too. My 15-91 is a little bigger than that or wider. Was your machine in the family or something you bought later?

 

[fido]

Not Mine!

My only machine is the one in #19. My link in #28 is just an image I found for a 15-91 that looks similar to my mothers old machine. I think when my mother died my niece got her old machine. I remember hers had a different carrying handle to the one in the photo. There was also a knitting machine but I've no idea what became of that.

 

[retromania]

Good Lord Sandy!

6'4"?!! Then you understand the problem I have finding tall man shirts!!! Yes. Your sewing machine cabinet was like buying a major piece of furniture. Even now I would imagine they're sort expensive because one doesn't come across them much. I've only seen two. Your's being one of them.

 

[danemodsandy]

Andy:

My present Swing-Away cabinet was $140 with a Singer Touch-Tronic 2010 already mounted in it - that's about average. You usually find them with an Athena or a Touch-Tronic in place.

It's really not bad for a great sewing machine and a very well-built piece of furniture. The model Swing-Away that I have (the No. 266-1) is all wood solids and veneers; even what's under the veneer is high-quality plywood, not chipboard. Hardware is all metal. Oh, and it's on heavy-duty casters, for easy moving.

There was a less expensive Swing-Away that was mostly wood, but which had those awful molded-plastic fake wood doors seen so often in the '70s. I've only seen them in photos, never in person. Below is a photo of one, with an Athena 1200 mounted in it; the 1200 was a less expensive, slightly defeatured version of the Athena 2000.

You will stand the best chance of unearthing a Swing-Away by searching Craigslist for Singer sewing machines, and by searching "Athena" and "Touch Tronic." Caveat: Swing-Aways are only plug-and-play with upper-series Singer free-arm machines of the '70s and '80s. Other brands and vintages may require a different head bolt (the angled bolt that holds the machine in place) and/or some modification. They won't work with flatbed machines at all.

I don't have the trouble many tall guys have with shirts - I am short-bodied, with legs that go on forever. Regular shirts fit decently well. It's pants that are a pain in the patootie.

 

[foxchapel]

fido . . . about that breaking thread on your 15K

There is a web site linked below, from TFSR, with very good instructions and photos on refurbishing the old Singers. It shows how to take everything apart, clean, etc. The breaking thread might be as simple as a dirty tension disc. I have used the info on that site when cleaning up my old Singers.

Home - Tools For Self Reliance

Home: We work with local African organisations to build sustainable livelihoods in Africa and make transformational change through vocational training.

www.tfsr.org

 

[retromania]

fido

Do you have the machine in the link? It looks like your's, but different wiring. The reason I ask is that there is an instruction booklet peeking out of the the accessories compartment. It looks like mine. There are diagrams in there for disassembling and cleaning the upper thread tension discs and the bobbin case.

 

[fido]

Thanks foxchapel

That looks like a really useful site. I do have an instruction book for my machine but it does not cover servicing and adjustments other than very basic stuff. There is a pulley which grips the thread to adjust the tension and I've experimented with that to no avail.

 

[retromania]

fido

Would you mind posting another photo of your machine showing the end of your machine so I can get a look at the upper thread tension configuration.

 

[twintubdexter]

Autowasher members are so smart...

...they seem to know a lot about everything! I never thought there would be so much interest in sewing machines but then I thought the same thing about the water heater thread. Now that the 'snafu" is history concerning that old lady who reneged on her offer to sell me that Pfaff and cabinet, I purchased a very nice machine yesterday at what seems like a good price, $300. The lady was originally from Liverpool (she bought the machine here) and was great fun to talk to. I could have spent the entire day there. She hasn't used the sewing machine for 9 years, ever since her husband passed away. It's been at the bottom of her closet. She said she just lost interest and her sight is rapidly fading. In her heyday she and her husband were professional ballroom dancers and since she was wearing a flashy sequined top she looked the part.

This is the machine I bought to play around with, a Bernina Artista 180. She included a ton of stuff and I have no idea what it does. I counted 18 presser feet (?), 4 embroidery hoops and a bunch of software amongst all the books and things. I took the top off and it looks very clean, same thing at the bottom around the needle. I was thinking about taking it into the local Bernina dealer here and asking whether it should be serviced but I'm affraid they will say it's junk, it needs $1000 in parts or it's trade-in time. The lady demonstrated everything but the embroidery module and it seems to be working fine. I realize the 180 is 12 to 15 years old but it should be fine to learn on.

 

[retromania]

Oh My Gosh!

Those Artistas are expensive. They are thousands of dollars new and even though your's has a little age on it, you got a lot. You got the embroidery attachment with small hoop. Probably larger hoops came with it. You will need to do a software upgrade on it if you plan to download enbroidery designs off the computer. It's a blessing the Pfaff deal fell thru as you got a lot of machine for $300!!!