Bernina manual 642-1 542-1 540

Bernina 542-1 and 642-1 manual

The Bernina I bought a few weeks ago came with a manual. The lady found it a few days after I bought it but in those few days, I searched for one online but it was only available as a paid download. Keeping information a secret bothers me enough but the fact is that these people didn't write the manual and have no right to sell them.
I'm quite certain they didn't get permission or pay Bernina for the right to make money selling their works.

I did the right thing here and asked Bernina if I could give the scan away. They said "You are more than welcome to pass on the  PDF book for this model machine for anyone that may need it."

So here it is. It's fairly low resolution and 4.4MB If you need it, feel free: The pdf is.

Bernina 642-1 semi-industrial 1960

I had my doubts as to whether a "semi-industrial" even exists, but it's just what Singer called "industrial - for home use" or "light industrial". The first sign is the motor, which seems as fast as an industrial - quite remarkable for such a small motor. This actually makes it hard to do some things, like, well, sewing slowly, embroidery etc. Real industrial machines never have an attached motor.
Unlike the 630/730/830 it has a full rotary hook, and still a vertical bobbin so you can do embroidery (in theory at least).
Also it's a flat bed machine, and no cam stack. It says on needlebar that it can be converted into a full automatic machine. I just Googled for this and couldn't find what an automatic machine is. Singer use the same terminology: In the adjuster's manual for the 206/306/319 series, they only list the 319 as automatic. Now the biggest difference between the 306 and the 319 is that the latter has a cam stack, or built-in stitch patterns. My new Bernina doesn't have a cam stack so I'll assume this is what it means. To be honest cam stacks are nice but who really uses them? I don't use decorative stitches for anything but demonstrating them as a feature and never when constructing a garment, so they won't be missed. During garment construction I only ever use zig-zag and straight stitch, which brings me to another feature of this machine: The longest stitch is really very long! Haven't measured it but it's longer than any domestic I have.
OK, on to the machine's specifics.
Bernina 642-1. 1960, straight stitch and zig-zag, super fast, flat bed and Bernina green a-la 730. Here's a picture:

She came in a really nice Swedish cabinet, too. My father is currently giving that the love it needs to look new again, but after cleaning I did some sewing with the head free standing. Nice but starts vibrating a bit at full speed. It was very clean probably due to being inside a cabinet. The previous owner used it all the time for a business, and the motor brushes were worn almost to the spring! It had the original green bobbin winder (it looked like it had melted), which I replaced with a more usable black one, and cleaned it for hours and am very happy with the result. It came with the original feet and some needles.
Didn't come with a manual but if the lady finds it she'll call me. They don't exist as free DLs anywhere on the Internet so if I get one, I'll scan it and make it available as a pdf, free of charge.
I'll update with cabinet pictures when dad has worked his magic.

Western Shirt

I was asked to make a western style shirt for quite a tall guy. The only shirt pattern I had in the appropriate size was Simplicity 7745, which isn't western at all. I only had to made one modification, pockets.
Made two instead of one, and changed the shape. It looks like this:

Shirt for James

Fabric came from the tip shop and buttons/thread from garage sales. Probably my thriftiest garment so far at around $3. Almost completely sewn on the 320K2, but as usual buttonholes done on the VS2.

Singer 15-1

This is a second one. The ad said it was from 1879. The seller got the serial number wrong and it's from 1888. Still, it has a bobbin winder and looks better than the other one.
I'll have to sell it in the cabinet, since I have no space (sad, right?).
After a few hours of cleaning it's working perfectly and I wish I could keep it to sew a garment with.
The 15 is an amazing machine and this is the only fiddle base machine Singer made with a round bobbin and standard needle.

MOP Singer 12 in the cabinet

The last lot of pics were sans cabinet, so here she is today (literally, just took these). The ridiculously lovely base was thanks to a rub with boiled linseed oil, which I also treated the wood with. It will provide rust protection, shine and cleanliness (until dust starts sticking to the oil of course).

Needles. 

According to ISMACS, the 12x1 was made by Schmetz under the designation 257 or 339 or 23:51 and by Groz-Beckert (no number given) but my local supplier has no listing whatever for this needle, meaning... (insert dramatic music here) they don't make them any longer. Well, this is no big surprise. According to the lady responsible for http://sewingtales.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/needles-and-my-singer-12/ if you can get one in there, a common 16x231 will work. Well, I tried and the needle clamp wouldn't play along (sigh).
My new best friend Steve in the U.S. is sending me a couple of his, and I'm ordering some old stock from a place in Switzerland just as soon as they let me know how to pay for them. If they come through I'll tell you who they are, but I won't recommend them if they're not reliable.
There's a lady on Etsy who sells them, but she won't ship outside the U.S. (boo!), Alex Askaroff has a few left apparently and you could get some massively overpriced ones from eBay. I find the latter to be full of people charging too much for everything. It seems to coincide with eBay's constant fee changes, like the fact that they charge you the selling fee plus postage. This means that if you sell something heavy (e.g. a machine head) to an overseas person for the  99c recommended starting bid and it costs $300 to send it to them, you not only lose the money you paid for the item, you're left with a $30 fee plus paypal charges! It used to be a great way to sell things but greed always seems to spoil these things.

Singer 12 Mother of Pearl

This is the most beautiful sewing machine I've ever seen. I bought it because it was obviously a stunning piece. The needles will be a bit of a problem, though. Not all that many Singer 12s being used these days, and they stopped making them quite a while ago (1903). I'm surprised they were made past 1890 actually. My machine was made in 1885. The stand is original and has 1st May 1885 cast into it.

In reality it's even more beautiful than this. The shimmering light on the mother of pearl is something special.
If I get some needles for it I'll post where I got them.

Singer 15 revival

This machine was given to me by my friend who had issues with the number of machines she has and the space they take. It was made in 1910.
I didn't get a single picture of it before I touched it but here's what was wrong:

1. The case's bottom veneer layer had come off.
2. The rest of the bottom had broken and perished.
3. There were signs of borer in the good part of the bottom.
4. The coffin lid also showed borer holes.
5. And was coming apart on several places.
6. The machine was a bit stiff and made noises

The Case

So to work I went. Firstly, sanded off the remaining shellac coat from the case, then treated it with kerosene (twice) to make sure the borer weren't coming back. Then I took to it with wood glue and a clamp.
The base looked to be in good shape but when I removed the bottom it all fell apart, so out with the glue, also clamped it for 24 hours and was left with the following.

Lid, sanded and glued

Base, also sanded and glued.

I figured the original finish was probably shellac, so as I had some from another job a few months ago out it came. You can give it as many coats as you like, and it only gets glossier. The drying time was about 30 minutes and I lightly sanded with wet and dry emery paper (used dry) between coats.

Lid after one coat

accessory slide cover

base, one coat

Skipping straight to the finish now, she looked like this:

Lid after three coats

Base, ready for hardware

With machine put back, she's now on the kitchen table looking fine.

The machine

Rather stupidly I only took one picture of the machine before cleaning and it's of the undercarriage, thusly:

There was a lot of lint and fluff under the feed dog, always a bad sign. I just pulled the machine apart and cleaned it 'til it looked like a new one. Oiling is always last when you clean a machine. Reason is that if you oil as you go, dirt will stick to it and you'll end up with a sticky mess. This underneath bit comes up extremely well with Silvo soaked on the middle of a strip of fairly strong fabric. Wrap it around the part you want to clean and go vigorous. It's remarkable how much better you feel after doing all this, and after application of some oil, the noise was gone and the machine is as smooth and free as you could hope for.
That stupid amount of shine was the result of car wax. Does a spiffing job.
Here are some more "after" pics.

Slide plate. Considering having it re-plated

These decals are completely original

Took the bobbin winder apart completely to clean

Didn't clean all of it

Yes didn't clean all of it but the bobbin area got a lot of attention. It is likely where the noise originated so I disassembled it and thoroughly cleaned it, oiling as I reassembled.
One thing I didn't check was the timing. I mean, it's a 15, so what are the chances? The tension spring was broken, so part of cleaning the assembly was a new spring.
So, after pulling out the bobbin assembly, the bobbin winder, tension assembly how did it stitch? Didn't take pictures but it was like a 201 without even adjusting anything! Perfectly straight and no problem with tensions.
One thing I didn't notice was the lack of spool pin. I snapped a bamboo chopstick to the right height and now we have one.
I didn't enjoy sewing with this machine at all, though. The lack of a light wasn't a huge problem but the lack of my right hand to guide fabric was definitely noticed. The hand crank has been taken from a 66 (it has lotus decals) so I don't have a problem with adding a Singer motor and foot controller.