Bernina 640-2-11 Semi-Industrial

Oh, what a day.

I sold two items on CL and bought another, this beautiful machine:

According to what I've read online and from the seller, this is a semi-industrial machine used in light manufacturing.  The lady who owned and used it for years was a professional seamstress and sewed all kinds of fabrics and leathers, even upholstery.  She passed away and the daughter had no idea what to do with it and was grateful it was going to be out of her garage.

(It's strange that a daughter wouldn't want to keep and treasure an item that her own mother treasured.  Do you think that's strange?)

Anyway, it runs so smoothly and quietly that you'd hardly know it's an industrial machine by just listening to it.  The Consew .33 clutch is rather nice and seems a good pairing for a light industrial application.  There is a walking foot included as well as a bunch of other feet.  However, I'm not yet sure what it's set up to do, exactly.  I'm interested in reading the manual just to see what it recommends and whether I can denote the differences between this particular model and the 5-- series and other 6-- series Berninas.  Not a bad deal for $90.

I've only owned it for about 2 hours, so I'm still just looking at it, seeing where to oil it, etc.

And in other great sewing machine news today, my friend Janet wrote that she has snagged a really nice machine for me in a nearby state.  It's raining machines.  I can't believe this is all happening!
  

Adler Class 98 Industrial Zig-Zag

Here is my first industrial machine, an Adler 'Klasse 98' zig-zag.

The machine's provenance is unknown to me and the seller knew nothing about it other than she plugged it in and it runs.  She kept calling it The Alder, proving her claims of ignorance and innocence were not easily dismissed.  I've not been able to find out anything about this model except that Adler rates this machine a medium-duty industrial for leather, upholstery, sails, awnings, and the like.  The seller did mention that the technician who worked on it praised it highly and said it had been 'tweaked' to run at roughly 2600 stitches per minute (spm) rather than the factory based spec of 2000.  I haven't done a stitch count but this seems completely reasonable, as adjusting and modifying is common with these machines depending upon their application.

The maximum stitch width is 8mm, the widest I've used.  It's also the heaviest machine I own by a wide margin and it came in a k-leg table with a .5 hp Mitsubishi clutch motor, articulated lamp, spool tower, foot pedal and knee controller, bobbins, etc.

Running the machine, its speed and power is surprising to me, someone new to industrial machines, although I'm sure it's nothing special to those experienced in the industry.  I've tried to find out more about it and although I've found nothing except parts lists and a machine prospectus from Adler, the reputation of this particular model appears very high in the sailing and upholstery fields based upon the blogs and articles in which the machine is discussed.

What's important is that I like it.  For $85, I believe it's an excellent introduction to industrial machines as the 98 is medium-duty, a zig-zag, and not quite a large as some of the more robust machines made for the heaviest sewing.  I plan to place it in a newer table (perhaps even having one custom made) and with a Servo motor after which I'll devote a much more in-depth review.