Category Archives: Elna #1 Grasshopper – spare parts

Elna Grasshopper for sale?

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IMG_7547Sorry about that title, which is mainly for the benefit of the search engines.  But whatever, yesterday we finally got organised and went through these 7 Grasshoppers to see which are saleable as working machines and which we part out in due course.

Right now we have one each Series 1 and Series 2 machines not far off ready for sale, so please get in touch if you’re maybe in the market for one, or indeed for any used spares..  The email address is sidandelsie (at) btinternet (dot) com – but do please bear in mind that we’re in the UK!  We’re fine sending parts abroad, but a Grasshopper packed for shipping weighs around 12kg and international rates are getting rather silly.

We’ve also sorted through our Grasshopper bits and pieces so that hopefully before much longer I can actually start taking pictures of what we have spare, but for now I can tell you that it includes

Speed Reducers

Accessory Box trays

One (khaki/”green”) oil can

One Lower Lubrication Cover part #502724 – this is the round black plate with “ELNA Swiss Made + Produit Suisse” and all the patent numbers

Then there’s most if not all the parts from 2 x 220volt machines and 1 x 110v (all three being Series 2 machines), including the cases.

 

The vintage Elna oil cans

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Picture of vintage Elna sewing machine oilcansIn case you’re not familiar with them, that’s a picture of the two oilcans which were originally supplied with Grasshoppers, alongside a standard spool of Gütermann thread.  And just in case the size comparison is meaningless because you’re not a Gütermann user, I’d better say that they stand 12.5cm tall to the top of those screw-on caps.  Or, if you prefer, 5 inches.

As you can see, one is black and the other is green.  And this is where life gets complicated, because one is for oil and the other is for kerosene.  That’s what it says in the Parts List.  It doesn’t say which is which though, so maybe that was left up to the purchaser.

The green one in that picture has definitely had sewing machine oil in it.  What the black one had in it, I have no idea.  I can’t unscrew the top because whatever was in it has gummed it firmly in place, but I can take the cap off the nozzle and take a sniff.  It smells remarkably like eucalyptus oil, but it can’t be.  OK, maybe it could, but it shouldn’t.

Whatever, we are now on the verge of getting into the vexed question of what to lubricate the shuttle race of a Grasshopper with, and that’s a topic which undoubtedly warrants a post all of its own.

I’ll do it next week.

Meanwhile, if you happen to have a pair of these oil cans for sale, or indeed if you’re after a pair, do let me know and I’ll put something appropriate on the for sale and wanted page.

Elna Grasshopper spare parts

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Sorry guys, but this post is actually little more than a “coming soon” intended to do two things, one of which is obviously to attract the attention of Google’s bots.

The other is to draw your attention, dear reader, to the fact that before much longer I hope to be able to list some Grasshopper spares for sale.  I’ll do that on a new page, which will give me the option to turn it into a “for sale and wanted” page if anybody’s interested in listing their own wants on it.

If that sounds good to you, how about letting me know by leaving a comment, which you do by simply clicking on that speech bubble thingy to the right of the post title?  If the interest’s there, the new page could happen sooner rather than later.

OK, next post up looks like being the Speed Reducer, but there’s a chance it might turn out instead to be the vexed issue of how best to lubricate your Grasshopper.  We shall see …