Juki DNU-241

I know I just bought two new sewing machines, but I was looking at used machines on eBay...and I bought this 241 to use as a dedicated binding machine. It was a deal.
I think I've developed a bad sewing machine habit, though...
The sad thing is: this machine's seen years of manufacturing, yet it sews better than the 1541S...though that's not a hard feat, I suppose, considering the 1541S doesn't sew at all.
Anyway, I'm pretty excited about this. I love the look of these older "gold" Jukis.
The 241: the father of the 1541. This model is no longer in production. I'm not sure when they stopped, but there are white 241's out there, too. They also made one with a safety clutch and some with other doodads. Sadly this does not have the clutch.
This machine has a li'l story. It used to belong to the Bestop company in Colorado. They make tarps 'n' things that cover your pickup truck bed. They've recently moved production to Mexico and left all their machines in Colorado. A liquidation company bought their old machines. And I purchased one from them. A blow to US manufacturing, and a boon to Leif Labs (and Mexico, I suppose).
Not too bad down there...
No timing belt like on the 1541.
Dirty, dirty.
And, sadly, it's been touched with stupid hands:
How did this happen?
Yeah...look at the area around the top screw...

It makes nice stitches, though. It was pretty banged up when I got it (more on that later), but I made some adjustments, and unbent some things, and now it sews pretty well...
But not in the longest stitch. I still have to tweak some things. Ha.

And I did have half of an electronic needle positioner, but it was totally destroyed in shipping. It was sticking out of the box when I received it...
I don't really need one, but it would've been kinda cool to have one that wasn't all smashed up. At least I have some cartridge bearings, I guess.
If you don't know what a needle positioner does, let Cobra Steve explain here.

And here's how it came:
This is absolutely the worst packing job I've ever seen. I think this machine was boxed up by four-year-olds after huffing spray paint. Seriously. It's not even one whole box. It's two, shoddily taped together. I think a burlap bag would've been a better shipping container than this box. At least the machine wouldn't've fallen though the bottom with a bag. Damn.
Hats off to FedEx, I suppose, for not cracking the machine casing. The EPS was destroyed, thread guides were bent, and the feed base was knocked outta whack, but at least it sews now, I guess.
Stay tuned for the binding part of this machine...after I get around to ordering it. Ha.
Happy trails.