Necchi Lycia 522
A new arrival at the weekend & Necchi is also new to me. I considered buying one for a while, to see what they are all about! Having a couple of Berninas & Elnas & being impressed by both, a Necchi seemed a logical next step.
Necchi made many different models so how to choose? I chose this one because it was local, no chancy shipping: ) It is single stitch & ZZ only since I heard tales of problems with certain machines using cams & I have other machines with cams. Keeps the machine simpler too. Looks to be late 50s early 60s which is my preferred period. Before 'electronics' & with minimal plastic. The Lycia looked good to me in the Ebay pics so I took a chance on it. Hoping it didn't have too many hidden/undisclosed/unknown problems.
After a closer look at it yesterday I think I made a good choice.
My First Day Look follows. From opening the box. I intend to keep a progress diary of this machine from the beginning till the day it's usable & looking the part again: )
This is first look before I even opened the case to see inside... As found except for removing much dust in order to see what colour the case was in reality. A very pale green to my eye & is made from a pliable, tough plastic with good quality catches. (A definite improvement on the red, brittle, plastic cases on certain Berninas)
Opening it up shows a slightly dusty machine with excellent paint!
History of the machine is that it was bought new by the original owner, regularly serviced & maintained by a local business during its working life. Later passed onto the seller, a relative, who never used it. Was stored for many years until she decided to sell it. Which is where I come in: )
All the controls are free, except for the round stitch length selector. No surprise there considering its lay up time. I just hope there are not too many others inside. Plugs & cables appear to be good, also the foot controller. Foot controller was not OK actually, see below.
Contents of the Attachment Box are always interesting. Plenty of feet, 4 original bobbins, the free motion foot & little ring stretcher. I particularly like the 2 different throat plates (S/S & feed plate cover) all shiny & unused: ) Its Instruction Manual is with it in good order.
I decided to give it an oiling top side last night & run the motor to see what it sounded like in action.
Wasn't what I was expecting. The seller had a video clip of the machine in motion, lamp on. So I knew the motor worked, but it sounded clattery to me! Here, last night, with a few drops of oil on the top end it's quiet & smooth with a distinctive, muted rhythm. It sounds like no other machine that I've heard. No rotary hook on this one so it has those particular sounds of the moving parts underneath doing their stuff.
No hint of any unwanted noises, rattles. Trying the Stitch length knob, it was free: ) A little stiff at first but freer now.
Only downside is that the machine runs slower than it should. It's has 2 speeds & they work, but slowly. First thing to check is the button foot controller. Similar outwardly to the Singer version. (This was the actual problem, see below)
Second 'problem' was I thought I noticed some faint wisps of smoke coming out of the open top. Need to have a closer look. The motor was only running for a couple of minutes but sounded perfectly OK. Capacitors? Just checked again & within 2 minutes smoke is indeed present.
Now all shutdown while investigating. Plenty to do otherwise.
8th September 2024.
A couple of weeks later I am much wiser. The machine is now stitching: ) Or did! It became obvious that the hand-wheel/clutch was solid when I tried to fill a bobbin... So I managed to free it after some time & much WD-40. When I decided to get my hairdryer out it suddenly surrendered & freed: )
I tried a different foot controller & we now have faster stitching, closer to normal speed, but not quite there yet.
The smoky motor, after a good clean & some personal attention, appears to be working well now. Quite amazing actually considering the oily commutator & brushes. It's amazing it worked at all!
A good example of excessive/over enthusiastic oiling which had been dripping onto the relatively unprotected motor for some considerable time.
23rd September 2024
Current situation is that motor speed is now close to normal, but it has just started missing stitches... Attention needed, but it now has to compete for my time with a very nice Necchi 525 & a Supernova Ultra which also had a frozen hand-wheel/clutch. Now freed, but I moved the hook/top end timing in the process: ( Two steps forward & one step back, but learning much in the process: )
All 3 Necchis were intended as Winter projects, but I started early; )
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