Necchi 535 from 1965

Setting up my winter projects here & found this Necchi 535, with its cams & manual, for what I thought was a very reasonable price, & it arrived this morning.

Ebay pic here, so don't blame me for the poor quality/low res pic: ) It shows all you need before you 'take a chance'? Did for me.

But the machine arrived as the best packed VSM I ever received by Courier, & it is in fine order all round. It does have some sticky/stuck controls, but that is normal on a Necchi of the period that has not been used regularly. The hand-wheel/clutch is free & that is a bonus. (Both my other two Necchis had frozen handwheel/clutch) It is a one owner machine, bought by a lady new around 1965 in Nairobi, Kenya! She has looked after it very, very well over the years & here we are; ) This 525 model appears to be few & far between in UK & searching online for a Manual or a machine brought up nothing much. One example. I do have the Manual with the machine luckily, & I certainly need it to understand some of the details of the unique Necchi cam system & its Buttonholer attachment. All good fun: )

Looking like a potentially fine machine right now. It needs a comprehensive service, but it will get that as soon as practicable. (IE Probably before the 'Winter': )

Now to try it under power... Didn't check my life insurance first, but I survived. Many Necchis of the period have wiring insulation issues, so it is wise to examine it closely for obvious safety reasons. The cam system is now revolving as it should & even the zig-zag mechanism decided to loosen up: ) All good signs & the motor runs at full speed, with the slower option also working. I have a Lycia & a Supernova Ultra but neither work at full speed yet. So this 525 is showing the way. It needs some gentle runs now to loosen everything up, circulate the oil & see what happens. I'm quietly confident about this one.

Here it is now, top end all exposed, with some lubrication to loosen it up & see how it performs. 

Note the cogged belt drive on the right. Replacing one of them, if you can find one, will be a major job!! This one does look to be in good order though. The cam drive unit is quite complicated & needs to be clean, lubricated & adjusted correctly to work as it should. Pictured above it has not been cleaned by me, it's just as I took the top cover off. Not bad for a 60 year old machine? Apparently the machine has been unused for 15 years & so a certain stiffness in the mechanisms is only to be expected. Necchis of this period benefit greatly from regular use & that's all this machine needs IMO.

Rotary hook & all, it does have a different sound to an oscillating hook, but it ain't bad, just a little noisy. A good, properly adjusted Necchi will always sound cool, rotary or otherwise. This one will quieten down with use & get back into its normal rythym shortly, I'm sure; ) 

October 5 2014.

Tried some stitching finally & all seems to be good. Straight stitching & ZZ all good. The cams? First one I tried was XXXl, which has a reverse component to it, so it's a good test.

 Showing you an example of the stitching here. 

Jeans not the best example but you can see what it does: )

 

As seen it is a wonderful machine, close to perfect condition for a near 60 year old?