Trying to Stay Cool

When the husband moved into his new shop, I took possession of the old garage and put all my sewing machine stuff out there. I’ve got a nice workbench with good lighting and all my supplies close at hand. The old garage stays nice and cool, so I spent most of yesterday out there working on a couple of machines. While I don’t tinker with them as much as I used to, I still enjoy it.

Last fall, a friend of ours was cleaning out her mother’s house and came across a Necchi sewing machine in a cabinet. Knowing how much I love my Necchis, she asked me if I would be willing to look it over and clean it up. Her mom had picked up the machine at a yard sale for $10, so the request was practical, not sentimental. Thankfully, she wasn’t in a hurry because I haven’t had time to get to it. I pulled it out yesterday.

There are Necchis and there are Necchis. Like many other sewing machine manufacturers, Necchi moved its operations to China, Taiwan, and elsewhere in the 1970s. Nylon and plastic parts started showing up in machines. This is a Necchi 534FB (FA = free arm, FB = flatbed). I’ve never worked on one of these before. This model does have a toothed belt system—two belts, intended to provide more torque—but is otherwise fairly straightforward.

Alas, it contains a time bomb.

These nylon parts, be they gears or bushings or other pieces under stress, tend to yellow and crack. This is on the bobbin drive shaft. This machine might work fine for another five years, or it might self-destruct next week. (Rather like the transfer case on the BMW.) The husband opined that these parts potentially could be replaced with 3-D printed ones, but I have no interest in going down that road.

I cleaned the machine thoroughly. I’ll do a sewing test on it today, although I did plug it in yesterday to make sure everything was running smoothly.

I also pulled out a Singer 500A—a Rocketeer—and worked on it. The 500 model has built-in cams for decorative stitches. The 503 is similar, but with plastic cams that can be swapped in and out. (I’ve got two 503s waiting to be cleaned up.) Rocketeers are probably my second-favorite machine after the Necchis. This wasn’t the dirtiest Rocketeer I’ve ever seen. That honor belongs to mine, which was filthy and half hanging out of the cabinet when I found it at the thrift store for $10. Cosmetically, the one I worked on yesterday looked like it had been rode hard and put away wet, as we say out here. The insides were in relatively good shape and all the parts were moving freely, but the fact that the machine looks so beat up makes me wonder if the mechanisms were abused, too. That one is ready for a sewing test today, too, so we’ll find out.

I have the two 503s and a 401 to work on yet. Those are solid machines and I’d like to find good homes for them. I also want to check out the Viking/Husqvarna that came from my neighbor, Kim. It was her mom’s machine. Elaine has the same model. I’ve never sewn on one and I want to try it out. And if I get all of those cleaned up, I have a few old Singers that could be rehabbed. The husband is also going to help me finish taking apart the Singer 66 I began dismantling two summers ago. I want to remove the guts of that one entirely and see if our friend, Bill, will clean it up for me in his blasting cabinet so I can repaint it. I need a bigger hammer for that job, though.