Tale of Two Necchi's

I love those Italian made Necchi's so when my friend Ellen, with the women's project in Haiti, showed me one someone gave her, I gladly took it home to see if it could be made safe and workable. She also sent a great lavender colored Kenmore that needed a bit of work but was wonderful in the end so a small success gave me hope for the Necchi. But it had a hitch in its movements, kind of like having a bad hip. I set it aside for a week so I could think about what the problem might be. When I got back to it I also took out another Necchi, same model, to compare:

Necchi BU Supernova

They were not the exact same color but everything else looked the same. On the newest one I noticed the wiring had been reconfigured and this machine no longer had low gear or a light switch. The light was a Singer screwed onto the back. Weird, but workable. I rewired the connection on the motor and tried to change the belt from a stretchy one to a recommended v-belt. None would fit, not even the one from my BU Supernova. What? How could that be? Even with a too-short belt just held in place it would still drag in spots so I looked down in at the wheel:

Next to the wheel is where the belt goes

The photo above shows the belt removed but if you look closely you can see there is very little room for the belt and it would rub on the cast metal body. Here's a photo of my Supernova:

Note belt and size of wheel on the inside

Okay, even to the naked eye you can see the belt on mine has plenty of room but the first one is crowded. I took both wheels off to compare and the first one was much larger where the belt would rest. It had the wrong wheel! Along with the wrong wheel, the stretchy belt (puts strain on a motor), no low gear, wonky light and wiring (now fixed), I let Ellen know this Necchi was not going to Haiti. But I had a solution for her (and me). For the same price I would have charged for the repair, I suggested she could buy a working straight stitch Necchi in a cabinet. I would keep the first Necchi as a parts machine and she got a great one for Haiti. She took a look at Lelia and said yes!

Lelia 510

She got a great deal, I got a parts machine, and one more cabinet is leaving the garage!

Here's the countdown on the cabinets/machines in the garage: one empty cabinet sold this week, one sold to Ellen for Haiti, one is leaving this weekend, one is listed for sale and will get donated this week if no sale. That leaves:

• Singer 401A in original Singer cabinet
• Singer 306 in original cabinet
• Kenmore in donated cabinet
• Pfaff 130 cabinet (machine getting painted)
• empty small footprint cabinet (will get donated)
• empty but stripped cabinet, ready to stain (will come into the house)

Only 3 sewing machines but those six cabinets have to leave in the next couple of weeks. Oh boy, it's going to get busier around here!