Necchi 3205FA
 

Hello fellow Board Buddies!
Knowing how SMART yall are... here I post a Question...

My Mom received a gift of a new Necchi, and out of the box it will NOT zigzag stitch :(

She hasnt used it and there it sits....

Is there a maintenance item to fix this? without a dealer or repair under two hour drive.... I could try to have a go of it?

Any advice on this machine is welcome! lets start this as an educational thread for owners ;)

Anything to get my Mom sewing :D :D :D

I checked images online to have a look at the machine. Looks very much like a mechanical machine, which means you can use a screwdriver to take the top off. Do you have the manual for the machine? Typically mechanical machines need regular oiling, and the manual will show you all of the oiling points. I see that this machine has several defined-width zigzag stitch choices. I assume none of them work? You may be able to see what the problem is once you get the cover off. I would turn the wheel (towards you) to see what the mechanism is doing.

My first question is - does it sew straight stitch properly? If so, then I would check the user manual to be certain that everything for the zigzag stitch was set properly (it looks like this machine, you have to MANUALLY change the width setting - I would set it to the widest possible setting for troubleshooting). Then, once I knew that all the settings were correct, I would turn the wheel by hand and watch to see if the needle does indeed go side to side. Also, be certain that you have the correct presser foot, with enough hole width to accommodate the wide stitch. Good luck!!

When a mechanical sewing machine sits unused for a long time, the old oil turns into glue. In the top of the machine, everything needs to move freely to get the zig-zag or other stitches working. At the shop, I remove the old oil with WD-40. Just spray it in, then work all of the mechanisms by running the machine, or by moving the parts by hand. Set the zig-zag at it's widest, then work the needle bar side to side. Then see what the needle bar moves, and work that mechanism. Keep working and moving everything until it's moving freely. Then it's important to remove the WD-40. I use an air compressor and flannel rags. After the WD-40 is removed, re-oil.

http://www.shesasewingmachinemechanic.blogspot.com

THANKS! I will be at my Moms this weekend! I will see what I can see :D :D :D

Please do NOT use WD-40!! It will turn to a gummy mess and it's not for sewing machines. Use Tri-Flow or sewing machine oil only. Any sewing machine tech will tell you WD-40 is made for squeaky door hinges and should not be in your sewing room.

Tri-flow is a lubricant. WD-40 is a solvent. This tech, and most techs that I associate with use WD-40 on a regular basis. The important thing is to completely remove it, before re-oiling.

Sorry. I TOTALLY disagree. And most qualified service techs would back me up. I don't know who you associate with, but they're not anyone I'd ever recommend. Putting something inside a sewing machine that has to "be completely" removed or will gum up and cause problems later on, is silly when there are products available that do not need to be removed . Any educated and experienced tech will recommend Triflow(which also dissolves gunk and is not just a lubricant), Kroil or sewing machine oil. If I walked into a sewing machine repair place and saw WD40, I would run!

Ask this same question on the vintage part of this forum and you will get the same reply as mine....

All of the websites I have seen warn against using WD-40 in sewing machines. I can understand it not doing any harm if you are able to remove it all. Most people won't have an air compressor handy, though.

Sewing machine oil is the safest thing to use.

I don't use WD-40 for a completely different reason -- I can't stand the smell of it. My husband used it once on our outdoor chairs to stop a squeak. The odor never dissipated; finally had to ask dh to remove as much of it as he could and never use it again on anything I would get near! To me, the stuff smells like poison. I just figure anything that smells that bad to me is probably toxic (at least to me!). Doesn't seem to bother other people -- dh wasn't bothered by it at all -- but the stuff makes me shudder even as I write this.

So, if you have gummy oil, your idea is to put more oil on it? Wouldn't it be better to remove the old stuff? I'd like to know how YOU would remove the old stuff? I know some people stress about WD-40, but if you'd try it, you'd know how well it works. It breaks-up the old oil, not covers it up. We've had machines come in with froze-up parts that another tech said wasn't repairable. We just remove the old stuff with WD-40, and our sew-er is back in business. Sorry to upset the apple cart.