I originally posted about this on Miriam's thread about taking a sledge hammer to a recalcitrant machine of hers,
Sewing Machine MADNESS but since the story would sort of sidetrack that post, I thought I'd let it go this separate direction. To bring you up to date, yesterday I - impulsively and without trying it out - bought a Necchi Supernova. Can't really explain myself. It has a nice, functional cabinet, and the price was right (though DH might tend to raise his eyebrows). Let's just call it a learning experience. I have had quite a few of those, but there's always room for one more.
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Anyway, when I plugged it in the light came on, but the motor has about as much life in it as last year's Thanksgiving turkey. It could be the foot pedal or the wiring, or it could be the motor really is quite dead. The good news is the seller has offered to refund my money, but I don't really want to part with the machine yet. He says I can see what I can do before I decide. Sweet man, except he said in the ad it "works fine!"
My experience with servicing motors extends no further than replacing the brushes in an ancient Sunbeam Mixmaster maybe 20 years ago, with, shall we say, mixed results. I have rewired a foot pedal and I may check that out here, since it's a relatively simple thing to try.
So I was sitting here with the machine on a table nearby, and I glanced over admiring the elegant design of this Italian wonder, when I noticed that the cover plate over the motor area is held on neatly with exactly 2 screws, so of course I had to have a look inside.
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The kleenex used to wipe the inside of the cover:
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Oh dear. The poor thing seems to have been spewing a lot of black goo. It was all over everything in there, an eighth of an inch thick. Something tells me this is not a favorable sign. Oddly, the belt is not only intact but seems healthy. I don't think anyone replaced it recently because there were no fingerprints, which most certainly would have shown up in that mess. The hand wheel turns slick as a whistle and the needle goes up and down. I haven't threaded it to see if it will make stitches because first I had to order a manual and don't have it yet. I'd better not mess around with things until I can get some clue. Now it seems I may need to look for a service manual, too.
I just wanted to share this experience because it's so much fun (sort of like a migraine). But isn't this machine a beauty? It's hard to believe that it dates to the late 1950's. It's so sleek that, except for the slightly clunky switches and knobs, the external design is not much different from the brand new machines of today, though of course it's not plastic. I'm sure that if I can get it working I will like it as much as I do my mom's Elna, which is probably at least 10 years newer, but very similar in concept.
I would enjoy hearing from others who have had experience with this model.