Some actually grind down a regular 15x1 needle for these, but it's not ideal. I found this info in
a thread on the Victorian Sweatshop forum, the still availble 206X13 are said to work ideally on this machine. It looks like the original needle was a CC1221 and had an equivalent Boye number.
Both of you have to let us know how this machine runs and stitches. The rotary mechanism is suppose to run very light and smooth, but I guess a new rubber friction wheel would be a must to even notice.