I've only seen most Necchis in pics too. I've had two BUs and finally got the kidlet to give me back my Lelia 510. Despite the little bit of nylon/plastic in it, (bobbin case cover, stitch length worm gear) it's a good strong machine. Quiet and smooth running.

Cari

Hope there's no plastic bits in the one I'm looking at. If so I'll ........ I'm not sure what I'd do.

Joe

No, I don't remember any in the BUs. My Lelia is a much later model, it's actually the second version of the 510 it has a different tension assembly than most. What I liked best about my BU was the light. It had two or three pivot points so you could twist and turn it to be right where you need it.

Cari

Most of the made in Italy Necchi machines were pretty much all metal. The Lydia had a plastic camstack that was prone to cracking.

Mark,
There's also a plastic/nylon worm gear for adjusting stitch length in some of the later Supernovas. Same gear as my Lelia has. If you catch it before it breaks completely in half, some people have been successful at super gluing it back together. Luckily on my machine it's fine.

Cari

I've meched SuperNovas three times. They are easy, I find. I believe I custom ordered a belt, and you could get more info on the Yahoo groups Necchi group site.

The Supernovas have internal motors. The BUs have external motors so easier to fit and adjust.

Cari

hello all ...this is late entry to discussion but i have just found a site that's to treasure. i have a VN necchi bu that we found at flea mkt many years ago. it sewed great & i didn't need it. but had a new 1981 necchi that i loved, so hubs decided i needed a "backup" machine. long story, tried it, great, we moved a lot (read --every few months) so this "backup" machine has sat in it's case for a couple of decades. latest home was hall floor to hold folding doors to utility closet w rat poison closed to very nosey kitty. i have been following and have commented a few times here on this thread. first time was asking for help on old wards machine that the ever helpful husband insisted was a "good deal" @ 10$ at estate sale. 100$ later ...well, that's another story. but looking at some pics here then found this thread. i had taken the old necchi in before xmas and had new wires, cleaned etc. decided to peak at it, all i could remember big beautiful black industrial looking machine. was amazed to discover it was a vn ...had thought just n. brought it home last fri. finally got the threading figured out, sews beautifully. looking on net for manual. had saved the site joe posted for me w manual for the wards. today, still reading and researching and found a site that the manuals are free on. yes, FREE. am now happy downloader for a manual for a necchi bu nova ...but ..the image on the manual cover is my lovely old necchi vn bu. the link ...

http://freenecchisewingmachinefiles....ova_manual.pdf

back up the link to "freesewingmachinefiles" and go down list. he has LOTS of pdf manuals for vintage necchis.

Since the BU pdf is the first page in the link, we can't 'back up' a page.

Cari

click on the address bar ..when the little upright curser line blinks, touch/click on the bar ...then hit back or the "x" for delete/return. i do this all the time to find base site. but since i am adding all this to a new bkmk file for the bu, i'll just post the link to the home page ....

http://freenecchisewingmachinefiles.weebly.com/