This is my first Necchi, bought July 2024. Always been aware of Necchi but had no actual hands on experience with them previously. I deliberately chose the Lycia 522 because it is a simple, straightforward zig-zag & straight stitch machine. Start simple? I was also impressed with its pleasing, timeless design & distinctive all white, high quality paint finish. Introduced in 1955, which still amazes me: ) I make that 70 years ago in a couple of months time!! Way ahead of its time then & when you consider the period competition? Singer, Bernina, Elna, Pfaff? Bear in mind that the sister Lycia 524 had replaceable cams. Singers top of the line 401G was not available until 1959 in Europe. (The 401A late 1957 in USA?)
This machine has been sat around for several weeks while I attend to my 2 other Necchi machines, but is now due for attention. My Necchi 535 is now, disappointingly, a spares machine, but has an excellent motor: ) The Lycia motor had oil dripping over it when it first arrived & it was super slow. A few minutes under power resulted in smoke seeping out & was quite worrying at first. I was thinking a Capacitor was about to explode & so had a closer look at the internals. Turned out the smoke was coming out of the commutator end of the motor, so it was not an electrical fault at least. So I removed the motor, (not a simple job for a novice I discovered) & this is what I found:
The source of the smoke. The commutator is shiny, no carbon particles visible. How any electricity managed to pass through the oily brushes is beyond me, but it did run slowly. I gave it as good a clean as I could & it ran a good deal faster, but not full speed. I thought to replace the motor & found one on Ebay for £22.80 shipped. Knowing it was a chancy buy I asked the seller if it worked. He reassuringly replied that ‘it worked when I parted the machine’. He lied.
This was the ‘wiring’ under the sheath.
I thought to myself that rewiring it would not be a big problem, it needed slightly longer cables anyway & I used to be able to solder. I thought it would problematic to find another motor & so I said no more to the scumbag Ebayer. I later discovered that the internal wiring inside the motor had its insulation turning into jelly, so that makes the rewiring more problematic. The 535 motor will render the rewiring unnecessary though & I know it is fast & good.
Any UK Necchi/VSM fans seeking parts for their machines might like to avoid this liar: )
This machine weighs a fraction over 22lbs/10kg complete in its case so it is a real Portable in my opinion. The case is compressed paper, feels tough with a certain flexibility & is not brittle. (As per the red Bernina case) It has good quality clips to secure it to the machine & I have no hesitation carrying it by the handle. Fairly safe to ship also.
One neat little extra is a built in needle threader:
Works well too & even came with a packet of spare hooks in the accessory box. I need a threader with my poor eyesight these days: ) The light is small but set immediately above the needle. It also has a rotating shade! Not quite sure how much use a shade is, but indicates Necchi attention to detail. It also has a 2 position foot lifter.
December 3 2024.
After a lot of time distracted by two other Necchis I now have had some time to pay attention to this lovely machine. It is now stitching very well, not quite full speed, but not far off. I gave it a good service & a clean & polish. New needle, cleaned the tensions, rethreaded it & it sews so smoothly & impresses me bigtime. Took some photos today & here it is now.
Ready to sew & the more it does the better it works. How nice is that for a 1955/58 machine? Around 70 years old, it is amazing & a credit to its makers. I love the simple, clean look of it, the feel of of it & the quiet sound it makes doing its job. Everything works beautifully, winding a bobbin, reverse, variable zig zag, drop feed for free motion work & it does it all in style.
Only thing I haven’t tried yet is twin needle work. But I now realise it didn’t come with a twin needle throat-plate. It shows one in the List of Accessories in the manual, (No 27). 25 (Darning) & 26 (Single Stitch) are present, but not 27. Others report the same omission. Perhaps that’s why there are two original looking Necchi Twin Needles in the Accessory Box? The Twin Needle foot is present, looking very shiny underneath. The front to back twin needle is not that useful, but I would have liked to try it at least: )
Pictures paint thousands of words.
These machines do have a problematic plastic part on the stitch length control.
They can break/crack & that is a problem. This one has a developing crack around its centre but still working well. If the mechanism is well lubricated & it is not stiff when adjusting the stitch length then that is the best you can do. This one is very smooth & does not feel under pressure so I’m happy with it for now. If it breaks it’ll need replacing & I do believe robust brass replacements are available somewhere on Ebay. (see below)
Showing 2 different positions of it here. You can inspect it by removing the the rear cover (one screw) under the handwheel. With a torch you can see it. If you are considering buying one & can inspect it pre-sale.
There is another plastic cog/gear hiding under the top cover! Hard to see, & even harder to photograph, but here it is: )
Driven by the easy to see metal gear on the top shaft. Mine looks in good condition & I’m not too worried about it. Mine is the 522 & has no Automatic Unit. The 524 does & you won’t be able to see it with the Automatic Unit installed. All you can do is turn the machine over by hand & check if the actual cam unit turns. Be aware if you are considering buying a Lycia with cams. It would not put me off if I were buying one. So long as the cam drive turns: )
This is the brass/steel replacement part currently (Feb 14 2025) available on US Ebay:
Seller describes it as a ‘feed limiting worm’ & it looks good to me. Fitting it will be instructive, but it’ll outlast the machine & be a very useful spare part in the future. From UK it will cost around £80 shipped.
Recently (Feb 2025) I came across the 524 version of this machine. Been looking for one for a while but a Julia intervened. The Julia is very nice, but I just love the simple elegance of the top quality, all white with small black contrasts of the Lycia. Eye candy for me. Finally got round to taking some pics of the pair together this morning: )
After 8 months or so since my first Necchi 522 ZZ on the left, & last 544 Automatic on the right, it’s time for a pause for a little reflection? I’m thinking that I have a nice little group of 4 lovely, working machines I can now spend some time using them properly & getting some in depth experience with their amazing cam systems.