Necchi Supernovas

The Supernova is probably the most overlooked and undervalued vintage sewing machine. The Supernovas made in Italy between the 1940s and the late '60s are not only the best Necchis ever made, but one of the best sewing machines ever made, in my opinion.

Necchi discontinued the Supernova in 1971. The most desired version is the Julia, or model 534. This came with a white vinyl accessory box. Other versions had a hard plastic box with a built-in dial for assisting with stitch selection. Most were flat bed machines, but a free arm version does exist. It is quite scarce (especially in Australia) but I have one but don't go out of your way to buy one: It is definitely not nearly as well designed as the flat bed version. The Automatica was made from 1955-1958, Ultra/Ultra II from 1958-1963, and Julia (534) from 1961-1971. Several models were imported as parts and assembled in Australia. The cams are all interchangeable except the Julia series, which had their own, and aren't compatible with anything else.

Why are they great?

Here are some of the reasons why it's easy to love a Supernova. They are:

1. Beautiful. Like most Italian designs, these machines are very easy on the eye.
2. Central bobbin (CB) machines. This is the most flexible type of lockstitch machine. You can use thick thread and big needles (within reason).
3. Extremely smooth and quiet. Typically, European made machines have tighter tolerances, and are more pleasant to use.
4. Extremely powerful.
5. Quite cheap to buy. The one in the picture cost me nothing because it wasn't working.
6. Capable of fully automatic embroidery.
7. They sometimes come with a needle threader.
8. Able to sew a semi-automated buttonhole, with a simple device attached to the pattern mechanism.
9. High shank. You can fit a lot of thickness under the foot.
10. Long bed. They are wider than regular full-sized sewing machines, which makes them a fantastic choice for quilting.
11. They have a left facing bobbin, and an ingenious system that moves the hook with the needle. This keeps the needle-hook distance and the hook timing exactly the same regardless of where the needle is. On other CB machines only the needle moves, so the hook timing changes when the needle is moved. There are a few Japanese manufacturers who copied this system, and they are also noted for their quiet and smooth operation.

They resemble the Berninas of the time but with the added embroidery, buttonhole, high shank presser and several other features (e.g. some have automatic needle threading).
Seems too good to be true, right? Right. Here are some of the reasons they're usually very cheap:

The bad things

1. They seize up. This is quite a big one. Almost all of the Supernovas I've seen have been left unused for years or even decades and were seized because of that. They have tight tolerances, so any solidified substance, especially oil impurities, will lock it up very tightly. Even if the needle moves up and down easily, if it hasn't been used for a few years it will probably have siezed in one of several other places.
2. Complicated power supply. Light bulbs used in Supernovas are the same as a festoon shaped dome or number plate light bulb in the cars of the time. That is, 12V (AC). This requires a heavy transformer that can output 12VAC, as well as three other AC voltages. They have a voltage selector that is switched to cope with many different input voltages. You could actually see this as a positive but it really adds to the weight issue. The transformer can also fail. You can't use a modern LED festoon bulb because they require a 12V DC supply, although if you insist on using one, it can be done using a bridge rectifier chip such this one.
3. The suppression capacitor blows up. Although this is very common in vintage machines, it's a bit harder to get to on the Supernova due to the transformer and it isn't obvious how to replace it.
4. They're extremely heavy. I weighed one in its case without accessory box and it was 17.9Kg.

How do I fix the problems?

Clearly there is little that can be done about the weight, but the other problems can be solved. The Seizing is the hardest problem to overcome. Here are the problem areas and some tips. I use a 50:50 solution of mineral turpentine and methylated spirits in a jar to dissolve most dried gunk, and just methylated spirits if I need to use a spray bottle (turps doesn't spray well at all). It was (and still is with some) common for sewing machine mechanics to use WD-40 on sewing machines to free them up. WD-40 should never be used on a sewing machine because some of the component chemicals don't evaporate, instead becoming very thick and sticky. This has been the primary cause of a lot of problems with some of my customers' machines. Use a toothbrush and the solvent to scrub at the gunk and lubricate with clean oil afterwards.

Now comes the hand wheel which is in two parts. When siezed, everything is usually very much stuck in place, meaning you can't remove the whole thing or separate them. You will need a lot of patience with this one, and possibly a couple of home-made tools. I use a home-made tool to force the hand wheel from the machine and from that point separating the component parts is much easier.
The tool is made from an old steel stop motion screw with a large hole drilled and tapped in the centre so that a bolt can be threaded into it (best to use a lathe to do this or the hole won't be centred).
To use it, replace the original stop motion screw with the tool and extract the hand wheel by winding the bolt into the centre. It should come out pretty easily with the even force of the bolt. After you have extracted the hand wheel, it must easily separate. If it doesn't, you need to get it apart and thoroughly clean the components so that it won't happen again.

The Accessories

Here is the accessory box. It is plastic and has a large wheel incorporated to give you more information about the settings to use with the cams. The case is opened by un-clipping the front and lifting it off.