Nelco N-15 Swing 'N Sew (Elna Lotus/Stella Syle) Sewing Machine

Description: For sale is a NELCO N-15 Swing 'N Sew 3. This machine was patterned after the Elna Lotus and Stella machines. The examples that I have possessed seem to have been made between 1968 and 1970,though I have no Idea of the actual span of years they were made.JC Penney also sold these badged as Penncrest or simply as the JC Penney brand. Three variants were produced. A simple straight stitch/zigzag machine, one that additionally had a button hole cam stack with knob, and one like the N-15 here, that in addition to the button hole feature, has three utility, and four stretch stitches. This machine has been gone through very extensively. Every bit of the original congealed factory grease was removed from the entire machine along with all the dried and varnished machine oil that it received over the years. This was not a case of putting three drops of oil in a few locations and calling it serviced. Hook clearance verified along with timing. Hook sharpened and polished beautifully. The automatic mechanism was removed disassembled and cleaned completely down to the base materials. A light film of Teflon based synthetic grease was sparingly used in a few key spots while all metal pivot points and wear surfaces received a light oiling. The adjustment on the right side of the mechanism were adjusted to control the forward/reverse feed of the stretch stitches(front) and of the buttonhole stitches(rear). I snapped a picture of the assembly after partially assembling. Like the original Lotus, these never came with removable panels like the later Stellas. I modified this so that the front and rear covers can be pushed toward the column to release them from the hinges at the nose cover. The base cover comes off with one thumbscrew to allow easy cleaning of lint along with maintenance of the hook and its race. I sample stitched through the various stitches with material from an unwashed fat quarter with the ~40 wt thread that my local Walmart is now carrying instead of Coats And Clark. I did all of it with a size 11 needle using the same thread top and bottom. These are conditions that could be improved upon yet it did great. I misjudged and didn't leave room for buttonholes, so I added them on a second piece with some satin stitching for kicks. They were done with the same materials using a plain satin stitch foot with no guides. These could be done very nicely with proper choices made. I have included several pictures to demonstrate comparison between this machine and its Elna counterparts because I've had Elna fans remark that these are full size machines that dwarf the Elnas. Of course the Lotus is significantly smaller. If this was the same size as it, the Lotus would be the one for sale. I find it to be a more fair comparison to the Stella. The Nelco is 3/8" taller, 3/4" longer, while being 1-1/4" wider than the Stella. The Nelco's weight with/without controller is 19.5/18.2 lbs. to the Stellas 13.5/12.9 lbs. The difference in the amount of injection molded parts versus metal along with the Stella's air pod control pedal make for this difference. I do not have an owner's manual for this multi-stitch version. Only the SS/ZZ version, and it's the only version I've been able to find for these machines. The nose cover does have a very good diagram for threading and unlocking the main shaft along with bobbin winding. This is best done with the selector in the SS/ZZ position to clear the thread properly. (THE ELNAS SHOWN ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS SALE)

Price: 285 USD

Location: Florence, Montana

End Time: 2024-11-23T22:01:30.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD