January 25, 2017

Husqvarna Viking SPECIAL (1950s)

I looked for this exact model; 3 dials on the front one on the back. An Ebay find.

So this has all of my minimum requirements and a couple more; its an FR-LRC-ZZ machine

Incredible engineering; engineered and designed by people who USED the machine because it has some very unique features. It also has basting stitch, ZZ, and multiple stitch ZZ. Also it has the 5:1 gear reduction system!

Unlike 99% of the spring loaded revers button machines of this era this one can be momentary reverse or by pushing in and down it locks in reverse.

It took several hours to get it cleaned out. The bobbin tension seamed off and the screw did nothing until I discovered that the spring was packed with fabric fuzz and so would not apply the correct pressure.

Typical of this era, when the plastic parts were engineered they didn't get all of it right.
The rear covers fastener points are all broken and the paint didn't stick completely to them.
On the rear cover you see the discoloration over the light bulb.

I didn't get the flatbed with it and the manual cover is missing.

During clean up I took the pedal apart, its all Bakelite 




The amazing thing is the design of the coil and the electro-mechanical connection


On the right of the ceramic coil instead of just a slider made of copper it has a carbon wheel; never seen anything like it.  

A little History