Vigorelli RZ/A Robot

This last Thursday was one of those mini-vacations I occasionally take to somewhat distant cities and towns to acquire machines and meet up with fellow VSM friends.  On this occasion, the destination was Spokane, a beautiful and friendly city in the Inland Empire.  Having already scheduled to meet my good friend Janet Szabo, Janet was able to coordinate a meet-up with another VSM acquaintance through the VSM Life FB page, Maria Hunter.  She, her husband, and her dog met us at Boyd-Walker (the world's oldest Pfaff dealership) in downtown Spokane and we then had a machine exchange, I with a Singer 306K in tow and she with this machine, a Vigorelli straight with a cam stack.

Designing a machine to create stitches other than straight stitch can be done several ways.  One way to do it is to have all stitches other than straight run off a cam stack, whose following arm is only activated when not in straight mode, thus requiring a mode controller, usually a knob.  This has a distinct advantage for most machines designed this way, as the needle bar only deviates from straight stitch when this knob and the related following arm are in position to allow the bar to move in a lateral motion.  Straight stitches tend to be unusually straight for a zig-zag machine (unusually because in my experience, this design isn't the most common) because this mode knob usually -- and in the case of this Vigorelli, does -- makes sure the needle bar doesn't turn or move in a trough with a controlling spring as in other designs.  Needless to say, even common zig-zag (a stitch that is often simply built into the basic functioning of a machine and is activated merely by moving a width lever away from zero) is also read off a dedicated cam. 

In addition, the machine allows for the following arm to read two cams simultaneously, something I've never seen on another machine.  With adjustable needle position and this unique reading option, several decorative stitch patterns are possible and all can be produced with a double needle, as the hook faces forward despite a left-sliding plate.

This machine's original Vigorelli 1.3 amp motor is strong and fast and appears to complement the robust quality of the all-metal innards quite well.  It's not the quietest machine but I've only just started to oil it and it may take a little time.  At any rate, it's not unusually noisy and the feed dogs are high enough and aggressive enough that fabric feeds very well.  The cam stack assembly screws out of the back and can be seen spinning while the machine is running -- odd and rather cool.

As I understand it, Mr. Vigorelli worked for Necchi and decided to design and manufacture his own machines.  I own another later model, the Vigorelli Fantasy badged White.  I'll be cleaning that one and writing about it in the next few weeks so stay tuned!  This is a highly capable machine and although I've seen these Robot machines (this and the slightly newer model) over the years, I hadn't had the opportunity to acquire one until Maria offered an exchange.  Thanks, Maria!