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Anyone use transmission fluid?

Anyone use transmission fluid?

Old 06-05-2014, 04:13 PM
  #21  
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They seemed friendly to me, and I enjoyed your thoughts on the use of ATF. I admit that damage to older finishes had not occurred to me.
Try it on that stuck machine and let me know how you get on
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Old 06-05-2014, 06:53 PM
  #22  
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Originally Posted by SteveH View Post
..........I've only be around old sewing machines a year or two, but lots of mechanical stuff prior.................
Steve, WHAT?!?!?!?!? You all-knowing machine guru, collector extraordinaire, you have really only been at this a couple of years? Wow. Now I feel more humbled than ever before.

James; WELCOME! I thoroughly enjoyed this thread. I love it when people think outside the box and bring new perspectives to things. I look forward to learning a lot from you!
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Old 06-05-2014, 08:10 PM
  #23  
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Originally Posted by Cecilia S. View Post
Steve, WHAT?!?!?!?!? You all-knowing machine guru,
Oh so NOT! I have been VERY fortunate to come into some amazing deals, some very focused obsessive searching and researching, and a LOT of learning here and from the times I can get Cathy(Mizkaki) to come down and show me what's what... Really SHE gets that title LONG before i would.

I am a mechanical nut. I took apart and rebuilt a 1956 chevy carburator from a car that had been "parked in the weeds" for a few years when I was 9 because I am ADD and grew up on my grandparents REALLY rural property and get bored super easily. I blame the fact that once the carb was rebuilt, the dang car started with my willingness to take things apart to see what they do and how they do it. Pre 1901 machines are amazing that way....
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Old 06-06-2014, 02:36 AM
  #24  
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My experience with 4 year old Tri-flow is that any build up powders off like the finish on a teflon skillet then things turn very nicely. You are not using a huge amount of it. It does work very quickly. I can see that the transmission fluid might be nice when you have a more stuck than normal situation. I did buy a couple cans of Kroil but haven't had time to mess with it. If what ever your free it up solution could damage paint, use caution and adequate protection for the paint. I do know that Wilbur believes in Tri-Flow. We had two or 3 old stuck machines out back last summer. I gave Wilbur a bottle of clear sewing machine oil because being 4 he tends to go hog wild with the oil for the machine he was oiling. Then I gave Lovie Tri-flow for her stuck machine. We oiled and pulled out threads. All of a sudden Lovie's machine moved. Wilbur looked over there then looked at his machine and his oil. Then he said, "Grandma my machine needs that brown oil, too." You can't fool a little kid.
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Old 06-06-2014, 05:10 AM
  #25  
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I have covered samples of 12 different oils under observation, upon my bay window since 12/28 of last year. Some remain completely fluid, some have gotten much thicker due to their solvent loss, and some have clouded over and jelled to the point of no movement. So which ones would you use on your sewing machines ? Both Kroil and Tri Flow have a goodly percentage of light solvents that will evaporate, leaving a somewhat heavy oil that still flows after over 5 months of exposure. Tri Flow is a bicycle product, with 40 % solvents, designed to dissolve and flush away old lube deposits and leave an oil deposit. Old sewing machines can benefit from that logic. In my mind, a fresh clean sewing machine doesn't need the solvent, just the lube oil. My oil of choice is Mobil DTE Light turbine oil. My metal cutting machines spec this oil in their transmissions, so I have 5 gallons. If I desire the solvent flushing action, add 40% light solvent such as kerosene or charcoal lighter fluid. For the same smell as Tri Flow add 4 % amyl acetate (banana oil). To learn the content of commercial products, read their online MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet).
John in WI
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Old 06-06-2014, 06:09 AM
  #26  
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OK, Lets go beyond the MSDS and get to the crux of the subject.

What works, what doesn't? I do not own nor use any modern plastic wanna be machines, all I have is old to vintage to antique. So I do need an oil with the solvents such as Tri-Flow for the older ones that have decades of oil build up. And T-F does do a great job with them.
However, T-F does have one annoying tendency. If the machine sits for a period of time, you'll need to re-oil it before you use it. I have many machines and some have set longer than a year between uses and I've begun to see this just recently. Since I've been mechanicing for decades and my motto is if it moves - oil it, I can live with it. But I'd rather not have to oil a machine after it sits for a few months.

So, what works? Alright, here is a true, first hand story about a machine that sat for over 20 years between uses and ran perfectly when it was used again.

Back in 1989 or so my mother retired her old straight stitch 15 Clone (my avatar picture) for a newer but still vintage Kenmore ZZ machine.
At that time her oil of choice was ....... 3-in-1. It did say on the cans back then it could be used in sewing machines, so why not.

The machine was serviced by my late uncle Charlie and set back as a back up machine. It set on the bottom of a particle board shelf that soaked up lots of water that seeped under the wall as the bath tub in our house started leaking. The case all but rotted away, molding and decaying around the machine. We left that house in 98 and came to IL >yuck, but that's another story.

In 2011 I remembered the machine, hunted it down and checked it out. In spite of over 20 years of non use, in spite of the case molding and rotting around it ...... when I plugged it in and pressed on the foot controller ..... she took right off like she'd been used just yesterday. I've rebuilt the case, but just gave the machine a cursory cleaning and oiling and I'm still using it. It's never missed a beat.
Here's some better pics: { http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...d-t200795.html }

What my uncle oiled it with when he serviced it, I do not know. Mom had used 3-in-1 oil in it for decades. That worked.

End of story, no moral or sermon here.

If you like oil that smells good, try Marvel Mystery Oil in the small plastic bottles. That is a very good oil and is still red like ATF.
I have used that in sewing machines and it works quite well. It's a light free flowing oil that I just might start using again.


Now, on to something else.
I remember that fellow SteveH mentioned but I can't remember his name. His claim to infamy here was bragging to everyone that he was a 30 year + sewing machine mechanic and he lubed his machines by using an aerosol spray lube and hosing the machines insides then just buttoning them and leaving it at that.
We, or some of us, tried to give him the benefit of the doubt but he received a very cold shoulder from 99.8% of us.

I don't quote MSDS facts or things like that because most folks doesn't even know that chart exists. Couldn't care less either. What they want to know is WHAT WORKS. I came to this forum with 11 years of internet forum experience and many forums under my belt. I spoke of only that which I knew and had personal experience with, but didn't try to come off as a know-it-all or superior type. In the last year several other guys have also joined with much more mechanical, machining, and other technical experience that I have. So I have had to listen more than speak. That's OK, I still say what I know.

Jamesbeat, your quote and reply to my comment almost read as argumentative to me, but not quite. You got called on it and explained. So I'll continue on. No big deal, welcome to the QB.


So, now my arthritic fingers are tired of typing and I'm gonna read some more.

It's what works, not what some chart says.

JMNSHO

Joe
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Old 06-06-2014, 08:45 AM
  #27  
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Johnm, nice to see some real research going on!
Did you use a sample of ATF in your experiment?
If so, how is it holding up?

Interesting that you mention using mineral spirits etc as solvent additives. This is practically the same thing as a popular home-brew gun cleaning product called 'Ed's Red'.
I use this on all of my firearms, and it works great. It's actually what got me started on researching lubricants rather than just trusting the writing on the bottle.

I recently bought an old sxs shotgun, and the thing was covered in varnish from old oil (my guess is 3-in-1).
The firing pins were stuck so badly that if I had closed the gun with shells in the chambers, the protruding firing pins would have set them off. It also stunk to high heaven.
I dropped the action in a bath of ATF and barbecue lighter fluid, and the next day it was clean as a whistle and functioning normally.
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Old 06-06-2014, 09:44 AM
  #28  
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J Miller, it is great to see you up and functioning 100% again--I'm remembering your recent bout with something that put you in hospital. And I do love to see you guys get into the "discussions" and I am glad they are written down, so I can go back and study them when my son and I take on a "old old old machine" project. I can't post pics, so I know everyone gets put out with me when I ask specific questions without a pic, but all of you have been a tremendous help to both of us. Someone even pointed us to a tute someone made showing tensions and how to adjust, and how to read the "spin" of your thread that worked amazingly for my son (who is my quilter on a new Gammill that has had tension problems from day one) and from that day forward our quilts started being done up better and better. I love all of you, grumpy or not.....

And this thing with the ATF--years ago when I was puttering with an old machine that was stuck to high heaven and DH brought me in a can and told me to try it, but to do it outside, as it would stink. And boy did it ever. But it worked, and I got that machine up and running and my GS did his beginning sewing lessons on it. I still have it around somewhere and he calls that his machine. I think it is a knock-off of the Singers, because it looks and sounds like one of the pre-wartime Singers.
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Old 06-06-2014, 09:57 AM
  #29  
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Did you know that transmission fluid can eat a hole in a blacktop driveway and if it splashes on your clothing it will eat a hole in it - like battery acid the holes don't show up til after its been laundered. So I would never try putting this any where's near my sewing machines.
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Old 06-06-2014, 10:30 AM
  #30  
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Welcome jamesbeat!

One thing I'd like to mention is that at some point someone somewhere, possibly on a forum like this probably came along and said "pffft! SM oil?!? I use this bike chain oil on my sewing machines..." and people there probably also thought it was a crazy idea.

I guess what I'm saying is that we never know where the next "step" in our sewing machine lubrication evolution is going to come from.

I probably wouldn't use Transmission fluid for my machines because I hate the smell of it and what it does to my hair. I spilled a whole bottle of it in my hair and down my shirt when I changed the transmission in my old firebird. The hose popped out of the tranny and the whole bottle landed on me. No amount of washing with soap, shampoo or even that gritty Fast Orange took it all out. I looked like I was wearing a greasy Tina Turner for a week, just in time for a Christmas party too. Since then, I can't stand the smell of transmission oil.
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