I bought some stick on little "rubber" circles that you use to keep things from banging against one another. I stick one on all the screws of my Featherweight face plates to keep them from scratching when they're folded up.

I've use it on 3 fws now without a problem. I avoid the decals and use clean to soak the shiny metal in. All gunk just dissolves with no scrubbing.

Ok. Thanks for all the advice. I was going to do some cleaning on her today (didn't happen. The boyfriend stole me) but I laid her gently on her side and was cleaning out the underside briefly. There is a cable that goes from inside the machine to the electrical plug on the rich side of the machine. I'm guessing it was once rubber or something like that. It's white and powdery and kind of flakey. I'm afraid this means I will need to rewire her or something. (something I don't think I can do! :( ) I plug her in and she runs. The other cables look fine. A little feathery in the fabric department but she's 50 some years old, so I figured that's to be expected. Any advice? I took some pics but need to be home to download them to the computer. But maybe someone knows just by description? Help?

Kittywolf I think your problem is not a real big problem. That is lead sheathing over the wiring. I posted pics of my machine a few weeks ago when I was cleaning her up. I gently cleaned off the flakey white stuff with kerosene, let it dry and then gave it a coat of shellac. I did it outside and was real gentle because you do not want the breath the white stuff.

Happy Birthday and congratulations on finding such a great gift!

Thank you red warrior!

Caroline, I'm going to go take a peek at your posts then to see your images. :) thank you for letting me know it isn't a big deal. Makes me feel better.

Once at a quilting/sewing show a FW guy gave me a little rubber dot to stick on the screw so it doesn't scratch the bed.

I will either do that or see up a quick little sleeve. Shouldn't be too difficult. :)

OK guys, I'm not seeing where the faceplate is missing. You are talking the decorative plate that faces the flip-up bed, right?

I have no clue what their talking about either. I don't see any missing screws either.

Can anyone tell me what's the story behind the white FW?