Originally Posted by mpeters1200
A quick question about maintenance.
So...fast forward to the vintage machine. I have 2 full pages in my owners manual with 24 odd places of interest for oil. REALLY!?!?! I have to oil this every 4 hours? How am I supposed to keep track of the hours?
I don't want to break or otherwise hurt the machine or her production by either oiling/cleaning too much or too little or in the wrong places. There's more arrows on my manual than Carter has liver pills. I just have no idea what I should be doing with her.
mpeters.... lol! love your post. The old, cast iron Singer type machines (and I believe all the other old vintage/antiques out there) do need oil and sometimes grease. Just in case someone hasn't mentioned the basics yet:
First off, if no one's yet told you... always use 'sewing machine oil' in the spots, holes, felts, etc. of your antique machines and only where the manual tells you to. Not all 'holes' are oil holes. Use some common sense too.... lol... it's unlikely that you're going to want to put oil into the motor! It will smoke up a storm!
Also, it's a good idea to put a drop where there are moving metal parts sliding on moving metal parts. You'll see those 'Carter liver pill' oil ports/arrows in the manual - notice that many times the oil points are underneath, and inside the side (behind the faceplate) and in the back underneath the metal plates. So get a screw driver and unscrew the plates and oil it in there too. That's why there are readily removable plates there... so users can access the inner workings to clean out fuzz and oil.
These old machines are not 'self-lubing' so to speak. But they're not really hard to take care of either. One drop and one drop only, in each oil spot... on a maintained machine is good. If you're refurbishing a machine or it's sat for 20 years... it'll need cleaning, and a lot of oil to get it to work. But it will work after you're done with it!
If you sew a lot, constantly, then you might need to oil it every 6 months or so. If you're an occasional sewer, then 1/year or so. After using the machine for a while, you get a 'feel' for when the machine is going to be 'thirsty'. Some people say they can 'hear' their machine metal parts starting to rub more, or that they can 'feel' it needing oil.
Some of the early electrified Singers (and potentially some of the similar, non-singer machines) also had 'grease tubes' for the early motors. The manual will show you where/if you have them. Use Tri-flow or Singer sewing machine grease/lub only. Do not use appliance grease, white lithium grease, automotive grease, etc. Many of those have additives that won't help your machine. If you have a specific question about all that, check with others on the site, like Billy, Glenn, or ???
And lastly.... if anyone else comes along and gives you more advice... go with them! <grin> I'm still new to antique machines, but have progressed a LONG way with the help of this board and this topic/thread.
Have fun with your machine, take a bit of reasonable care... and it will outlast you... and your children.