Repairing My Own Machine
Greetings, Fellow Quilters!
I have learned so much from all of you, but this is my first time to speak up. The other day there was a thread about the high cost of having our machines repaired, and I felt encouraged to do some of my own - like cleaning and oiling. I've been finishing up some UFO's, thanks to your encouragement last year, and my machine stopped threading my needle, so I've been investigating what is going on. I have a Baby Lock, Quilter's Choice, sold by the local Bernina dealer. I had my husband unscrew the front cover and check out the workings of the threader. A "gizmo" slides on a bar with some plastic parts. It doesn't want to slide, so my husband suggested we spray it with silicone spray. That is supposed to lubricate plastic. When I took the new owner classes for the machine, I was told to NEVER spray anything in or on the machine. I don't quite trust the Bernina repairman because when I took my Elna serger to him to fix, he mixed up the color-coded parts and didn't fix it either, even though he said he could fix it. Another repairman showed me there was a burr on a part that needed to be carefully sanded off. What do you wonderfully knowledgeable sewers think about the silicone spray? I surely don't want to do more damage. Thanks for you help, Dianna