Hank

Please, be sure to read your manual. Some machines require oil in certain locations (usually the oil holes), and other locations (usually the motor) require grease. In general, moving parts with little load can use oil. Bearings, usually require grease.

Don't use regular oil (motor oil) on sewing machines. A machinist once told me that the oil he recommends on brass bearings and other sliding surfaces was transmission oil. He said to never use regular motor oil. That motor oil will gum up, he said. Transmission oil is designed to not gum up. This is what I use on my 1951 Singer lock-stitch machine. Just oiled the machine the other day for the first time since I've had it. And it really picked up the performance and smoothness and dampened the noise as it operated. Also, I don't have to manually turn the wheel, almost never, to start the machine running anymore. Works great in the places where oil is recommended by the manual. And a whole quart sells for around $3.00. Automatic Transmission oil. Not Motor oil!

My machine's manual says that two locations need the special Singer grease. Haven't tried that yet. But will possibly take a look and see what actually is being lubricated at these spots to give a recommendation for an alternative replacement for the original Singer grease.