oregongirl

last week i bought a 15-91 from someone who didn't sew and had it only for the cabinet. i think it had been stored in the garage and it was filthy outside and under the base. the faceplate was so dirty the woman had told me it was bronze - but the bronze was an oily dirt that came off with cleaning. the handwheel wouldn't even turn without major effort, and then only barely moved. i couldn't resist the challenge, so i bought it anyway. the cabinet is in decent shape - a queen anne style that i will use even if the machine is beyond saving. hehe although i'm not ready to give up on it yet!

i've read all the how-tos on cleaning - enough that my head is spinning! cleaned & oiled under the faceplate, around the bobbin, under the main body, removed the handwheel and found that entire cavity packed with grease. it had hardened almost like candle wax, so i thought that was the problem and pried it all out. turned the metal pipe inside and the needle moved freely. i wiped out the area down to clean metal, added some lube to the gear below and on the handwheel, but was unable to get the gear below to move at all. i put the handwheel back on and the needle won't move again. i *think* i have the handwheel on correctly. i opened one grease pot (closest to the front) and the grease is still normal texture in it. i cleaned out what was easy to get to without removing the works inside and added a little more lubricant to it. i didn't do anything with the second grease pot. the handwheel still barely moves.

then i removed the screw on the front of the machine that appears to be at the end of the immovable gear. it is very wet with oil, but i couldn't see how to grab anything to try to force the gear to move from there.

any ideas? should i take off the motor and would that give me access to the back of that gear?

i'm new to the vintage machine bug, but have bought 3 machines in the past 3 weeks. i now have six: my grandma's 1917 66 Red eye treadle;
the 1961 Slant-o-matic Rocketeer 503a from an estate sale in 1989 that's my main machine;
my mother's Pfaff 360, also from around 1960, that is for my 26 yr old daughter;

the new ones:
another Rocketeer, identical to mine, for my 20 yr old daughter,
a 66 that was in a near-dead case, off of craigslist that was so bad i bought it more out of sympathy for the seller than anything. it's spruced up very nicely, however and now i'm loving it;
this 15-91 that is also cleaning up nicely, if i can just get the gears freely moving - at least i think that's the problem.

thanks for your help!