Plastic geared machines are persona non grata in this house. I don't even consider them.
Otherwise if the machine looks at me with big sad eyes and whimpers ..... "please save me" . It goes home with me.
Here's something for you neat freaks to think about. If a machine is sanitary clean, it usually means they were not used much. When I see a machine like that the first thing that I ask is: "What's wrong with this machine, that nobody used it?"
On the other hand when I find a machine that has yellowed underneath from much oiling and has lint and fuzz everywhere I know that machine has been used ... a lot. And the odds are it is a good machine.
An example is the Commodore I got yesterday. It's a very good machine, all it needs is cleaning and oiling and it's good to go.
On the other hand the Edison I got earlier this year was clean, but completely unusable.
This hasn't been 100% true, but I'm thinking about 90% so I'm sticking to my methods.
Plus I like to fix 'em.
Joe