i was at LSWS to buy a lubricant and was surprised to see this guys inventory. he got like thousands of modern sewing machines and 12 of 221 FWs and some 222 for sale and more antiques sewing machines. i saw 15-91, 66, 201-2, 28 and other lying on the floor. he have an Original Centennial FW with all accessories in original boxes in excellent condition but he's selling it for $1,200. not the right price for me but he said he's not in a hurry to sell it. he got a donor FW body that i am trying to buy but he won't sell it to me. he's in this business for over 40 years and he started working on sewing machines since he was 16 years old. he got a Microbiology degree and yet he said he can't complain and so fulfilled by having his Sewing/Vacuum Business.
TIP 1: one thing he told me is never use Tri-Flow in your sewing machine. he said not that it's not good but just regular sewing machine is better and not Tri-flow grease but just regular singer lubricant. he said that Tri-Flow is so sticky and leaves gooey residue. he even mentioned something about the Tri-flow doing something on sewing parts/materials. didn't catch what he said about that as i'm so awed with his sewing machines. he said to thrust him as he got 40 years experience. so i got just the singer lubricant and regular sewing oil.
TIP 2: he mentioned in cleaning up a dirty, dingy, dusty sewing machine the best method is to put Wd40 on a piece of cloth and to wipe your machine with it. will clean the machine in no time at all. but not to spray WD40 on the machine. just a small amount on a piece of cloth. and for the metal parts, he used denatured alcohol. not on the painted part just the metal shiny part. after that, wipe it with sewing machine oil (just what i've been doing) but to really make it shiny, he used carnuba or any car wax.
TIP 3: also on my potted motor, since i mentioned that i am fixing the wirings, he said not to cut the wire to just put a heat shrink on separate bare wires and then heat shrink both. that's what he's been doing. make sense as i don't need to cut, braid and solder.
i wanted to stay longer as i know i could learn a lot from this guy but wifey needs to go home ASAP. i sure will be back to befriend this guy. he got a wealth of knowledge about sewing machines and really was surprised. he also mentioned that he fix 30-38 machines a week (x $150) that's a lot. that is why he's not complaining.
