I use Chenille for cleaners. Our old shop had a very large stock of the old style Chenille Stems (pipe cleaners) in 2 or 3 diameters, as well as some Bump Chenille (diameter changes back and forth several times along the stem) when we took over the shop. Chenille isn’t all that popular right now, so I use them a lot for cleaning out small holes such as screw holes, the center of the upper tension stud, the center of a class 15 bobbin case, feed dog teeth, etc. In the race area of a vertical hook, I bend a loop in the end of one and use the loop to clean lint out of the inside, up under the lip. The hook doesn’t snag Chenille like it does a cotton swab when cleaning around it.
Some Chenille has very limber wire that stands up to flexing fairly well, so with one of those, I make a hook in one end and feed it in and around the presser bar and needle bar inside of the head to clean them using a see-saw motion to rub up and down the bars. Basically, wherever a cotton swab could be used, I generally use Chenille to avoid leaving cotton stands behind on protrusions. Larger holes can be cleaned by folding the Chenille to multiply the strands to make the diameter larger. I save the cotton swabs for mopping out old grease, and surplus oil when I get one in that has been drowned with oil trying to solve a tension problem or the like.
I apply my Tri-flow grease using a Turkey Basting syringe that has the end cut off on an angle with an Exacto Saw, and I have my Singer Sewing Machine Oil in a Disposable Diabetic syringe (with the longest needle available at my Pharmacy), then reload them as needed. The oil will distort and ruin the rubber plunger in about 4-6 months (not so with the grease), and have to be replaced with a whole new syringe. I don’t alter the tips of the diabetic needles, so they are treated with the utmost care and the needle cover replaced immediately after each “shot” of oil. I load the basting syringe by removing the plunger, squeezing grease into the basting syringe out of the grease tube, and then replacing the plunger. Then I remove the tip, press the plunger, and work the air bubbles out with a broom straw. The grease can be dispensed in very small quantities this way, so each filling lasts for a very long time. For the oil, I remove the oil bottle cap, insert the syringe needle into the bottle with the tip of the needle in oil, and draw the oil into the syringe with the plunger. Need to go slow, because oil is thicker than most injected medicines, and the needle hole is very small. If I get air bubbles, I’ll simply wait until they decide to come out. I reload my oil syringe frequently since it holds a small quantity of oil. If drawing slow and the shaft of the plunger pops loose from the rubber plunger, it’s time to break out a new syringe.
CD in Oklahoma