I oil any of mine when the mood strikes; but don't use that as a guide you should follow. DH and DS can both service machines, so I let them have that little worry--one less grey hair for me--but I can tell when my FW needs oiling; it gets noisy in the bobbin area, and so does my Elna (1985 model) and those are mostly the only machines that I use with any kind of regularity. My LA gets cleaned and oiled before every use.