INterestingly, I emailed Brother about oiling my cheapy XR-52 (mechanical). There are no oil holes, and I would have to unscrew the case to get to the innards. The response was to take it to an authorized person to have it cleaned after a certain amount of hours sewing. I do clean out the bobbin casing myself, but not that often. I haven't tried taking it apart to try and oil, so if anyone has any advice for me it would be appreciated. I do like the machine. It seems to be a workhorse (of course now that I said that, it will probably go on hiatus!!!!)