No, the top is removed to oil it. There are some oil holes under the top, but they are oiling something I don't see.
There was almost no varnish on this machine (one spot). It's an all metal zig zag with cams, so I would guess it's a 60's machine. Maybe it's just not been used much. I bought it at an auction of a sewing machine shop's offsite storage, so I assume it was a trade-in or a repair that was never picked up.
No more use than it will get, maybe it doesn't make any difference if the gears are lubricated. It just seemed odd that metal gears weren't lubricated at all. I needed some additional portable machines to get the kids' projects done by Christmas, so I pulled out his one and the Elgin (Boy that one is a sweet machine.). I don't think I'll be doing this next year (they are making some school changes, so this one won't have TAG classes), so perhaps I should not worry about it.
bkay