Thanks for the info Onebyone. I have an early version of that machine too. I do oil it as directed but haven't taken it apart yet. I've had it less than a year and the previous owner had just had it serviced at the place I used when I lived back there. We went back for a visit and this machine practically threw itself at me so I couldn't resist. I love it too.

My Elna did that years ago - pure neglect - made too many projects w/o stopping to oil the machine. A little embarrassing to pick up from the repair shop. Let's hope that's all you need.

At the time, I was in the middle of a wedding dress and borrowed a friend's Singer - it wouldn't sew the satin or lace, so I broke into a vacationing friend's house and took her Elna. I did leave her a note. Now I have multiple back up machines.

I have a FW and a Bernina 930 that I use all the time. I try to be sure to clean and oil both after 8 hours or so of sewing on them. Think of your machines like automobiles they need their oil changed every 3,000-4,000 miles, so a sewing machine needs a new drink of oil too after miles of sewing, (when I get thirsty I want a drink of water). Both run very smoothly and quietly. I bought 930 new in 1985, and have never had to take it in for repairs. I do my own maintenance.
When I oil my machines, I place a scrap piece of fabric under the presser foot with it in the down position and leave it there all night to absorb excess oil, and run my machine un threaded for a minute or two on another scrap to pick up any oil that might still be dripping down the shaft when I get ready to sew again.
I normally take my to my quilting group once a month but need to do some decorative stitching on the quilt I was working on, so I took 930- one of the oldest ladies in my group came over to look a my block and commented that my machine was the quietest running sewing machine she had ever heard. I informed her how often I clean and oil my machines, so I know it makes a big difference, most of the machines in my group are quite loud and often sound like thrashing machines. I oil or lubricate all moving parts and gears on both. This is my method.

Gay..never blow out the dust from your machine..you can so easily blow some of it INTO the machine and cause some real problems. I use my vacuum cleaner with the smallest suction tip....I actually have a very small tip for reversing and blowing up bags, etc.
Re oiling, actually most computerized machines have silicone parts and oil can be destroying to them, but there are a few places that you can oil. For instance my emb machines say "do not oil". As I stood over my dealer repairman, I saw him put a little oil in the bobbin race with his finger--I said "you are not supposed to use oil". He replied, "i'm the repair expert" and went on to say just a bit in that location was a good thing.

If I oiled after so many hours, the machine never dried out. I took the base off and it was dripping. I wasn't over oiling, I found a oiler I could squeeze and see that only one drop was coming out. I took it off since the dealer didn't repair the feed dog selections right. All they knew was up and down.
They prefer to sell the big Brother embroidery machines. They are also the Juki dealers. I'm taking mine to the Babylock dealer who used to do Pfaffs of all shapes and kinds. He seems to have more mechanical sense. I'd rather have the service done right, than a warranty honored. It's too much of a pain to get warranty work done right if the dealer has had enough.

Harbor Freight has a cool little add-on vacuum kit that is very handy for this, I think I paid about $10 for it. :thumbup:

Exactly! My Babylock Espire manual states not to oil but when I took a class about machine maintenance we were told to put a drop of oil in the center of the bobbin area periodically.

I bought an inexpensive computerized Singer several years ago. When doing maintenance once, I found what I thought was lint way down under the bobbin case. I got tweezers to pull it out--it was some kind of lubricant-soaked wadding stuck in there. Researching online, I found out it was not supposed to be removed, but no help at all on what to do if it was removed in error. Even Singer was no help.
I stuck it back in as well as I could, and it sewed just fine. Still does.

Machine back home from repair. One new part (hook) and everything had to be reset. It sews like new. Labor 204.99. Part $18.45. Pack of needles (he used one to test the machine from the pack) $4.99. 3 hour round trip.

Yippee! Glad it could be fixed.

Rob