bkay

Sewing machine oil is very light and pure. 30 wt. oil is car motor oil and is heavy and not so pure. I can't answer your question, though. Sorry.

bkay

JoeJr

If Andy recommends 30w then that's what I would use. And I would use only a drop to start.

Gearandsuch

I just hate the idea of buying a quart of oil to use a drop or two! My car won't take 30w—only synthetic oil with a range. Well, maybe I could put a little at a time in with the good stuff to get rid of the rest of the quart.

JoeJr

Find a neighbor with a chainsaw and ask for an ounce of bar oil.

Gearandsuch

OK, I borrowed a voltage tester. If it can do the job I won't have to buy any electrical testing equipment. Attached is a photo of it. I have no idea how to use it. I'd like to test the SM cord and the cord of the foot controller.

Does anyone know if this device can be used for this? And can you fill me in on how to do this? I'm more comfortable with mechanical stuff and I'm clueless about electrical stuff. Thanks for the tips!

OurWorkbench

I don't know electrical stuff either - I leave that to John. There is a thread about the 401 (which is similar to your machine) that I reference for the place to put the "one drop of 30W oil" She's real fun, my 401...

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Gearandsuch

Thanks for the 401 thread with the motor oiling info!

JoeJr

I'm reluctant to try to give instructions when there's 120v waiting at the business end. Either online or in a home repair book look up basic electrical testing, because that's really what you're doing, it's nothing peculiar to a sewing machine, except testing the button on the speed control, would be similar to testing a dimmer switch on a light.

Gearandsuch

Fair enough. Don't want anyone to get fried! I had looked for instructional videos and articles online. They're mostly about multimeters and mostly about testing wall receptacles. I'll dig into this more. Thanks for the "clue" about the dimmer switch similarity.

leonf

Correct,. That tester is made for steady current, not variable. it could help measuring at the light and AC going into the controller but not after.