maviskw

My Singer 128 was going pretty slowly at first. When starting out, it just said Grrrrrr until I would turn the fly wheel a little. By the sound of it, I thought it just might be because it hadn't been used for about 50 years or so. So I just kept sewing on it and it sure loosened up a lot. Now the fly wheel goes with just medium pressure on the control.

Sewnoma

Oh, thanks for the tips! I was thinking up various ways to protect the finish; I was thinking I might saran-wrap the whole thing with a towel over the top...or something. I didn't even think of spatter from the toothbrush - what do you use to scrub at parts that are still attached? I don't think I'll be detaching too much, I'm afraid I'd never get it back on properly. I got the bobbin case pretty well taken apart (per the manual's instructions - so glad I have that!) but that part is actually not as gunky; it appears to be mostly the parts inside the head and underneath that are gooped up. I'm hoping there isn't something gunked up deep inside the body as I have no idea how I'd ever get to that!

On mine the motor just GRRRS and NOTHING moves. It's really stiff. But just adding fresh oil on top of the old stuff and hand-cranking it has helped. I still don't think it's loose enough for the motor to push it, but it's slowly getting better. At some point life will calm down enough that I can sit down and actually clean the machine but that's probably a couple weeks off at this point! Lately I have barely enough time to sit down for dinner!