AlvaStitcher

I posted some time ago about the White Family Rotary treadle machine I got. My question relates to the treadle iron. It is very difficult to move the treadle back and forward or up and down as the case may be. What is the best way to lubricate? Do you use SMO or does it take something heavier like grease? The hand wheel still has a hard part in the turn. What can correct that? I tried to sew some blocks together with it yesterday but got too frustrated. The wheel kept wanting to spin counter clockwise rather than clockwise and would knot everything up. Thanks for you help.

leonf

I like to use a heavier oil in my treadle assembly than sewing machine oil. Oil everything that moves including the axle for the power wheel, The hinges for the foot base and the pittman arm, if it is iron.

You need to isolate the head from the treadle to figure out where the drag is.

Will it give you good stitches if you turn it by hand?
Some folks pracrice treadleing without thread to get the ryhthm. I've heard if you can carry on a conversation while you treadle, you have it down.

Mickey2

To begin with I would just keep on oiling. Make sure you detect all joints and hinges, it can take a bit of repeated applications to get oil too reach the inners of moving parts too. Some treadle irons even have ball bearings, others are more hinged together. I swear Finish Line Ceramic Wet Lube has some advantages, it's very light but still coats and last quite a bit during use. I've used it on gear hubs as well as sewing machines for years and it has not caused any problems. Some treadles were meant to be oiled all the way, others have a few points you can use grease. I guess TriFlow will be extra smooth since it has teflon.

The problem with alternative oils are to find one with out too many addtives not suitable for the purpose. For grease you need to take it all appart and clean it to get to all the parts. Oil will seep in everywhere with a bit of effort and repeated application. Ball bearings need to be replaced some times, especially if they have been run with out lubrication. For treadle irons, it relatively easy to take them appart and clean them, so if you accept experimenting and an extra clean up job, you can try other oils. There's lots out there, I have not tried all, but besides ordinary sewing machine oil, and pure mineral oil, the above mentioned oils are the only ones I dare recommend for the entire machine. The advantage with grease is mostly less frequent application.

As leonf mentions, both machine and treadle parts need to run smoothly and effortlessly.