bkay

I'm cleaning up some old touch and sews to gift to some teachers. I believe you don't oil or grease plastic gears. However, if they are metal, do you oil or grease them?

bkay

tessagin

Check the manuals. I have metal gears and oil and grease my machines but check my manuals

bkay

The manual doesn't mention what you are supposed to do once you get the top off. It just tells you how to get it back on.
bk

osewme

How about giving a sewing machine repairman a call & ask him? Here's a you-tube showing how to clean a Singer Touch & Sew 600 series machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHGCdba_p2Q

Here's some more information about oil/grease:

http://theuniversalthreadholder.com/...brication.html

Cari-in-Oly

Yes metal gears should be lubricated.

Cari

bkay

Thanks, Cari. Which? Oil or grease?
bk

bkay

Thanks, Osewme. That link answered the question. It's grease.
bk

osewme

Man Sewing recently had a short tutorial on cleaning machines also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejlfcOwFpFY

Mickey2

You can oil plastic gears as well as metal gears. (nylon gears are sometimes recommended to be oiled). Some warn plastics can't take all types of grease for some reason, depending on the ingredients. Don't stray too much from the recommended oils for sewing machines, some lubricants can contain harsher ingredients. Basic sewing machine oil, Finish Line Ceramic Wet Lube and Trilfow should be safe. Unless it's in a place where it might dribble where it shouldn't (like motor, worm gear on the 201-2) oil can be used. A good oil will coat gears well, not fling off. It needs more frequent application than grease, and it can be a disadvantage if it needs a lot of dissasembly to reach the parts. Singer recommended oil on all the meshing gears for the 201, except for 201-2, for the set of direct drive gears in connection with the hand wheel. It wasn't until a bit into the 50s they they started recommending grease for these gears in general, like the 401. Oil often comes out better than grease in tests, it's only under certain conditions grease turns out to have advantages; oil will work well on open gears under the base. I use Finish Line Ceramic Wet Lube (light oil with teflon) on my 201 (belt driven motor) and I like it better than grease.

barny

I oil everything that moves. And all the gears get a small amount of grease. And my machines purr like kittens.