Don't Have A Clue How to De-stuck a Machine with Stucked Flywheel/Mechanism.
 

hi all,

mr newbie here. another silly or dumb question - how do you de-stuck a machine that has stucked fly wheel and mechanism. it seems that this machine was put in a barn and never been oiled since bought. i had the misfortune of using a plier to un-screw the back plate cover and the screw broke due to rust. i am afraid to move the fly wheel or turn it as i might break something. i hope i don't need to put this in a bath of oil as buying oil will be more expensive. any idea ? thanks again.

When you say fly wheel, are you talking about the treadle wheel or the hand wheel on the machine head?

Assuming it's the hand wheel, have you loosened the free motion screw first? This will narrow down what has seized. If it moves then the problem is likely on the needlebar side of the harp.

welcome to the fun challenge of "de-stucking"! It's a real puzzle, but chances are you'll need to penetrate every metal to metal point with oil, solvent, secret brew of the day that does more good than harm. Good Luck!

Yes and you'll probably need a hair dryer to help warm up a bit of the old oil.

yes, it does move when i loosen it. so i will check the needle bar side of the harp. what can i use to loosen them ?

Last time I had a stuck one it was the needle bar. The bar was rusted on to the tube it used to move along. I used WD40 to penetrate it, then rocked the hand wheel back and forth very slightly over a period of about 10 mins and it started moving. If you do this, make sure you remove all the WD40 before oiling. Its not nice if you leave it in: Leaves a residue and mixes with any oil. Get it all out then oil it. You don't need to go overboard with oiling. A couple of drops in each hole is plenty.
Lots of people here will want to tell you not to use WD40, but it worked really well for me for this problem, and I wiped it off really thoroughly. Machine was a 1920s model 66.
After a little while (a few minutes connected to a motor) it was as smooth as one that's been well looked after.

A large portion of the machines I get are "frozen".

be very careful at this stage. Force is NOT what you want to be using. These machines were made with very tight tolerances so it is easy for two pieces to have moisture develop a rust bridge across parts. If you use force at this stage you will cause more wear and tear than decades of use....

I use the following stages:

1. Sewing machine oil. Every single location where unpainted metal moves against unpainted metal.
a. under the bed including every bit of the hook mechanism
b. remove face plate oil every nook and crannies
c. remove any rear access oil every thing that moves (baptize the bugger)

2. if an our or so of that does not do the trick, then i move on to Kriol (penetrating fluid, you can also use PB Blaster)
a. Same locations as before (BE VERY CAREFUL of decals with these.

I only have two machines that this did not work on, and both have two metal parts that are fused completely. I figure a few more weeks and patience and they will move too.

Most move in less than two hours.

and if you can take off needle plate, remove bobbin/case, pick out forgotten thread jams and eooly boogers...

awesome. thanks buddy. i gave it a good oil bath just now. will give the oil time to soak in and will check later. for some reason i can't unscrew the side plate harp cover. the single screw that is holding the cover plate on the left side of the head won't budge. it's totally stuck. i soaked it in oil and i will check later if it loosens. otherwise can i carefully put WD40 on the stubborn screw ?

i was able to take off the needle plate and sure enough, there's so many fabric lints. gave it a thorough clean-up and oiled all the parts i need to oil and will let it sit. i will check later. thanks a lot.