Greasing gears
 

I'm not working on my vintage Montgomery Ward 21 Jewel machine to get it ready for the kids.

The maintenance page of the manual does not mention doing anything to the gears. One drop in the oil holes and then it says, now turn the handwheel and two drops on anything that moves. The 3 sets upper gears do not look like they have ever had any oil or grease on them.

Would you grease them?

bkay

I would oil them if there isn't a chance it might seep in some where it can do damage like inners of the motor. If the manual doesn't particularly call for grease I guess there's no reason to go for it. Grease last longer, but it doesn't lubricate better, oil usually makes a machine turn lighter and less to clean up when reapplying.

For a comparison I have experimented with my 201s, they have three sets of cork screw meshing gears. I have the belt driven motor on mine (the 201K-2 is few and far between here). I have tried the best of greases, but it runs a notch or two lighter with oil, and oil coats the gears and the basic oiling routine with the rest of the machine is enough. I find it easier too, and I like teflon oils like Finish Line ceramic wet lube and Triflow. A good basic oil is fine too. If you have a nice light running grease it shouldn't matter much either way, but so far I lean towards oil when it's an option.

Do any of the oil holes on the top of the machine fall directly above these gears? Then they get oiled. There are several Brother built machines that are like this, the upper gear next to the hand wheel is meant to be oiled not greased.

Cari

No, the top is removed to oil it. There are some oil holes under the top, but they are oiling something I don't see.

There was almost no varnish on this machine (one spot). It's an all metal zig zag with cams, so I would guess it's a 60's machine. Maybe it's just not been used much. I bought it at an auction of a sewing machine shop's offsite storage, so I assume it was a trade-in or a repair that was never picked up.

No more use than it will get, maybe it doesn't make any difference if the gears are lubricated. It just seemed odd that metal gears weren't lubricated at all. I needed some additional portable machines to get the kids' projects done by Christmas, so I pulled out his one and the Elgin (Boy that one is a sweet machine.). I don't think I'll be doing this next year (they are making some school changes, so this one won't have TAG classes), so perhaps I should not worry about it.

bkay

Or they always used a good quality oil, it leaves next to nothing on machines that haven't been used that much. Most zigzaggers are made to lift or unscrew the top. Oil or grease matters, either has a drawbacks but their advantages. The only disadvantage with oil is more frequent applications, and in some cases you can't afford the cance of over oiling; since it looks like the motor is in the back it's less of a problem. Bernina gears are mostly oiled, much the same with Elna and German models. Singer had a few grease points on their zigzaggers. Your Montgomery sounds like a very promising machine, have you had a chance to get to know it?

Not really. When I got the vintage machine bug, I kind of went overboard. I had no clue what was useful, good quality or what I would use. When this auction came up, the prices were so low that it was really easy to buy several, and I did. I think the average price ended up being about $9.00. This is the only one I have left. I parted out several T&Ss and sent them to T&T, sent some Kenmore parts to Cari, sent some machines to Leon and put a couple out on the curb. This one is pretty, though, and didn't seem to need much work, so I kept it.

Meanwhile, I've been using my 503, which I just switched out for a 401. I've decided that the hobby of vintage sewing machine restoration is not a good idea for someone with a torn rotator cuff. I still enjoy messing with them, but the good ones are really heavy.

So, all that to say, "No, I really haven't played with this machine very much".

bkay