Question re: Motor Lubricant vs. Sewing Machine Oil
 

I need to oil or lube the motor on my FW 221. 1938 machine came with a tube of "motor lubricant" which is all dried up and nasty. Is there a place I can buy "motor lubricant" or can I use regular Singer sewing machine oil? Is the lubricant and oil different (I assume it is as one is in a tube, other is in a bottle/can).

Thanks!

There are some great youtube videos on how to clean your featherweight. One I saw recommended triflow which is in bike shops. Not wanting to hunt up a bike shop I googled and came up with several shops dedicated to featherweights and older machines. My favorite so far is a company out of Idaho at singer-featherweight.com. They sell a small syringe of motor lubricant.

Yes oil and lube are different. You can buy the expensive lube from the FW websites or use what I, and thousands of other vintage sewing machine people use - petroleum jelly aka vaseline. It's close enough to the original Singer lube that Singer and White actually recommended it as a replacement.

Cari

Thanks. Will try the vaseline to see if that helps clear up the problem (motor smoking).

If the motor is smoking it could be a sign that oil has been used in it and it needs to be cleaned out.

Cari

Cari: DH is planning on taking motor apart and giving it a good cleaning. He says brushes and armature look good. Fingers crossed...

Didn't know about the Vaseline;my tube of oil is almost gone. For the holes in my machine that need a liquid oil, I use the sewing machine oil sold at W.Mart.
If they are ever out of it, they might send you to the Hardwar Dept Yes,they have an oil, but my machine tech.said not to use it, as it is too heavy for featheweights. I just waited a week and they had the s.machine oil in again.
Mariah.