Replace armature?!
 

I’ve been restoring a 15-91 and finally got the armature removed to clean and I noticed this little bit standing up.

The machine worked well after the rewire, but now I’m wondering if it can work better, if this will even make a difference and could this be harmful to myself or my machine.

If the arrow is pointing at that upside down U shaped piece, it looks to me like paper insulation protecting the wiring coils. Needs to be there and would cause no harm.

It's raised so I wasn't sure. I ended up ordering another off eBay, only $20 so why not right?

Once I got everything cleaned up and put back together I noticed that it struggled to do a full cycle, needle up - down - and back up. But there was resistance when the needle bar moves down but not back up again when hand cranking. But no issue with the bobbin winder. So I knew the motor was solid. Not sure if the machines supposed to have a little resistance when the bars moving down or if that's just my machine.

Sounds like this machine sat for a while and the oil is hardened. I have a Singer 301 that was just like that, and what I noticed is that it would free up when I ran it, but was stiff when I came back the next time. I read on this forum about oiling with kerosene, so I tried that and am still amazed how that helped. I had already oiled it a number of times, and it still was stiff in a day or so of not being used. I used an oil bottle filled with kerosene and oiled it in all the places one would put oil. I came back a day or so and did that again, and after a few days the machine freed up so much I am still amazed. To paraphrase someone here on the forum, Kerosene, oil, and patience! Kerosene will free up the old oil, then apply fresh oil, repeat. Eventually fresh oil will replace the kerosene. My 301 still amazes me how happy it is!

Ohhh that just made me so happy to hear!! Looks like I’ll be buying kerosene today. So just put the kerosene in an oil bottle and just add a drop in places every couple days until it’s freed. Do I apply the oil directly after the kerosene and moving the gears around a bit. Or wait a day?

What I did was kero, then move things around, then kero again, move around again. Wait a few hours, did that again. It didn't seem to work at first, so I added oil. The next morning it was so loose I was amazed. Then I oiled it again. I'm assuming you have enough of a manual to get all the places. Look for little holes in every joint where things move. And the needle bar needs some too.

Alright will do. It definitely wasn't stuck this morning. But for safe measures I'm going to Kero a bit just to be a bit OCD.

What's funny is now that the machine is almost ready, I'm getting sad.. I think I caught the bug!! *back to craigslist for more

You officially have Sewing Machine Acquisition Disorder. Don't fight it...

I hope it's curable LOL

Sorry (or not sorry), it's an addiction. There is no cure.

bkay