Singer lube
 

Just opened a new tube of Singer lube and it looks & smells totally different. It has a strong petroleum smell and also has a gritty feel. Any one else seen this? I am going to open a new tube when I get home tonight.


[ATTACH=CONFIG]443824[/ATTACH]

Oh my, that does look different. There has been a lot of discussion here about singer lube. I've read about not being able to buy it in the US anymore, there seems to be a blue tube that is still available in Canada, and Joe says the white lube is only for plastic machines.

I have 2 tubes of vintage lube..... green tube. Both tubes look exactly alike on the outside. But, one tube has a yellowish oily lube and the other one is more white. .... so I don't know what the answer is. And, I'll be watching once again to see what the experts say.

That looks like what comes out of some of the tubes I've got. I don't know any more what to say about the Singer Lube. My personal opinion based on some of what I have read, is that the white colored grease is not for the motors, but for the gears.
The brown or amber colored grease should be for the motors. I wouldn't worry too much about the color from one tube to the other as it's probably been made by a zillion manufacturers over the years.

That's just my opinion and I won't swear it's right. All I know is I use the non white stuff no mater it's age in my Singer motors.

Joe

I haven't seen the Blue tube here. The one my supplier can get is the pink and red one. The lube I get looks the same as in the photo, but it's not gritty. The grittiness is what concerns me here.

I do as Joe says, non-white in the motor... with one exception. If it reeks, I chuck it out. There've been a few tubes that were either hard / chunky, or stunk like you wouldn't believe, and I didn't think I could co-exist with them.

Thanks for the replies. We have used many of the tubes that are red & white. The grease in these has a brown tint but has never been gritty when you rub some between finger & thumb. I opened another new tube and the same thing, almost feels like valve grinding paste and these tubes were sealed. If I used this stuff on the motor wicks, I don't think it would ever make it to motor bushing & shaft. I did find a full tube of the singer lube in the lead tubes and is nice opaque color. Either I got a bad batch or this is how one supplier made it for them. I will be finding a new brand & source for lube.............

I was told by my supplier that the manufacturer they deal with said they were sourcing from somewhere else.

"This item was not reformulated; however, we were having issues with cold weather so we are now purchasing the product from a new source."

What cold weather means, I don't know, but this is all of the scoop I have on it. ;)

Perhaps your tubes froze somewhere in the supply chain? Is that what it would do if it froze? I have no idea.

That would be an easy experiment. Find a tube, open it, check it, if it's smooth like it should be then freeze it. When it thaws check it out.

Joe

Doesn't look like mine.

My DH talked with a friend of his that owns a Janome & industrial machine dealership. They use (Super Lube) synthetic grease on all the vintage bushed motors & metal gear sets and has used it for several years with no issues. He said the Super-Lube never hardens and has never liquified to contaminate motor commutator & brushes. I already use this stuff on gears and will use it in our motors from now on. I ordered a dozen 1/2oz tubes. I suppose it would also work fine on plastic gears since it is not petroleum based, but you will have to do your own research to verify usage on plastic gears.

Marilynn,

If you use that synthetic grease your Singer motors will not be getting lubed. They are designed to use a grease that softens and flows. Since the synthetic grease does not do that it will not flow down the wick and get to the bearings.

It might work for a while if you put it directly on the bearings, but eventually even synthetic grease gives up and you'll either have to tear down the motors for a relube, or buy new new motors.

For gears it's not a problem so long as the chemical make up of the grease does not degrade the plastic the gears are made from.

Joe

Hi Joe, this is Rick, Marilynn's (DH), I guess that's what we are called. Anyway, I specifically asked about using this on motor wicks and he says absolutely. They have been in business for over 70 years and we have been friends for 12 years so I don't believe he would give me bad info. I will do some experimenting, applying this grease to new wicks and warming with a heat gun or blow dryer to see if it starts to flow, or soften when warmed.
I do appreciate your input though and will let you guys know what I find.
Rick

Rick,

Check the melting point of that synthetic grease. We had a thread here just a month or three ago about the Singer lube vs petroleum jelly vs Tri-Flow grease. ( I don't know the title of it, nor did I bookmark it. My bad. )
In that thread our members either found a source or tested their own grease and found that the Singer motor lube and petroleum jelly melted at 115º. The melting temp of the synthetyic grease is higher. That is part of what makes the synthetic grease great for gears. It doesn't melt and it doesn't fling off like a lighter grease.
That's also what makes it unsuitable for motors with grease pots and wicks.

I don't know the repair shop you're talking about, but ( no offense intended ) I wouldn't believe them on this issue. That is just my belief due to some 45 + years of using oils, greases, and other lubes on various types of motors and bearings and other equipment.

Joe

Here ya go, Joe: http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...e-t228143.html

Triflow synthetic grease is advertised as "Non-melting" - undesirable in this particular situation.

I have been watching this thread with great interest and I just finished speaking with Kevin Wall at Super Lube. What a nice person he was and very informative. Joe is right, the Super Lube multi purpose grease will not go down the wick, but the light oil and extra light oil will. The extra light oil is like water with the light oil a little thicker, and they will not hurt the plastic gears.

He suggests the Super Lube synthetic grease for the gears and light weight oils for wicking and other applications, they also have oil with Teflon. Their site is extensive with many drop down menus with sidebar menus and that is where to go to find oils and then find the oil/PTFE which is Teflon, I believe he said they trade marked it as Synco-lon. It comes in different viscosities and could replace Tri flow. Basically he said for sewing machines you need at least two or maybe even three different products if you are really into oiling to keep them up and running smoothly depending on the needs of the machines and the motors.

Their oils range in viscosity from peanut butter grade 2 to water grade 000. Very informative site and very nice people. Hope this sheds some light on Super Lube

LINK BELOW


http://www.super-lube.com/grease-app...ns-ezp-16.html

Well, it looks like I will have 12 tubes of Super-Lube for greasing gears, should last a lifetime. I did an experiment on my lunch today using the original Singer lube in the lead tube & Super Lube. I heated up a small amount on a thin piece of metal and the Singer lube liquified after a short time. The Super-Lube never came close to liquifying. I also read some info that Super Lube has no dropping point so it will never liquify. I see on sew classic blog that as of 2013 she no longer recommends the Singer lube do to a higher melting point and recommends Vaseline instead, which is kind of what the original vintage Singer lube feels like. I will have to let my friend know what I have learned on this lubricant, but I'm sure he won't want to hear it.

I guess I might have to get my own user ID........................
Thanks everyone for your input.
I am ((almost)) thinking that some of the high tech synthetic oil's might be a possibility.

You were right Joe, thanks for the heads up. Rick

Tammi,

Thanks. I bookmarked it this time.

Joe

I need help... I have a Singer 101 with the circular potted motor (?) not the semicircle/rectangle found on other types of motors. When you take off the outer cover and remove the coils/motor to get to the grease cups and there is a well in there that has to be filled with grease as well as the two cups. The other night I bought the blue and yellow motor lube thinking it was the correct stuff, filled both cups and the well and put it back together. I didn't change/fully clean the wicks because I didn't have new ones. I planned to by the new wicks and just do that piece but now its looking like I really should clean both cups and the well out again and replace that white stuff with PJ or whatever it is that is in the pink tube.
Does this sound right?
I am new to this and there is very little info on the 101 on the net so if I messed up some of the terms it's my newbie showing...