It Finally Happened!

Well, I've been working on this poor machine for over six months, getting it all oiled, greased and replacing the motor lube.  But it was a poorly treated machine.  The finish is rough.  The decals are worn away in several places.  The machine didn't even work when I bought it. This is the machine that I'm going to ship away to have painted the same color as my little red sports car.

But, I met my match on this one.  After getting everything done for a well needed spa day, I wanted to sew with this one and see how the stitches would be.  I always sew on a machine for at least a month to make sure anything that needs to be taken care of is taken care of.  The stitches are beautiful, even, not bumps on the back or front after I adjusted the bobbin tension and the upper tension.  But what was coming off the motor.  Is that smoke?  Oh no!  It is smoke!!

I don't take motors apart and rework them.  At least, I haven't done that yet.  So this one had to go to the Featherweight Shop for a motor overhaul.  And what they told me gave me a reason to post on my blog and let you know something very important.  If you have been to my maintenance classes, you know this.  If you are following along on my blog because you just want to keep your machine running and working well, you need to pay attention.

Evidently a previous owner of this machine didn't know what that black plastic screw was and thought it was a place to oil the motor.  The motor repair guy told me someone had put oil and grease in that hole after removing the screw.  The oil and grease was causing the smoke and if I hadn't stopped using the machine quickly I could have had a fire on my hands.

The black plastic screw covers the brushes for the motor.  There are 2 brushes and 2 black plastic screw covers.  One you can see on the top of the motor.  The other one is only seen when you're looking at the bottom of the machine.  Don't..... I repeat...... DON'T take those black plastic screw covers off unless you are checking to see if you need to replace the brushes.  It's a rare case to have to replace brushes.  It does happen but probably won't happen to you.

The  place where you do put motor lube, and you'll notice I said motor lube,  NOT OIL, NOT GEAR GREASE, is those small holes on the motor.  They are usually chrome but not always.  One port is on the front of the motor when you're looking at it from the back.  The other port is next to the belt on your machine.   You need to remove the old lube and put new lube in.  Then do it over again every six months at the spa day when you give your machine a once over and make it feel all loved and stuff.

Some white machines don't have lube ports at all. I have a white machine that doesn't have lube ports and there's nothing you can do to lube the motor.  I don't know why Singer did that.  I wish they hadn't.  I think I'll need to send that motor in for service because it gets hot when I sew with that machine for any amount of time.  And, I'm not talking hours and hours.  And, if there had been motor lube ports I don't think that would be happening.

Okay, I need to go work on the elephant quilt a bit.  No, I'm not done with it and I still have a lot to do.  I hope you're having a good summer and I'll try to check in more often.  It's crazy how we get so busy, isn't it?