Cleaning the machine: Pt 1, gears and body
- artbykpgarner
- Jun 4
- 4 min read
After intake we clean! To do that, we need to tear this beauty apart. For the most part, that will include removing:
Motor (that gets a whole post on it's own)
Extension Bed
Lamp cover including wiring and switch
Bobbin winder and bobbin tension unit
Face plate
Tension unit
Hand wheel
Stitch regulator assembly
Needle bar
Presser bar
Thread take-up system in the nose of the machine
Needle plate
Feed dogs
Hook assembly
Spool pin cover
If the machine is as bad as this one it can also include removing the:
Feed fork
Feed Conn. Rod
Its pretty fun to tear down a machine. Scary too, as so often the screws are damaged or seriously stuck. It's lucky there are so many sources for replacements out there but doing that can add up so it's best to take your time and be careful! I find that choosing the right screwdriver is key. If the screwdriver fits snugly then there's far less chance of the screw being stripped or damaged. I've also employed the "put some oil or Kerosine on it and wait until tomorrow" approach more than a few times.
This machine was sticky sticky sticky! I wish I knew what they had put all over it. And I mean ALL over it. Basically if the part had something that might once have taken oil - it was covered in this stuff. Yuck!
That said, it wasn't too hard to take apart. (Other than not being able to remove the bobbin case until I took the entire hook assembly out and apart and soaked it in kerosine. Oh well!)
During teardown, I put the parts in Ziplock bags and stored them all in a tub set aside just for that machine. It's important to be very careful to keep parts together as it can be difficult to sort through all those set screws.
Once the teardown is complete I set all the parts aside and start abating the lead that is left from removing the lamp. This tends to get all over the inside of the machine and on the gears as it comes out. If someone knows of a way to make sure that this doesn't happen, let me know! I am very careful about the lead so I do this part over disposable paper towels and wear gloves, Once the lead is fully cleared, I decontaminate my work are with D-Lead wipes and wash up with D-Lead hand soap.
Most of the time, I'm using Q-tips and Kerosine to clear the old grease and dirt away. I take special care to clean the gears and neck of the machine to ensure nothing is left inside it that might fall into the gear teeth and cause the machine issues in the future. Very rarely, and very carefully, I'll use 99.9 % Isopropyl Alcohol but I work very hard to make sure it doesn't touch the varnish. When I have to really scrub an area with a soft toothbrush, I'll use cling wrap to protect any nearby paint even if I'm only using Kerosene.
Once happy with the condition of the interior of the machine, it was time to move on to cleaning the exterior. There can be a lot of buildup in certain areas of the machine that are frequently touched by hands. Over the years, this can harden and is difficult to remove with out damaging the varnish.
To start with, I always check the varnish condition with a black light. Anything that isn't milky white under this light is actually a bad spot in the varnish. I note those areas and take special care when treating them.
I clean my machines with Zymol HD Cleans and Kerosene for the most part. I will occasionally use Mojo hand cleaner on metal parts but never the body of the machine. The same goes for 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol - that will strip the varnish very quickly shouldn't be used on the pant at all. I'm even careful of using sewing machine oil. If the varnish is cracked - it can get under it and make it look brown. Essentially that's the oil appearing under the varnish.
Once the body is clean enough, I wax it. I tend to like Zymol carnauba wax for the first coat then follow that with two coats of The Featherweight Shop's wax.
Now that I've cleaned and polished the body, hand wheel, lamp cover, spool pin cover, and extension bed I take a moment to clean the drip pan. This can be easy or hard depending on how stuck on the felt is. For really old machines it's usually easy to get the felt off but there will still likely be old glue to clear away on the pan. This machine's felt just fell away, but there was a lot of old glue and more of that sticky something that had dripped down and soaked through the felt. Luckily, I find that Kerosene is great here too and a little soaking makes this easier.
After installing a new felt drip pan liner I was done! Time to set all these parts aside until it's time to reassemble the machine and move on to cleaning the parts we removed...
