My wife was told when she picked up the machine that it was adequately oiled - and the guy who sold it to her demonstrated that it worked (briefly) while she was there.
When we first tried to use it and it wasn't turning, it looked like the oil level was low. We poured an entire bottle of oil in (8 oz? - small plastic bottle) and this brought the level up to the top red line in the indicator window.
I tried to look at a couple of new sections last night - but the handwheel is absolutely rigid and will not turn whatsoever.
Will using grease in leiu of liquid oil make any difference per Cea's suggestion below? When I got it to work the only time I could - I too rocked the handwheel back and forth until it finally turned all the way - hooked up the belt - and it ran fine.
This was before filling it with oil, however, so your comment has me rather concerned that I did it harm - but we were under the impression that it had an adequate amount of oil in it per the instruction of the seller...and of course he is now reciting the "it worked fine when I sold it to you" line - but we can't help but feel like we were sold a lemon - or misguided at the least.
The machine is a beauty after I spent 6 hours detailing it - installed a new thread tree - completely refurbished the table - all I need now if for it to WORK!
Thanks again for your time in commenting - any further guidance is greatly appreciated!
You do not say how low the oil was or how long you ran it. If it was well below the low line it is just like running your automobile out of oil. Bad things are going to happen and it will be expensive to repair. In cases like this I have to start disassembling things one bit at a time to trouble shoot where the problem is then see if those parts are available etc. I can tell you it will be pretty unlikely to find internal parts for that machine , it is well over 20 years and those are not high mortality parts. I concur with Beverly if you have some recourse with the seller I would go there as you have now entered the twilight zone. Even if you do find the bind and figure out how to clear it then you will need to make all the critical adjustments to make it sew. This is why we OSMG's get the big bucks. Good luck you have your work cut out for you. I do also assume you used proper sewing machine oil and not just any old oil you had. No Grease is not appropriate at all in an oil sump. It truly sounds to me like you burned up a bearing somewhere.