My Kenmore which I bought new in 1979 and I love, is giving me problems. F irst the bobbin winder stopped working, and I took in to the shop to have i s fixed and have a general servicing. I got it back and did not test it ou t as I had no projects at the time. 3 months later, I sat down to do some sewing and the hand wheel was frozen. After reoiling the moving parts and moving the hand wheel back and forth, it broke loose and was free moving. Sewed a little and it did well. Let machine sit for a couple of hours and it froze again. I was able to get it loosened but it's a recurrent problem . Took it back to shop and was told that at the time of the original servi cing it was very dirty. Can the process of cleaning it up have gummed some thing up to this degree? Do I continue to try to save the machine or buy a new one? Before this episode I had never had any problems with the machin e. Cheryl
Is my machine dead?
Mar 06, 2014
1 Replies
The gumming was not from a single event at the repair shop. It is cumulative over years of improper service. I note you re-olied it after the 3 months. Probably over the time you have oiled it too much and then with lack of use it gums up. To much oil is worse than not enough especially coupled with lack of use. The very worst thing you can do to a machine is not use it. A proper chemical cleaning to remove the old and gummed up oil then proper oiling should have you running again.
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