josieh

How often do you oil and/or service your machine? Do you do it yourself? I have 2 computerized sewing/embroidery machines and I always bring them in for servicing, approximately every year. Is this too much? Can I do it myself? It's very expensive. I sew almost every day. Thanks.

Terri D.

I can sort of tell when my machine needs a bit of oil, because it begins to sound a little too noisy. I also clean and oil it after finishing a project, and if I'm sewing with flannel or doing some serious piecing, I vacuum quite frequently throughout the project to avoid excessive lint buildup. You can do intermediate maintenance yourself, but, like taking babies to a pediatrician for their annual check up, the same thing applies to your sewing machine baby. The Bernina tech in my area says if you're taking good care of it in between service checks by him, every 18 months should be good, unless the machine is getting some seriously heavy use, then he recommends once a year.

Jeanne S

I give my Juki a couple of drops of oil every day I sew on it, try to remove lint between projects and take her in once a year for the professional maintenance service.

Stashelf

I clean the bobbin area after each project. I take it in once a year for oiling and a "tune up" . I have a brother Quattro and would not know where to begin oiling etc. it's too expensive a machine for me to take what would be a very uneducated try.

dunster

I clean and oil with almost every bobbin change.

ckcowl

I follow the instructions in my owners manual for maintainance... And yes, I service/maintain my machine myself. Only has to go to (in) if I break something. My manual not only tells how to maintain my machine but how often each step should be done.

Craftnut

I have a Brother computerized machine and I have only had it serviced one time in probably 20 years. You have to be careful with computerized machines because the boards can be easily damaged. As ckcowl said, follow the instructions in your user manual. If your machine is still under warranty you can void it by opening it up. If it is older and out of warranty, and if you can carefully take off the outer cover, cleaning out the gunk and putting a drop of oil on the gears will keep it in good running order.

PaperPrincess

I take my computerized ones to a certified tech, but do the mechanical ones myself. The computerized machines cost too much for me to be messing with them, also your warranty may be void if you open the case. I take mine in about every 18 to 24 months

franc36

I clean out the lint in my Bernina with every bobbin change and give it a drop of oil with every third bobbin change. That machine goes in for servicing once a year. My Featherweight gets serviced once a week since I sew on it every spare minute. There are so many places that need to be oiled on a Featherweight and gears and the motor that need grease occasionally. When I first started servicing the Featherweight, I really disliked all the work involved in servicing that machine. Now, the work goes quickly and I love how it sews when I service it weekly.

quiltedsunshine

Cleaning and oiling the bobbin area yourself is great. You can oil the take-up area yourself, which only needs to be done every 6 months or so. But on a computerized machine, you probably don't want to go too deep yourself. There's not as much to oil inside a computerized machine. But, they do need a deep cleaning and oiling every once in a while. If you sew every day, take your machine in every year. But don't ever go longer than 5 years without a professional service.