Austinite

so the handwheel on my Janome has a little squeak. It only happens when I turn it towards me. I've checked everything else, I'm rather obsessive about cleaning my machine so there's no lint in the bobbin race, walking foot is nice & quiet, all the other moving bits I can see look well-lubed, fresh needle, rethreaded bobbin and upper thread a few times, checked the manual which was no help....anything else anyone can think of? Other than the little squeak it's sewing beautifully. the sound just makes me want to scream...

thanks in advance to anyone listening!! i'm totally in the mood for late-night sewing!!

Peckish

Try rubbing a piece of wax paper in the cracks between the wheel and the housing, or where ever you think the squeak is coming from.

Austinite

wow, i think that's helping! i tried it a few times and each time the squeak got a titch quieter, or at least seems to...perhaps i had a piece of lint stuck in there or something? it's certainly better than endlessly googling and searching repair threads thank you!!

pennycandy

A vintage machine (late 80's - early 90's) that I bought at a thrift store had a squeaky hand wheel. Someone tried to adjusts of the two drive belts and the pulley. It sewed fine other than the squeak. It's been fine since I readjusted it back to it's proper place. Maybe yours needs a little adjustment or new belt(s)?

Edited to add

I see you posted while I was typing. Hope that fixed things.

Austinite

no actually the squeak is back, boo! i think it was just me wanting desperately for it to stop lol.

Austinite

so my Janome is one of those that has the nifty top that holds presser feet, i notice there are a few screws up there which i assume would take the top off the machine and enable me to get a better look at things...or is that an insanely bad idea since I have only ever done basic maintenance and basic oiling

cindi

For Janome users, this is known as "the chirping bird", according to the guy that services my machine. It's a well-known quirk in their machines, caused by who-knows-what. He oiled "that area" when he serviced my machine last time, but it came back. I've learned to love that bird, lol.

Onebyone

I understand the squeak is annoying. I had to buy a new storm door because the one I had for less then a year had a squeaking cracking sound that we could not get rid of.

Mitch's mom

I wouldn't be able to stand it. Trade it in.

Austinite

thank you everyone! I'm going to not mess with it, not take it apart or do anything else dumb and drop by my favorite repair shop this morning and see what their thoughts are. It's sewing perfectly and if I can work on getting over the squeak... I do some fun sewing last night, I just turned the radio up a titch louder to drown the sound out what a nice group, I'm so glad I joined!!