Ms Grace

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I just got this 1936 Featherweight and need to replace the rubber feet.
Ive managed to remove all the dried up rubber from around the screws, but the screws won't budge!!!
any ideas???

Barb in Louisiana

My husband uses a good penetrating oil to loosen stuck screws. I'm not a sewing machine mechanic so don't know if this is what you should be doing. I'd think about using a Kroil product as recommended by this website http://www.mckennalinn.com/cleaning-...-machines.html

I've gotten good deals on Aero Kroil from this website. http://www.kanolabs.com/msn/

paoberle

Spray with WD-40 and let it sit for a few hours or overnight. Repeat if necessary.

Mickey2

...and find a screw driver fitting the groove in the screw optimally, it makes a big difference when you need a bit of force to loosen it.

lmc8

I had the same issue during refurbishment of my White FR ; I had tried everything mentioned on this board; what worked best, simplest, least messy, and least smelly was a few weeks of repeated applications of Kroil Oil and Mean Green spray.

I had to sit the toughest stuck parts in a shallow bath or Kroil Oil which creeps into the smallest of air pockets to moisten the dried grime that is the cause of the issue; then I sprayed with Mean Green and scrubbed with an old tooth brush and paper towels to dissolve away the loosened grime to reveal shining metal and released screws. I had also torqued the screws between each bath with a leather scrap wrapped around the head and secured with locking pliers. And for areas that I couldn't logistically place in a bath bowl I had to wet a paper towel in the bath and wrap the stuck area with the soaked paper towel.

You can get the Mean Green spray at WalMart; and I got my Kroil Oil from Kano Labs. Also the technical term in the correct screw drivers mentioned by Mickey2 is "hollow point tips", visually the tips are tapered. I don't know the science behind why these things all work but in my laymen experience, they do. Self patience and diligence are helpful too.

Best of luck with it.

Christine-

You can also use the heat from a hair dryer to soften the hardened oily gunk. Lightly tap the parts after you've heated it up and you should free up the screw that way.

Sunflowerzz

I removed the old hardened rubber feet all the way to the metal, then I got the largest screw driver that would still fit in the slot head and I kept the screw driver at an angle and then hammered the end of the screw driver with quite a bit of force so don't miss. I broke all of the screws free this way. If all else failed I was going to have hubby drill them out!!.

leonf

getting drastic now. Sometimes you can dig the old rubber out and grab the screws with vice grips and turn.
I've also been known cut another slot with a hobby tool. Of course, you'll want to replace the poor abused screws.