J Miller

I would not listen to that old Singer repairman. I'd scare up some Singer grease and or the stuff N.M. is selling before I'd put oil in the motor.

JMNSHO

Joe

Mrs. SewNSew

I don't think he was saying to put oil IN the motor. It sounds like he meant to put just a bit on the end of the shaft where it comes out of the motor. I would still grease it though. I can hardly believe that Singer put grease tubes there, but that they should be considered obsolete.

J Miller

Christy,

Those motors got their design start in the 1920s. Those are grease tubes and that is what needs to be put in them.
Obsolete or not, that's the way of it. We've hashed this motor lube thing over many times here and the thing is, Singer motors need and use grease. Oil, either in the tubes or on the ends of the shafts just won't do the job.

Joe

Mrs. SewNSew

Maybe I worded that poorly but we are both saying the same thing...use grease in the tubes!

Susanmarie

I have tried Nova Montgomery's lubricant.

I had previously lubricated the gears/pots that lubricate the bearings on the motor on my Singer 15-91 with Tri-flow lubricant and the machine was so bogged down that the motor wouldn't run faster than slow. I painstakingly wiped off as much Tri-flow lubricant as possible and since I had just gotten some of Nova's lubricant I thought I would try it. The slow motor problem was solved! I couldn't believe the difference in how the motor performed just based on a different lubricant.

I went back to the Sew-Classic website to read what Jenny said about Tri-flow lubricant and I found out that she doesn't recommend Tri-flow lubricant for grease tubes or pots that lubricate motor bearings via a wick. That was exactly my situation with the 15-91.

I haven't done a comparison with Nova's lubricant vs Singer sewing machine lubricant.

I have no affiliation with Nova or her products but so far I'm pleased with her lubricant.

J Miller

Susanmarie,

We've discussed the Tri-Flow grease and the fact it's not to be used in motors (Singer or otherwise) many times.
What makes it great for gears, is what makes it unsuitable for motors.

I'm glad to see you've used Nova Montgomery's grease. I've got to try some soon. I've got many Singers and a couple of others that use that type of grease in the motors.


Joe

Jeanette Frantz

My old Singer, a 328K only requires grease for the gears, and I suspect, though I don't really know for sure, that my 403A is the same way -- I'll let my son check up on that. In the meantime, I am keeping them both well oiled (but not excessively). I also try very hard to keep the lint cleaned out of them -- that's one thing for sure. I've seen some of the machines that came into the shop where my son worked. The machines were actually packed full to the extreme, and then the women that brought them in just couldn't understand what was wrong! LOL! I'm surprised that some of them didn't totally burn up. Do that too often, and they will burn up! I try to clean the old grease out of the gears before putting more in them -- just my opinion, but I think that makes sense!
Jeanette