Sewing Machine oil and lubricants grease servicing
(This article is still under construction... as of May 2020)
Sewing machines gears have changed over the years, being manufactured of different materials, and the lubricants and oils for them, have also changed. Not everyone is aware, that some oils and lubricants will actually cause different types of gears manufactured from different resins, nylon, polyesters, and other various gear materials, to break down, and fail early.
It is very important to know what MATERIAL your machine's GEARS are manufactured from, in order to choose the best oil and lubricant to use, to keep it in good condition. Nylon gears, like Bernina switched to (they had bad gears recalled in the 700 and 800 series, not sure about 600. Bernina did NOT recommend lubricating their nylon gears.
Manufacturers like Singer, originally created their own formulas, and yes, it was for profit, but at the same time, they did want to maintain their reputation for quality, and they formulated their sewing machine lubricant (grease) specifically to melt at specific temperatures, to allow wicking in their potted sewing machine motors, and yet to cling to gears, as they sped up, and warmed up.
Be aware, Singer's modern version of sewing machine gear lubricant is NOT the original formulation, and does not have the same properties required by their vintage sewing machines, unfortunately. (Every tube of the new formula has been already turned to oil and blobs, so I still use my vintage Singer lubricant in my vintage Singer sewing machines, it is still the original viscosity, and works well, without melting so much that it flings off the gears, usually.) I do have vintage sewing machine friends, including technicians, who now use vaseline to replace the original Singer gear lubricant, because it was the closest lubricant they could find, that has the same properties.
Early Singer sewing machines were actually lubricated with WHALE BLUBBER OIL! Shocking, but true, lol! As crude oil and asphalt began to gain in popularity, and scientists worked on creating new ways to purify and process these natural resources, more types of oils and lubricants became available.
Not all lubricants are made of the same materials, which is the most important detail not being shared. Specific ingredients in oils and lubricants actually cause various gear materials to break down. The best way to illustrate this, I am including a link which describes gears, the materials they are made of, and some of the problems with specific ingredients in oils and lubricants, which cause other materials to break down.
https://books.google.com/books?id=x17JAPZnDvQC&pg=PA80...
Singer's Textolite gears are a resin made from a combination of phenol and formaldehyde. Apparently, early Bakelite can have asbestos in it, and Bakelite, is what those early fiber resin gears are made with.
I don't worry about the possibility of asbestos, I worry more about gears breaking, as a result of being oiled or lubricated with the wrong type of oil or lubricant, causing failure of the gears. I have seen these gears crumbled before, but not very often. They are quite strong, sturdy gears, but again, many amateur VSM collectors are giving sometimes damaging information, online, in answer to other newbies questions on how to care for their vintage sewing machines.
Pfaff's vintage sewing machines had the fiber/resin helical gear that is quite solid and hard, on the back wall of models like the 230, 260, 330, 360, and luckily, I haven't seen any of these broken, either. They do not require any lubrication, either.
My favorite oils to use on Vintage Sewing Machines, are regular Lily White Sewing Machine Oil (is known as stainless, because if it gets on fabric, it can be removed without leaving a stain), and Tri-Flow oil, which has Teflon in it. Working on a gummed up machine, I usually try to remove as much of the old sticky dry oil as possible, then I typically prefer to use Tri-Flow to help loosen it up further, and begin lubricating it for use again. The Teflon is supposed to remain as a lubricant, even if the oil liquid dries up, evaporates, etc...
Some people use sewing machine oil for cleaning the VSM's, especially the early black sewing machines which have instead of paint, a mixture of asphalt, Linseed oil, and shellac. Sewing Machine Oil should not damage this finish, unless someone has already used an inappropriate cleaner on it.
The Quilting Board has a recommendation for how to clean and fix this finish, if it is damaged-
Cleaning repairing shellac on vintage sewing machines
I have read that in wicks (some sewing machines, and some sewing machine motors have wicks to help either hold oil as a reservoir, or wick the oil to the part that needs lubricated), the Teflon in Tri-Flow oil does NOT travel through the wick, but that does not bother me, because the oil in it does travel through the wick just fine.
I have recently purchased a new (to me) grease, called Super Lube, which many VSM techs and collectors have recommended, even researching the safety of it, and it is supposed to have less VOC's than Tri-Flow, so should be safer, with less fumes. Super Lube is also supposed to be safe on all types of gears, without the issue of possibly breaking down the gears, or causing weakening.
If you do know of any issues with any of the oils or lubricants I have mentioned here, please leave comments, and if you have any references, where I can look up information to document your information, that would be greatly appreciated, as well!
Sewing machines gears have changed over the years, being manufactured of different materials, and the lubricants and oils for them, have also changed. Not everyone is aware, that some oils and lubricants will actually cause different types of gears manufactured from different resins, nylon, polyesters, and other various gear materials, to break down, and fail early.
It is very important to know what MATERIAL your machine's GEARS are manufactured from, in order to choose the best oil and lubricant to use, to keep it in good condition. Nylon gears, like Bernina switched to (they had bad gears recalled in the 700 and 800 series, not sure about 600. Bernina did NOT recommend lubricating their nylon gears.
Manufacturers like Singer, originally created their own formulas, and yes, it was for profit, but at the same time, they did want to maintain their reputation for quality, and they formulated their sewing machine lubricant (grease) specifically to melt at specific temperatures, to allow wicking in their potted sewing machine motors, and yet to cling to gears, as they sped up, and warmed up.
Be aware, Singer's modern version of sewing machine gear lubricant is NOT the original formulation, and does not have the same properties required by their vintage sewing machines, unfortunately. (Every tube of the new formula has been already turned to oil and blobs, so I still use my vintage Singer lubricant in my vintage Singer sewing machines, it is still the original viscosity, and works well, without melting so much that it flings off the gears, usually.) I do have vintage sewing machine friends, including technicians, who now use vaseline to replace the original Singer gear lubricant, because it was the closest lubricant they could find, that has the same properties.
Early Singer sewing machines were actually lubricated with WHALE BLUBBER OIL! Shocking, but true, lol! As crude oil and asphalt began to gain in popularity, and scientists worked on creating new ways to purify and process these natural resources, more types of oils and lubricants became available.
Singer was very specific about using Singer brand oil and lubricants on their machines, and using small amounts. Singer grease is no longer available in the specific formula these sewing machines were designed to use. The new formula breaks down to oil too quickly, not sticking to the specific locations it belongs, but not working the same, unfortunately. I confess, I still use my old tubes of Singer lubricant grease, it still works great, but the new tubes of the new formula have been too oily and melted to work correctly.
I am not affiliated with this next link, but the Sew4Life website and their Etsy store, at least currently (August 2022) sell very nice sewing machine servicing kits, which include a plastic bottle of Lily White (which is a stainless sewing machine oil) sewing machine oil, with a great metal zoom tube, which are perfect for oiling your machine accurately, as well as having other tools and notions needed for maintaining or fixing up old machines, as well as other excellent items supporting vintage and antique sewing machine restoration, and use.
Not all lubricants are made of the same materials, which is the most important detail not being shared. Specific ingredients in oils and lubricants actually cause various gear materials to break down. The best way to illustrate this, I am including a link which describes gears, the materials they are made of, and some of the problems with specific ingredients in oils and lubricants, which cause other materials to break down.
https://books.google.com/books?id=x17JAPZnDvQC&pg=PA80...
Singer's Textolite gears are a resin made from a combination of phenol and formaldehyde. Apparently, early Bakelite can have asbestos in it, and Bakelite, is what those early fiber resin gears are made with.
I don't worry about the possibility of asbestos, I worry more about gears breaking, as a result of being oiled or lubricated with the wrong type of oil or lubricant, causing failure of the gears. I have seen these gears crumbled before, but not very often. They are quite strong, sturdy gears, but again, many amateur VSM collectors are giving sometimes damaging information, online, in answer to other newbies questions on how to care for their vintage sewing machines.
Pfaff's vintage sewing machines had the fiber/resin helical gear that is quite solid and hard, on the back wall of models like the 230, 260, 330, 360, and luckily, I haven't seen any of these broken, either. They do not require any lubrication, either.
My favorite oils to use on Vintage Sewing Machines, are regular Lily White Sewing Machine Oil (is known as stainless, because if it gets on fabric, it can be removed without leaving a stain), and Tri-Flow oil, which has Teflon in it. Working on a gummed up machine, I usually try to remove as much of the old sticky dry oil as possible, then I typically prefer to use Tri-Flow to help loosen it up further, and begin lubricating it for use again. The Teflon is supposed to remain as a lubricant, even if the oil liquid dries up, evaporates, etc...
Some people use sewing machine oil for cleaning the VSM's, especially the early black sewing machines which have instead of paint, a mixture of asphalt, Linseed oil, and shellac. Sewing Machine Oil should not damage this finish, unless someone has already used an inappropriate cleaner on it.
The Quilting Board has a recommendation for how to clean and fix this finish, if it is damaged-
Cleaning repairing shellac on vintage sewing machines
I have read that in wicks (some sewing machines, and some sewing machine motors have wicks to help either hold oil as a reservoir, or wick the oil to the part that needs lubricated), the Teflon in Tri-Flow oil does NOT travel through the wick, but that does not bother me, because the oil in it does travel through the wick just fine.
I have recently purchased a new (to me) grease, called Super Lube, which many VSM techs and collectors have recommended, even researching the safety of it, and it is supposed to have less VOC's than Tri-Flow, so should be safer, with less fumes. Super Lube is also supposed to be safe on all types of gears, without the issue of possibly breaking down the gears, or causing weakening.
If you do know of any issues with any of the oils or lubricants I have mentioned here, please leave comments, and if you have any references, where I can look up information to document your information, that would be greatly appreciated, as well!
