Day 2 with Lenore: More issues

The day after I bought machine #6 -- Lenore -- I came home from work and started tinkering (well, after dinner). I took off the drip pan first. The pad was soaked with old oil, and there were bits of lint and old, brown, gunky grease. The pad itself came off easily. I took a picture of it and then threw it in the trash. Then I got on eBay and bought a new drip pad, belt, LED bulb and bed cushions.

I turned the hand wheel, with difficulty, and realized that the belt was actually sliding around the motor pulley -- the pulley itself wasn't turning at all. I loosened the bolt holding the motor to the machine, calling on the manly-man strength of my husband because I couldn't get it to move. This was a frequent occurrence as I worked on Lenore. The screws on that machine were stubborn.

After I loosened the motor bolt, I removed the old, frayed belt. After that, the hand wheel moved very smoothly.

I moved on to the hook assembly and confirmed what several people on my Yahoo group had suggested. Lenore has the original Featherweight hook assembly, which was changed sometime in 1934 (I think). This old-style assembly requires removal of the whole thing in order to remove the bobbin case base and thereby clear any thread jams. I decided on that night that since the thread wasn't inhibiting the movement of the hook and hand wheel, I would leave it alone.

A small digression: I had misdiagnosed the problem. Sure, the hook moved freely with the needle plate removed. The problem started when I had to put the positioning finger back into the slot under the needle plate. Then, nothing would budge. The bobbin case base was stuck to the hook assembly. But I figured that out a little later...

End of digression.

My next stop was inspection of the gears. And, yuck! There was more old, brown hardened grease on the upper and lower gears. In fact, some of the grease had gotten onto the lead tubing that holds the lamp wires, and onto the inside of the machine housing. It must have flown off those gears when the machine was running. Someone liked to use a lot of grease on the gears! I cleaned off what I could and then decided I needed some kerosene to really clean them off properly. Not wanting to buy a whole gallon of kerosene, I placed a request on the local Freecycle to see if anyone would give me a small amount.
I took a peek at the motor next. It was covered in dust, so it would need a good exterior cleaning just for cosmetic reasons if nothing else. I would also need to check the brushes, which I planned to do the next day. I had made some progress on day 2, but not much.