Lenore's motor got a once-over on day 3, and the symptoms weren't encouraging. First I checked the motor brushes. The cap on the top brush needs to be replaced, but I was able to remove it using a small knife as a "screwdriver." There wasn't any soot on the brushes, which was a good sign. I put the brushes back in -- with great difficulty on the bottom, since you have to maneuver through a hole in the machine housing -- and moved on to the pulley. I had removed the belt already, since it was frayed. Next I removed the motor pulley itself, to be sure there wasn't any thread tangled behind it. No thread. Finally, I decided I'd try to just plug 'er in and see what happened. I knew that the people at Quota International, which sold me the machine, had tried to run it before selling it, so I was pretty sure it wasn't going to electrocute me. Even with the foot pedal completely down, the motor just barely turned. I didn't want to risk damaging anything, so I didn't try for long. I noticed that with the pulley removed, the motor shaft was almost impossible to turn. I had to use a small wrench with a soft cloth protecting the motor shaft itself. Again, not wanting to damage anything, I left it alone for the time being, and posted a message on the Yahoo group for Featherweight aficionados. And that was it for day 3! Poor Lenore went back into her box for the night. I hope she slept well, because the next day was going to be full of poking and prodding.
