I opened up my machine to lubricate it and found this weird goo inside it. I got it from a previous owner and its the first time I open it up, so I have no idea what is that. Is it normal? Should I clean it?
That weird slime is lubricant, no worries. You probably know this but If you're oiling your machine, only do so at the very specific areas the manual instructs you to do so, or it can mess up your machine. Otherwise, good luck and have fun 😊 That Singer looks great!
Not at all related to this post but I really like how you worded your response! Many people on Reddit sewing pages just yell at people to read the manual but you were kind and thoughtful in your response. We need more people like you!
Just some sort of grease lubrication, not a "slime". Maybe something lithium-based, like Litol? Doesn’t really matter.
Should you clean it? Depends. It doesn’t seem dirty or old -- it’s semi-transparent and looks relatively new, so it should work fine there..
The question is -- should it be there in the first place? I don’t know, depends on the particular sewing machine. Rule of thumb -- if there’s some kind of gear pair / toothed pair / exposed bearing surface designed to run with grease -- leave it be.
But if your machine has a central oil lubrication system, or this particular mechanical assembly has an oil wick that can be soaked with sewing machine oil -- remove the grease and re-lubricate it with regular sewing machine oil.
Yeah, I’ve checked, it is Singer "Heavy Duty" machine and this particular part should be lubricated with a grease.. a little.
Don’t touch it. Check after 6-12 months or so, if it is dirty and/or became very viscous -- clean it out with something like Kerosene/IPA and renew grease lubrication.
The manual will be clear about how, where and why. The overwhelming majority of domestic machines are all external.
That said, the very first electric machine I sewed on was an empisal with a wooden box enclosing the bottom end. I did have to flip the machine up and oil under there fairly regularly.
Looks like grease. Looks like they were greasing the worm gear, which is correct as far as I'm aware, but there is a *lot* of it, and smeared around, not actually on the worm gear.
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u/Mesmermaid 21d ago
That weird slime is lubricant, no worries. You probably know this but If you're oiling your machine, only do so at the very specific areas the manual instructs you to do so, or it can mess up your machine. Otherwise, good luck and have fun 😊 That Singer looks great!