oiling my sewing machine???

ok, I got my sewing machine last year and have used it quite a bit. Now it's started to have some problems.....when I press my foot down on the peddle (sp? is that the right word?) it makes this hummming noise, hesitates for a few seconds, and then the needle goes wicked fast. It only used to do that when I was sewing through a lot of fabric, but now it's doing it through only a couple layers.
When I also go to turn the knob on the side, it gets really *sticky* at the highest and lowest points from the needle.
What wrong with it??? Does it need to be oiled?

 

well even if thats not the problem...oiling it wont hurt..
i always oil anything that moves..lol
plus taking it apart n dusting everything is a good cure most of the time..

 

will do, thanks for replying!

 

it's always fun to take the air compressor to the innards of the sewing machine

and make sure you run some scraps thru on cheap thread after you oil, just in case there's any excess. ya dont want to ruin any good fabric with sewing machine oil

 

how exactly do you oil? is there a method? what type of oil to use? i've had my machine for 3 years and have never oiled or dusted it's innards. how do you open the machine up? unscrew the screws? i know parts of it kinda come apart, but i'm afraid that once it's open, i'm not gonna be able to get it shut!

 

they sell bottles at the fabric shop of oil. Your sewing machine manual usually has a page on oiling the machine. Sometimes lint can build up and cause issues with the moving parts. Especially with sergers. I sew with a lot of hemps and I have noticed the fabric is tough and winds up collecting in all the small parts. It also could be your foot pedal because it sounds like the power is getting to the machine. I would give your foot pedal the once over. I got a bead in one of mine and it did a similiar thing, Made a humming noise when I pressed it.

 

hummm, thanks for the suggestion, I'll have to look at that. That never occured to me...