A woman I know told me her sewing machine kept breaking the thread. This week, after work, I picked up the machine. The motor worked, the needle went up and down and back and forth, in the case of ZZ. I took the top off, oild it in a few places, tried a new needle and it sewed striaght stich and Zig Zag just fine. The knobs were stiff, but what do I know? I did try the stretch stitches and the machine went backwards. ONLY. I very carefully dribbled some tri-flow on the reverse mechanism and waited over night. This morning I applied heat (hair dryer) and moved the reverse mechanism 1347 times. Slowly it released and began to work easier and easier. Success, stretch stitches are fine and back tacking works wonderfully. The knobs, as well, now turn easily. OK so how about the BW? That worked fine but the hand wheel did not release. UP and down went that needle when I tried the BW. More tri flow and more heat freed that all up. I was into it now more than I had planned and since I had come this far, off came the needle plate to clean the feed dogs. They were not so bad. The gears behind the shuttle were just barely visible but I saw enough. I took off the bottom of the machine and greased those gears. Then I checked out the rest of the underside and that was when I saw this:
