Janome 500e owners. Is is time to oil your Embroidery Machine?
If you own a Janome 500e and use it everyday you should do this one a month according to the manual. I have only been using mine a couple of times a week.
I have done around 450,000 stitches on my 3 month old Janome 500e. I keep a notebook to keep track of my projects, stitch numbers and their times for when I want to make them again.
To my surprise it was mostly free of lint but all the felt pads were so dry they needed between 10 and 20 drops of oil each! I am so ashamed of myself. I will be keeping a closer eye on it from now on. You can see the difference in the before and after pics below.
If you haven't oiled yours please give your machine some loving and it will love you back and cost less in maintenance in the long run. It was easy to do and the manual shows each step as you go.
NOTE: Some machines are only to be oiled by a technician. Check your own machine manual first
Here is what I use:
*Machine manual, mine has really good step by step instructions Pages 60-64 for Janome 500e
*a pipe cleaner to get in all the awkward places to clean lint
*a torch or headlamp to see what you are doing
*fine pointy tweezers to pop the screw covers off
*magnetized Phillips head screwdriver (stops the screws being dropped in the machine)
*good quality sewing machine oil in a syringe with a printer ink needle (they are blunt and you can control how much oil and get into tight spaces)
Happy sewing and remember to love your machine!
My needle threader has been working ok although it was stiff at first when new. Is the hook that catches the thread on yours bent perhaps? I have been told you are not supposed to use the threader with the certain needles as the hook is too big and might damage it.