cleaning the main bed

The previous owner hadn't used the machine recently so I knew it would need a good clean and a little service. I looked up the best methods on the internet.

I unclamped the machine from the sliding shelf inside the cabinet and took out the sponge bar. As imagined, the sponge was totally flat. I'd bought a couple of sponge-bar DIY kits from here, so first I removed all the old sponge with a screwdriver.  I attached the long strip of foam with double sided tape and then stuck the thick black ribbon on top of this. I couldn't remove the plastic ends of the bar so I just used wire insulation tape around the ends of the sponge. Before fitting the bar back in I wanted to clean the needles. I removed them one by one. This was more difficult than I imagined as I couldn't seem to do it without the needles scratching the machine. It was also extremely annoying that as soon as I lost my concentration, I'd forget to close the latch of the needle and I would get it stuck. It's difficult to concentrate on anything when you have a 6 month old baby that's feeding for a growth spurt! I cleaned the needles in batches in a jar of surgical spirit with a drop of Bellodor oil added. I shook the needles in the jar of solution, then removed them and wiped with a drop of oil on a cloth. While the needles were out I used the vacuum cleaner to get the dust out of the machine. There was a lot of dust in there. It reminded me of the Japanese animated film, My Neighbor Totoro, where a family get a new house and the children see dust bunnies coming out of everything. Annoyingly, the baby had decided she was scared of the vacuum cleaner so I kept having to stop to cuddle her!  Once that was finally done I gave the machine a good wipe-down with the solution and replaced the needles and new sponge bar. I also cleaned the carriage, with the solution and then wiped with oil. I checked the brush wheels for threads.

The main machine was now ready to use. Wow!  I've never used a machine with a new sponge bar!!

I could have cleaned the ribber and the other carriages and accessories, but I decided that as I'm going to work my way through the instruction manuals, I might as well clean the bits as and when I need to use them. Otherwise, I'll want to use everything all at once and not learn the basics. I need to learn the basics so I can understand the complex techniques.