Always follow the instructions provided by Bernina! Too little oil is not good. Too much oil is not good. You need “just enough” oil. So how much is “just enough”?
Wow…oiling is such a controversial topic! It never was before. It used to be super easy! Just oil the race every once in awhile (which really means like 1x per week if you sew throughout the week or maybe a drop before you start, if you haven’t sewn for awhile and it looks dry. Use the nice oil that came with your machine. Now it’s complicated! No…not complicated, it’s just confusing, some people put 1-2 drops, some people claim their machine is sooo thirsty that it needs 20 drops a day!
This is how we care for our machine:
Use the oil that comes from Bernina and use the oil for your machine. Let’s think about this…that cute little 2oz of oil can last us 10+ years, and we sew LOTS. Really! And we actually oil our machine. One drop goes a long way! You’re not bathing the machine in this stuff, you’re using a drop! Have you seen the new oil for the older machines? It’s no longer in the 2-3oz oil container, it’s in a wee tube. Why? Because the wee tube will last you a super long time! Our older oil containers went rancid before we could use them 20 years later! So yeah, $10 for some oil sounds expensive but if it lasts 5-10 years, it doesn’t sound very expensive at all.
Oil the spots Bernina tells you to oil. So, our 770 has these white felt places on the bobbin case holder and then you oil the race. Our Artista 630 gets one drip in the race.
Oil the machine when it needs it – the 770 is easy, when those white felt places become dry, ooh…it’s time. If either one sounds a bit loud, there’s another drip going in
Our machines are NOT thirsty! Now, we admit, on a long embroidery day, the machine is working really hard and even if we gave it a fresh few drips in the morning, by midday or evening, it may be time for a drip. If you’re doing that much sewing, you NEED to be brushing out the lint, cleaning up the machine. You can then see how much oil film is there and determine if it’s time to oil. If you pour oil into your machine and don’t stop to brush out the lint, all you are doing is creating a sludge in your machine. That’s not healthy! Our machines DO need TLC, which includes lint brushing, sludge removal etc. After removing excess stuff, is it really that much work to put a new drip into the machine? A drip will do. If you must, 2 drips is ok. But 20 drips? Nooooo. NOOOOOO.
Note: Some people believe that oiling the machine is “too much work”. They claim that other machines don’t require oil. Let me tell you, the few moments it takes to brush the lint out and put a drip of oil in the machine is just part of the whole hobby. Most hobbies have unpleasant tasks (sharpening, cleaning, vacuuming loose debris etc). Adding a drip of oil is a minor cost to the enjoyment of sewing and embroidery! And that’s what the geese say.