Search the Community

Photos of the leak and lubrication system: https://imgur.com/a/ZIpNo72 Longtime lurker, first time poster. I purchased a new Sunstar KM-380 BL-B cylinder arm machine in January 2020. I learned about the machine on here (thanks!) and it's been great, especially for the price. Synchronized binder works well, thread tension is good, and no issues going through lots of thick nylon materials like Cordura and webbing. The issue I'm having is that is regularly leaks oil in a few places. The primary leak is at the bottom of the bobbin case onto the foot pedal, the oil usually pooling on the back wall of the head, down the swing-up roller guide and foot, and into the bottom of the bobbin cover and then slowly dripping down from the bobbin case bottom and holes at the bottom of the arm. The other leak happens in the area of the body with the upright shaft- there's an oil pan at the base but oil will pool within a few hours and also leak from the rear of the hinge and down to the bottom of the machine base. I stay on top of it but it will literally drain a full oil tank in a week or two and it doesn't matter if I'm sewing or not. I have inspected the wick sysem the best I can, noticed no cracks in the oil resevoir, moved the wicks slightly so they're away from the walls, and still have consistent leaking. I've checked the oil pan regularly while sewing and will still notice it leaking near the rear hinge bolts which leads me to believe at least some oil is going down the back wall of the body toward the base. I purchased locally here in Los Angeles and can bring it in for servicing but trying to avoid doing that for a few weeks, unfortunately right after I purchased this machine the pandemic started so that hampered things. Hoping it's an easy fix, I know some people on here are familiar with the machine and this is the best resource for cylinder arm info on the internet. Checked the lubrication system against the one in the parts manual and nothing looked off: https://www.jati.su/files/sunstar_detailing/KM-380BL_380BLB_PME.pdf My next plan was to stuff the machine with cotton fabric overnight, let it soak up any extra oil on the felt pads, and try it again. I might have over-oiled in the beginning (coming from my Juki 1541s which likes oil) but have ran the machine a bunch and let it 'dry out' a bit between oilings but never ran it on an empty resevoir out of fear of damaging the internals. I have always followed the oiling instructions from the manual. None of the manuals have troubleshooting for oil leaks and googling hasn't shown me any working solutions so far. Thanks, appreciate any help and insight!