Oil wick replacement

[Uwe]

I used thin strips of wool felt to replace my missing oil wicks and it worked fine from what I could tell. I've not replaced any wicks inside of plastic tubes, so I can't make any recommendations on that.  

[Nandy]

Thanks!

[HENDREFORGAN]

From what we've now seen inside our 205-370 the oil wicks seem to break down into two groupings, pipe cleaner style wicks inside small diameter pvc tubing and "fluffy purple caterpillars" wrapped around the final destination of moving parts.  Providing your always using the correct grade of oil delivered through the plastic grommets then the former seems maintenance free . . it's them damn "fluffy purple caterpillars" that are the problem and, being where you want the lubrication to do it's job, not something that is wise to ignore.

The manufacturers would have chosen this material "on spec" but what they failed to take into account is it's fragile nature.  We're not sure we've cleaned all of the bits of "fluffy purple caterpillars" that the machine has chewed up and distributed as a fog of purple fibres exactly where you DON'T want the damn stuff.   We would think a good quality felted wool would be no issue, flexible and able to soak up lot's of oil, it's cost would be so cheap you could replace the whole lot for so little money . . and yet it's value to keeping your machine well lubricated is priceless.

We're still looking for a vintage long spouted oil can small enough to poke into our machine/s guts . . . I'll take the trade off with making the "fluffy purple caterpillars" redundant by using "Number One Eyeball" to actually see the oil is getting to the right place.   We will though ensure the wicks in the tubing are moved to where that system will still deliver oil to somewhere useful.

[RockyAussie]

If it helps I bought a few of the needle dispensing bottles for just this task from HK similar to as in this link.http://www.ebay.com/itm/Two-1-OZ-bottles-with-stainless-needle-tip-dispenser-for-Grandfather-Clock-Oil-/120925943269

[ZigZag]

I recently restored an old leblond metal lathe that used felt wick in all sorts of places. Be careful what you buy though some products sold as felt are actually acrylic. It has to be pure wool or it will degrade quickly from the oil.

[brmax]

I think one of the dealers must have this stuff on a roll in their shop. 

I found this wick number for the 1508, 1510 machine head. It doesnt show a length and maybe enough for the machine? I could not see other numbers for the rope type as this thats in the tube. 

CQ2020000-00

Good day

Floyd

[mikesc]

search
wool felt wick
this was #3
http://www.sutherlandfelt.com/
specifically this page
http://www.sutherlandfelt.com/wicking.htm
they are in the USA
HTH

Edited March 14, 2017 by mikesc

[Nandy]

MIke, thanks for such wonderful link!!!!

[dikman]

7 hours ago, ZigZag said:

I recently restored an old leblond metal lathe that used felt wick in all sorts of places. Be careful what you buy though some products sold as felt are actually acrylic. It has to be pure wool or it will degrade quickly from the oil.

ZigZag beat me to it! Here in li'l old Adelaide pure wool felt is very hard to find, every haberdashery/millinery/material shop I went to had felt, yes, but it's all synthetic stuff!

One possible (cheap) source is second-hand shops, if you can pick up an old felt hat it may be usable (that's what I did).

[mikesc]

try also searching for
wool felt engravers blanket
( what you use in etchers/engravers presses )<= old style printing :)
you get an awful lot of wicks from a single etching blanket.
Supplier in Australia
http://www.mes.net.au/category/78-blankets
HTH

[Uwe]

I guess Australia needs to save a few more sheep from becoming UGG boots to make a few yards of wool felt. The sheep would appreciate it, too, no doubt.  

Here in the U.S. I buy my wool felt at Filzfelt (https://www.filzfelt.com/index.php?/shop/categories/). It's a great material to combine with leather. 

[coryleif]

Daaaang! that's some cool felt!
Too spendy to buy for wicks, I would think, and "the surface has a waxy coating that repels liquids. Water droplets on the surface will bead and roll off instead of being absorbed into the fabric." [https://www.filzfelt.com/index.php?/faq]

Now I want some. Thanks, Uwe!

 

 

[Uwe]

I've only bought from their remnants section (https://www.filzfelt.com/index.php?/shop/categories/category/remnants) , where they have less-than-full-width pieces in limited colors for a reasonable price. The remnants are great for experimenting and smaller projects like iPad or phone sleeves and the like. 

Good point on that wax coating, Cory! I had to take a loser look at that aspect.  I have two kinds of colors of felt that I got from FilzFelt. I did some testing and one of them readily absorbs oil, on the other the oil droplets just sit on top. I don't know how you can tell on their website which version has the coating and which doesn't.

The one type of felt I have that absorbs oil readily and would make a good wick material is a 5mm thick "200 Natur". I'm guessing "200 Natur" color is untreated and all-natural, which is why it absorbs oil more readily.

Here's a short video that shows how different the oil absorption of the two colors of felt is:

 

 

[Diyer]

Having recently replaced a number of  my wicks on the Adler 205/370-here is some useful information.

1. The Adler wicks inside the plastic tube are made of COTTON . I know this because when lit, they smoulder. Wool does not do this. Also as a long time sewer of clothing I can tell the difference.

2. It is quite cheap to buy the wick and plastic tube from an Adler parts place.

There are two part numbers for this:- 9041100015 for the wick, and 0699979100 for the plastic tube. The lengths suppled are over 2 metres for the wick, and around 1 1/2 metres for the tube.You will need a needle of some sort to stuff the wick down the tube-I used a Tandy one meant for lacing, as it has a barbed end.This job becomes really difficult if you are trying to restuff oily wick down new plastic tube, or the brass tubes in the "oil box/tank".

Where there is a joiner or "t" piece in the system, Adler use those "fluffy caterpillars", so you do not have to feed wick through the whole thing.

3.Using felt as a wick has one problem- felt in thin lengths will not hold its shape, and falls apart. That is why the original wicks are woven. I used some 80% wool mending yarn threaded through the plastic tube as many times as I could- I got 3 lengths in, and it seems to work well enough that I am not replacing it, even though I now have the correct wick material.

4. In the UK new wool "fluffy caterpillars" are available from Worldofwool. co.uk at a very reasonable cost.

They fit in the slider mechanism pretty well, and being wool, should last as long as the originals.

 

[mikesc]

If some are cotton..then braided wicks for oil lamps should work..here they are cheap ( couple of Euros per metre ) and are available in hardware stores in various thicknesses..I have various oil lamps as well as candles and LED lamps and "gennys" and UPSs in case the mains power goes out.

[Nandy]

http://www.sutherlandfelt.com/wicking.htm

They sell 15 feet minimum, at a bit over $4 a feet, that is $60 just for one size..... Too much for wicks even if they let you combine sizes...

I think I will do the roll felts and call it done. I might even be able to clean some of the larger used felts and reuse them...

[brmax]

Just curious, have you tried one of the banner ad dealers. It may be worth there time if anything else is needed. I think i seen 5 bucks some where couple weeks ago for the juki number but theres always shipping. I wonder if some candle wicks could be selected, they have some good quality types available. Though im not sure what would be best here. 

[Nandy]

I might do that... thanks.

[SheltathaLore]

Came across this in an archive binge; thought I'd add here that McMaster-Carr sells 95% wool felt cord in multiple diameters and densities: https://www.mcmaster.com/#felt/=09445cf74f5445a39b50d33f72859b81jbykrvtt

 

[DonInReno]

I'll also add that simply searching for "felt wick" turns up multiple sources - machinery of all types have used felt wicks for a hundred years - it's usage is not limited to sewing machines.

Edited January 6, 2018 by DonInReno

[Nostrum]

Recently replaced the wicks in my Singer 241-12 Industrial machine using 100% braided nylon rope cord. The machine was made in 1941 and the original braided cotton wicks were caked with dry gummy oil. 

Some of the braided nylon I found has a hollow core. The cord I ended up using had a nylon fiber core similar to the original cotton. It seems to work well and is very inexpensive. 

The feed lifting rock crank slide uses a short 1/8" round felt wick. I used braided nylon for that also but may eventually replace it with felt. I found one foot lengths of round felt wick in 1/8, 3/16 and 1/4 inch at http://vintagewireandsupply.com. Mcmaster Carr has them in longer lengths also as someone stated previously. 

I have basically disassembled and re-assembled the entire machine for cleaning so I know it well if anyone has questions about servicing the Singer 241.