No Charge

I took in a Singer 348 to Clean, Oil and Adjust yesterday.  The machine was expelling some millet and sunflower seeds.  When I removed the drip pan this is what I found

Now G. had told me she was sewing along fine with the machine and it all of a sudden stopped sewing.  None of these seeds were to blame. When she brought it to me, I found that the power cord was loose and I thought that was the problem.

I happily cleaned this machine.  I oiled it, cleaned old grease off of the gears and applied new grease and wiped the whole machine down with some Krud Kutter.  It sure was pretty when I was done.

Then I decided to test its stitch.  OOPS  I forgot to clean under the power cord.  Double OOPS and some other expletives when I unplugged it, turned it over and found THIS.

So this is scary.  I did not run the machine.  I tucked it away, called G. and told her about the sad finding.  She retrieved her machine tonight and offered to pay me for the work I had done.  I said  "NO"  I would not have done any of that work had I been smart and checked this out first.  My fault and she shouldn't have to pay for that, for Pete's sake.  She argued a bit and finally I said, " Just make a donation to the SPCA then."  Seems fair.

You know, I really do want to repair and refurbish sewing machines.  But it takes a lot of skill and even more common sense.  Some day I will acquire enough skill.  Its' the common sense I worry about.  I wonder if there is a gene for that?  Sort of like the tidy gene.