Jem-makin' me happy!

I started working again on some frankenbatts yesterday morning (weird dreams about them throughout the night left me little choice), then with 45 minutes to go before having to leave for my afternoon Mom visit, I thought I'd do a little defluffing and some oiling on my Janome Jem's moving parts.

Twenty-five minutes later I had this. . .

 . . . along with the realization that I've owned and used this Jem the longest of all the machines in my stable (nearly 30 years), it's been an absolute work horse the entire time, and I'd never in all those years seen this machine naked.

I left for the afternoon hoping that when I got back home in 3-4 hours, I'd still remember where all these carefully sequestered screw groups came from.

This little girl was pretty dusty/linty inside.

I pulled several hunks of compacted lint wads (pink oval) from all her nooks and crannies. Only after lots of time removing the bulk of the lint with brushes, Q-tips, and needle-nosed pliers did I resort to canned air for the final, cleansing blast.

She remained surprisingly well-lubed (the thick grease, not merely oil). The only places that needed to be oiled were easily accessed without having to take off the plastic shell. Pretty good planning on the part of Janome, as I doubt their standard customer is ready to tear the machine apart at a moment's notice.

Within a couple of hours she was all back together, with just one extra screw (shown there on her bed--it was one of several that secured the front half of the shell to the metal body). Once that was done I oiled the bobbin case assembly and the moving parts accessible from the front panel (under the foam pin-holding block and secured with a single screw for ease of maintenance). I placed a paper napkin under the presser foot and that was it for the night. She was fresh and ready to go for the full day of frankenbatting today.