the hairdryer trick sounds good, if I get some time this weekend (IOW, if you can get me away from a new quilt I am designing!) I may try to heat it up and see if it works. If not, me & DH may disassemble and see if something just needs de-gunked. We did not totally disassemble it before, we were afraid of sproinging something we could not later fix (for lack of a better term)... but I am game, when I saw her face light up that I was paying attention to her machine, that makes it worth it :mrgreen: