I visited my local Viking dealer who sell the same machine under a different name. She was so helpful. I bought my Designer SE at that shop and you can bet if I buy another machine it will be there. She gave me a few tips to try and agreed to come to my house if I could not get it to work. She also said if it needed to go to the shop for repair she would take it with her. When I came home I did all the thigs she told me to do and looked at my manual and saw another tip, so I did that one also. Well, it is sewing real good now. Needless to say, that act of kindness will really stick we me.