I have this machine. I use it for piecing and FMQ. The only problem I had was the needle coming unthreaded when I used the auto thread cutter. I tried everything, even went to two different dealers to find the solution. They were no help at all, they didn't know why. One wanted to replace the thread cutter. A poster here told me to not use all the thread holes at the very top. Use only one. That solved the problem! I was using all three, putting too much tension on the thread that caused it to pull from the needle not the spool. I went back the dealer to tell her I found the solution and she acted like she didn't want to hear it, said it was an outdated model and she wasn't selling it anymore. Not enough profit for the room it took up in her shop. Dried up old biddy. She never got another penny of my money. Her shop went bankrupt, she was rude to the wrong customers and didn't have enough sense to know one guild member tells all the guild members.