I had one of these that I used as my main sewing table for the last two years. I just passed it on to a friend when I bought a desk to match the rest of my office furniture to replace it with. It worked fine for me. As long as you don't jerk the lever when lowering or raising the machine,it will work out great. If I grew impatient and just kind of dropped the machine down then the lever can come ajar - it does have a safety bar in place to prevent any "drops" of the machine.