I don't have a fancy machine...my Singer 7426 was 2 years old, been used quite a lot and I got it back 2 days ago. It cost me $99.00 for a cleaning/tune-up.
I do clean it after 10 bobbins of thread.
I heard that tip ages ago an saw it recently in something I was reading....wind 10 bobbins and when you run out, change the needle and clean out the lint...then run 10 more :)