Just curious as to what type machine you have? I had my mom's old Bernina 830/810 I can't remember#,
She bought in the 70's and gave to me in '93. I hate to admit it, but I never had it professionally serviced, It still
runs like a champ! I purchased a Janome 6500 about 2.5 yrs ago and use it 4 out of 7 days a week! Kinda scared
to take it in for a cleaning... the old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I'm sure the newer models are not near as durable as the older mechanical kind.