ladies: the most important tool in your tool box should be the computer vacuum attachement...it hooks to your regular vacuum and gets into itty bitty places, like your sewing machine! I don't know about Berninas, they pretty much force you to take them in, but on the others, you can vacuum out all that lint, brush under the throat plate first....give it a GOOD CLEANING, then use a pin-point oiler and move the hand wheel, pay attention to where metal is moving again metal and give it a MICRO DROP of oil, this will get you by until you can get a service. I do this about once a month and only have my machines serviced every two years. My service man usually tells me it was clean but needed some internal grease. I will leave that to them. Maintenance, just like on your car, can prevent a lot of problems. My grandmother use to say, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". I buy the pin point oilers from QuiltTEch on line, they are cheap...I buy three at a time and refill them. I use them on my longarm as well and they are wonderful, they don't leak and will put a minute drop or half drop, right where you need it to go. You could get 10 extra years out of your machine just by doing this once a month.