I have had two so far, the first one was a school machine and they were upgrading and used it until all the metal gears ended up plastic then I got one from goodwill for 20$ and took it and the old one and the singer guy made one out of twoi, the one I got from GW didnt have a bobbin cover on it and he rigged up the other one and that is the only problem I am having, but back to your question I just love the darn thing! The one now is all metal gears and singer said it will outlast me!