Yes I did slide the foot pedal out of the holder and put it on the floor and it works with my foot. Still the machine doesn't seem to be getting the 'juice' it needs to speed up. When I took the foot peddle apart, I saw where the two copper strips are supposed to touch the connectors. One barely touched the connector so I bent it down a bit and thought that would do the trick. It just seems like it's not getting going, but it will speed up slightly after a minute or so. Any other ideas?