Sorry - I'm on the other side of the tracks here - I sew over pins all the time. Worst (fortunately) that has happened to me is a broken needle. I use a Viking Platinum - about 10+ yrs. old. Viking came out with a 'new' machine a few months ago that, if I remember correctly, was relatively reasonable - $800 ish. There have been a couple of threads on this machine. I know member twoxover purchased it and, as far as I know, is quite happy with it. You might want to do a search on her threads to find out the model of the machine. Otherwise, let me know and I'll do some searching for you. Since you already have a Viking.