Thanks - I accidentally covered the feed dogs with a slider (mine has a cutout) There were black marks on the slider where the feed dogs hit it even though they were in the lowest position. I can slightly feel mine.
The serger thread and some of the other threads like King Tut didn't curl. The only time it is a nuisance is when the thread is so curled that releasing the tension on the thread pulls the thread out of the needle. That can be worked around if it's that common. I have a feeling the curling is caused by that thread guide on the top.
I do like the machine. It does everything else so well that if something is NOT a mechanical problem, I can work around it. It's just that all the reviews are not mechanically specific. Most just say thread breaks all the time which is no help.
Or that it's no good for FMQ. I can get thread to break all the time in any machine.
My Pfaff 2170 must have the lousiest thread cutter in the industry. It cuts too short, thread gets caught, and in one instance, it actually might have tried to short a circuit on the board. I can live with it - I turned it off and I just cut threads the old-fashioned way. I wouldn't trade for a new TOL.
If you go back and read the posts from the gentleman about his wife's Janome 6600, everyone chimed in with hints.
The ones about the lint collecting were good. That's an idiosyncrasy of the machine - now he knows and can deal with it. The 1500 seems to be either all love or all hate and not too many hints in between.