I can tell you who will be able to help you. Sign up on wefixit, which is a yahoo sewing machine group. Ask Bill Holman your question. He knows. I'm assuming you or someone near you is willing to tackle the repair and has enough tools and patience. This is a group of sewing machine mechanics. I had this problem once and he talked me through it, but I no longer remember the details. I suspect it involved Tri-Flow oil and I recall going in back of the reverse button to free it but, as I said, details are fuzzy. Regarding the cams, the manual should show you. I think the selector has to be on the red dot. (I'm not in my sewing room right now.) Don't force it.
If you have the machine I think you have, it should have a true low gear and allow you to sew slow through heavy stuff. It's one of only two machines made that does, the other being the Elna grasshopper. It's a good machine to have.
Last edited by cricket_iscute; 04-15-2013 at 10:37 PM.