That's so ironic--I'm having the same trouble with the foot pedal on my AQS. I took the pedal from one of my other Janomes and have been using that with it. I didn't realize the pedal could be disassembled. I'll have to take it apart and see how bad it is. We priced a new pedal and it was $80-$100. Since the machine only cost $350, I'm not paying that much for another pedal; especially since I can just "borrow" from another machine. Thanks for the cleaning tip!