This is the reason I own 4 Vikings and 1 Singer. I'm never caught without something to sew on. I would look for a reasonably priced used machine to have as a backup. I also would not use the serger for piecing. It's so hard to wait on service and being without a machine is bad when you are raring to go on something. Do you clean your machine after every project, lint out from under the bobbin, change your needles often? Most times it's something like that when the machine starts acting up. I don't usually take mine in for service like they say to do because I am cleaning it all the time.