thanks ladies, for the support. i guess it isn't such a bad deal after all. i have kept the lint out of it, but i was told to not oil it myself. he did say that i need to change the needles more often (err on the side of 'too often' he said). i looked at some gutterman thread today at jo-anns and that's probably what i'll use on my next free motion quilting project.
hannahsmom - it's a Janome 8080 (from Sears in 2004). it's been a great machine for the money!