saufroq1

I've had a Q24 for about a year and a half now. It's a lovely machine in most ways but I've run into a recurring problem and I thought I'd see if this is a common one among Q24 owners. Right before I took my machine in for it's one year tune-up, the check spring broke. I wasn't too concerned because I had used it heavily and it seemed to make sense that a flimsy wire would break after a year of heavy use. After I got my machine back I quilted a small number of quilts (maybe four) and....huh?....the spring broke again. Hmmm....maybe I was running the machine with the upper tension too tight. Must have been user error. I took my machine in again. Once I got it back I was very careful not tighten the upper tension above the default setting. Well....you can probably see what's coming. I quilted about four quilts and toward the end of the fourth a broken-off piece of the check spring fell onto my quilt. Is this a common manufacturer error or is it something I am doing? Or maybe something I'm not doing? If it's me, what (What??) could I be doing wrong?