Singer is one of the better ones, so I'd hang on to it and get it fixed, I clean and oil my own machines about every 3mos, I have 2-brother machines, 1 is about 15 yrs old and it works great, and a newer brother, about 2-yrs old. I also have a singer in a carryig case, nice heavy duty one, It works great to. I want the brother embrodery machine, so thats what I'm working towards.