I've never heard of clipping the corners....the idea behind it doesn't make sense. I hate just sitting and sewing long lines...not challenging enough. I used pinking shears on the last fabric I bought....had only one piece that raveled. I'm looking at getting the pinking shear for my rotary, too.

Me too!

You are not the only one. It took me several months to take the serger out
of the box and use it. Take it to the shop and ask them to make it work right.
Maybe ask them to give you a demo. It might just be the threading. It's
very picky but once it's threaded, try not to unthread it ever. LOL. Just
kidding. I have rethreaded but I avoid it as much as possible because it's
such a pain.

When/if you change the cones, set all the tension to zero and pull the
threads very gently, then reset the tension back. Read the manual and
watch the videos. Once you've used it a few times you will get it.

Don't know if it works or not will give it a shot why not, not cutting off much or more then serging, zigzagging, edges, one time grateful fab shop person dosen't cut w/the grain, always figure will loose a couple of inches, on any piece bought. :)

I use pinking shears on the cut edges. Helps a lot. Cutting off the corners didn't really help much if any. Sorry.

No, corner clipping does not prevent fraying over a long length of cloth, as I can attest with wads of strings in my washer and dryer.

I serge all my edges.

As to the problem of the serger not working, try to check out the lines of threading through the machine. 9 times out of 10 for me that is all the problem.

And when I change thread, I just tie the new thread on before the thread enters the guides without changing any settings, and then just sew very slowly and the little knot follows right along until it comes out behind the needles, new color thread now in place.
Never had a problem with this, and rarely ever have to actually rethread.
.

I used to do the corner clipping and while I still had a little fraying, it was nothing compared to not clipping the corners. Then I started using pinking shears on all edges. That seems to work pretty well. The last 4 pieces washed just this past Friday I used my pinking rotary blade. They really frayed with that. So guess its back to the old pinking shears.

I usually use the pinking blade on a rotary cutter. Fast and almost fool proof. You can easily tell at a glance what has been prewashed. And no tangled strings! :)

I just pink the edges, its works great!

I don't serge or zigzag. I handwash all fabric and hang it dripping wet. When it is just damp I iron it. If I can't iron immediately and the fabric dries out I spray with water roll up and iron in about 1/2hr. I've cut corners off for years now. Even if it didn't stop fraying it tells me which fabrics have been washed. No cut corners - it hasn't been washed.