Thanks sewmary for the information. Great to know.
And with that, I feel very foolish. I currently have five machines and have not had an issue with any of them - until now. I actually read the directions, several times which I never do.
What I discovered is that the bobbin doesn't just sit in the mechanism, but you have to really push it in to seat. It has to pop in.
With the top thread, it's the same thing with the tension spring - one really has to pull it snugly until it pops in.
Now I know and the machine barely has time to cool down.
Another interesting thing happened this morning. I touched the needle down button so I could pull up a thread to start, and the thing didn't stop. It just kept going (very slowly) until I finally shut it off.
The shop offered free classes so I am going this week. I know that was a fluke situation, but I'll mention it to them anyway.
Otherwise, I absolutely love it and am thinking of selling my stand up frame and machine.