Sorry to say that this problem is still not resolved. Juki Home in Florida have given me a great big "runaround" ! I took the machine in to the local Juki vendor. They are mainly specialists in industrial machines, but they said they would have a look. They called back the next day to say that the small spring under the throat plate is missing. This seemed weird to me as I had checked that spring before taking the machine in, and it was very much in place. Anyway, apparently there is no such spring available in North America, and they had to order it from Japan. Still waiting.