I'm sorry, I'm not understanding your question. Manually hold thread up arm? Do you mean, hold onto the thread while the bobbin is winding? The problem with this is it's very important for the bobbin to be would with a consistent tension, otherwise you could end up with thread issues while sewing/quilting later. Also - I had a machine where the handwheel did not disengage when winding the bobbin - I just made sure the needle was unthreaded when I wound new bobbins.