Rod, I know what you mean. It was a major decision for me to go to the free Amaya O/S training. I still haven't done the Design shop one. But I'm thinking it might be a little profitable for me to become a 3rd party tech, and I really like doing that sort of thing anyway. I was a Teletype maintenance person in the AF many years ago, so I have a little background in the electrical and mechanical aspects. I also have another full time job, so I'd have to take leave from that and burn my vacation time, but I'm hoping it would be worthwhile. I'd like to get enough embroidery (or tech) work to quit my day job. Do you get any extra work out of the tech side? Thanks for all your help, and I've learned alot just reading the problems of others on this list. I don't have alot of other embroidery experience to compare, but I find the Amaya to be pretty reliable so far. I think most of my troubles are operator or design related. In that, experience is the best teacher. Loree Dragonstitch http://www.dragonstitch.com custom embroidery dragonstitch@xxxxxxx