What type of coil were you using when you had the snags with the neotat? They are taking me a bit to get used to, but I tried the short stroke neotat the other day for lining (I've used short stroke coil machines before, so it wasn't that bad of an adjustment). At 10 volts it made very quick work of the lining. I may try it for my next lettering piece. Those are usually coil or nothing, but I'm feeling brave.