I use a variety of machines all the time and know them back and forth and adapt quickly to any machine but this one and the needle snag issue. I dont have the needle out of the tube at all its made it happen a little less. But putting it back in the tube will make the stroke way to short to my liking. I never thought about the linear motion being the issue. Maybe thats it. I thought about buying the rotary works with the longer stroke so the needle goes back into the tube a ways and I can still used a huge stroke.