There have been three threads on this same subject in the last week. A tool, a good tool doesn't need fixed before you can use it. Doesn't need you to do half the work its intended to do. That's why its a tool its to make life easier not harder, more complicated ,or more difficult. No one would buy a new car and expect to crawl under it and start working on it just to get it to go. Just from from the many pictures it is not hard to see it is terrible manufacturing, everything from poor foundry work, terrible machining to a tripod stand that wouldn't hold up a iPhone. Its appears to be a copy of the old singer made 120 years ago with one exception the one 120 years old worked right out of the box was better machined with better casting and many are still in service. By the time you punch all the holes by hand your halfway done and stitching isn't the hard part.
I would like to see one person that can sew a foot/12 inches with this machine without pre-punching, making a decent stitch on both sides and no feet marks, something that would be saleable. It was designed to sew, moving the material without marring, punching the holes and inserting the thread, tightening the stitch neatly on both sides and ending with a backstitch.