Singer Stylist 9960

<p>Bought machine 2013 and 3 years later the machine is cracking at the start of threading. The cotton gets caught in these cracks and breaks off. This causes tension problems. Surely machine is made to be used with cotton..so why the breaking of it. The machine is used seldom for domestic purposes only by myself. I have a Bernina Sewing and overlocking machine for many years and had none of these before. Can this be a factory fault on Singer or can I get a explanation for this.</p>