This machine really didn't work well for me when I first put it together out of the box. I watched the video very carefully, multiple times, to make sure I was doing everything like I was supposed to. It kept jamming really bad, and I would have to pull the whole project off and start again, because none of the troubleshooting tips offered in the video seemed to match the problems I was having. The extension kit was even worse, and the needles were so tightly packed in foam they would squeak when you tried to move them. The carriage would not even pass over this section. It would just stop, and there was no way the needles could move well enough to keep working. I took the extension out and tried to work with just the 100 stitches on the main needle bed, but even still, I probably had to start over about 8 times. I was about to my wit's end about the whole thing. I read some reviews and talked to some friends about the problems, and upon those suggestions went to Lowe's and bought some non-toxic, eco-friendly, spray lubricant and hosed the needle bed. I worked the needles back and forth to work the lubricant down into the needle bed and foam packing for the main machine and the extension, and put the extension back on. I actually had to do this 2 or 3 times, but eventually it was well-oiled enough to work without jamming, and I did an entire baby afghan in one afternoon. Now the carriage passes over all the needles very smoothly. I only had one stitch drop in the whole afghan, and that was my own fault for non paying attention to each row as I was working. There's no way I would have been able to knit this much in such a short period of time with just old-fashioned knitting needles, and I am not new to hand-knitting. I did months worth of knitting in one afternoon.

It's true, it is kind-of flimsy and plastic. You have to take extra care with it for this reason, but it is only like 1/5 the cost of a professional knitting machine, so I don't expect professional quality. You get what you pay for. I did not find the machine to be hard to assemble, or the logistics of operations that difficult to understand. I watched the video before even opening the box, then I watched the video as I took it out of the box and assembled it, pausing frequently and re-playing certain parts to make sure I was assembling it appropriately. If you take it slow, and really listen to all the instructions and tips they give you in the instructional video, you can assemble it and get all the basics you need to operate the machine.
I did not see anywhere in the video where they talked about using spray lubricant, though, and I really think that is the trick to making this machine work well. Save yourself the headache, and just go buy some spray lubricant before you lose 8 projects. Make sure it is non-toxic, because a lot of those spray lubricants have some mean chemicals, and you don't want to risk any of that stuff getting on your projects. The stuff I bought was called Ultra Lube, and was in a black and green can.