No other thread stand is capable of controlling your EXTERIOR tension. 1. Do all our thread stands come natural? (wood unfinished) YES all our stands come natural so you may choose to paint or stain them if you prefer. We do recommend using a sealant on all unfinished wood. Also all our thread stands are handmade from quality select hard wood. 2. Do all our stands have some type of rubber on bottom? YES all our stands has rubber on the bottom for a non-slip affect. All have rubber feet except our UNO-1 single. This stand has a round rubber disk because if you use rubber feet will not have the correct balance. 3. Do all our stands come completely assembled? NO Most of our stands do come assembled but we do carry a few you would need to place a screw or two within the predrilled holes. If a stand needs you to place more than 2 screws you would receive easy to follow directions for that stand. 4. What happens if one of the dowels get broken? You just need to drill out the hole and replace with 1/4" dowel? (sold at all craft stores) We also send an extra dowel in box. 5. What if within shipping or time your tension rings need adjustment? Very simply twist slightly together and test with thread till you have just the correct tension. Also if your tension rings are on a top dowel you should hear a slight snap when thread is placed inside rings and the most tightness should be on the top part of your rings. If you have a thread stand with the tension rings on a 2nd dowel(below) you tightest part of your tension rings should be on the bottom and when you place thread between you should also hear a slight snap. (( Which is locking your thread within your tension rings on all stands )) ADJUSTING TIP The way our rings work the best is always making sure you are able to lock your thread within the tension rings. For the stands that have rings on the bottom (2nd dowel down) slide a file within the top of rings and very slightly pry a bit apart, but leave the bottom of rings together. Test. For the stands that have only 1 dowel with rings,,,,,,,slide your file within bottom and very slightly pry a bit apart, but leave the top together. TEST for the snap on top or bottom of rings. You need to have some looseness in order for you threads to move slightly free whether its top or bottom snap. 6.Our Ultimate is the only stand we do not attach the little rubber feet to the bottom base Reason for this is some customers prefer not to have the feet on the bottom so they are able to move the base back and forth on their table. If rubber feet are attached you will not be able to move bottom base at all. We include the rubber feet and are very simple to apply. Just make sure corners are dry & clean. 7. Our Mega-46 & our MiniMega-16 come with a very small thread spool. This is for your top dowel if you use a very small or short spool of thread. This small spool once placed on the top dowel will move your color thread spool up the dowel so your threads will not get caught within the end of dowel. 8. What is the difference between the tension rings on top dowel verses bottom dowel? We carry only (2) thread stands with the tension rings on the 2nd dowel. The reason for this is there are to many thread dowels for your thread to reach the tension rings correctly. One is the (16) and the other is the (46). They both have to many attached dowels for your spools of thread so you would need to place your choice color thread one by one, and do have to move your thread spool off dowel to place next color needed for stitching. Both of these thread stands where made this way so you would be able to hold more thread spools on your stand, next to your machine and still have the availability of our tension ring control. Which is like having a thread rack sitting on your table. Our (16) & (46) are the original stands we started with and is still our favorite. It is all based on preference and your style on embroidering, sewing, serging and quilting. Please email us if you have any questions we have not answered. We will get back to you as soon as possible. Most emails are answered within a day but sometimes we get very very busy and could take two days to reply. Best Regards Debbie Lawrence Inventor/Owner