Feed dogs are hitting the needle plate - Sewing Machines

1: remove the open arm cover by pressing the lever just under the needle plate to the upper left of the bobbin case door.
Clean out the lint between the feed dogs.
Replace open arm cover and the feed dogs at the highest rotation should be the height of a dime above the needle plate.
If this is correct then done. If the feed dogs are still to low
remove the needle plate again and in the right hand side of the open arm area, there are two small screws on right feed dog bar. Loosen them move feed dogs up and down to required height(above) retighten screw very tight. Done

I'm not able to find a reference to a feed dog switch for your machine.

Singer Athena 2000 Instructions Manual Page 9

Could possibly be accomplished using a special plate? The instructions do refer to a darning foot, so the machine should be able to deactivate the feed dogs.

Sometimes it is just a bunch of lint built up under the needle plate between the feed dogs. Remove the needle plate (usually two screws) and clean out the lint.
Hope that helps!

No. The feed dog is operated by an arm.
1. Look at the feed dog while turning the hand wheel. Is the feed dog coming above the plate when the needle is in t.he up position?
a. Watch the feed dog and needle. The feed dog should be above the plate only when the needle is.
b. If any other situation arises on these two mechanisms then it is in need of being timed.
2. Check your tension for both top and bottom. There is an information document attached that may help.

Look at the feed dogs to see if they are rising above the needle plate at least 1 mm. If not rising lint may have felted between the feed dogs and the needle plate. It could also be the feed dogs have been lowered, or the height has slipped. If the feed dogs are above the needle plate turn the hand wheel and see if they are moving from the front of the machine to the back. If not it is a length adjustment. If this is normal the pressure on the fabric may be too low. Another problem may be the timing of the feed dogs. The feed dogs should rise above the needle plate when the needle leaves the fabric and descend when the needle comes down into the fabric. This requires an expert to fix.

Check if the feed dogs are moving. Also check if they are one mm above the needle plate. Inspect the needle plate and presser foot for burrs. Often there is lint under the needle plate stuck in the feed dogs that keep the feed dogs from contacting the fabric.

Take the needle out and moved the hand wheel, watch carefully where the feed dogs meet the plate. Is the dog hitting or nudging the plate? Is there gunk or packed fuzz?

When the sewing machine is properly timed, all the parts work together in a seamless flow of coordination. The needle moves from it highest point down toward the needle plate. The feed dogs reach the farthest point toward the back of the sewing machine. The feed dogs drop under the needle plate. This is just before the needle point reaches the needle plate. The needle continues to move down dragging the upper thread under the needle plate. It proceeds toward its lowest point.
The needle begins its rise back up. A loop of thread forms along the back of the needle. A special cut out on the back of the needle to accommodate this loop is called the scarf. The sewing machine hook slides behind the needle. The point of the hook slides into the thread loop and pulls the thread around the bobbin. The bobbin thread and upper thread wrap together. The needle and hook proceed through their actions under the needle plate. The feed dogs move under the needle plate from back to front.

The needle proceeds to rise again up out of the bobbin area exiting the needle plate. At the same time the feed dogs rise up out from under the needle plate. They begin to move from front to back as the needle continues to rise.
The thread from the bobbin flows through a bobbin tensioner providing resistance to the thread as it is drawn up by the upper thread knot. The upper thread is also under tension. This comes from the upper tension, thread guides, tension spring, and sewing machine take up lever.
The thread from top and bobbin grow increasingly tighter until they form a locked stitch in the middle of the fabric. This process is repeated for every stitch.
How do you adjust sewing machine timing?

The needle, hook, and feed dogs must move in harmony. If they fail to do so, the machine will not perform as expected. When the hook is just slightly out of time with the needle, you will notice skipped stitches. This may begin on only one side of the zig zag stitch or intermittently. If the timing is just a bit more out of sync, stitch formation will become impossible.
If the feed dog timing is out of sync, the fabric will not move through the machine as expected. Threads may bunch up or the fabric may just not move.
As you can see, timing is everything.
click on this link directly
http://www.fixsewingmachines.com/How-to-Adjust-Sewing-Machine-Timing.html

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Is the needle pushed all the way up into the shaft? It may have worked loose and slipped down a bit.

Sounds like the timing is off, have to take foot off, take plate off, put it in the zz position and using the hand wheel turn(with new needle in) and see where it is hitting feed dog, loosening the screws to the feed dog and moving it in the opposite direction out of the way so as not to hit. let me know how that works