Dear MakerBot support,

Webpage for this letter for picture support.
http://webpages.csus.edu/~sac35495/6thIssue/

Printer info: Mokerbot 5th Gen Printer
Serial# R50025085
Hours: 4:45:01
Firmware: 1.3.1.143

Problems:

Sent this Email to Support on 11/19/2014 now modified
Takes twice as long to print same object compared to Replicator 2.
Homing Error at the start of every print.
Spits PLA in the center of the bed during the slow calibration process before start of print.
Final layer of printer is not smooth so quality lacks tremendously.

Explanation:

My friend is losing her job and needed to make extra money and thought of an idea using the 3D printer. So she aquired two Replicator 2 printers which have issues but seem to be doing well. Business has expanded so getting another printer was necessary. So of course mde sense to buy an improved printer designed from the great platform and so ordered a 5 Gen 3d Printer.

This printer is a waste of money because all it can do is sit there and do nothing. It is worthless because it does not print as good of quality as the old models plus it takes 2 to 3 times longer to print the same small object. A small thin-walled 1 inch design which should take 18 minutes takes 45 minutes after a 6+ minute warm-up procedure.

Plus every print starts with a homing error.

And it spits a dab of PLA in the center of the build plate before it draws the starting line to build the object.

In order to speed of the printer we tried to set the later height to 0.4mm and that worked except the final layer as you can see in the photos below that the top layer is jagged.

I wish this printer printed just like the Replicator 2. Now it just sits there.

If my friends business grows more we will have to find a better printer that can match the 18 minute print time like the Replicator 2's have.

I wish you can fix the 5th Gen printer but I can't determine if it is actual broken because it seems to function the way it is designed except for the Homing Error on each print and Dab of PLA in the center of the build plate while it takes forever to calibrate the starting position.

Photo 1 http://webpages.csus.edu/~sac35495/6thIssue/WP_20141118_20_11_19_Pro.jpg

Photo 2 http://webpages.csus.edu/~sac35495/6thIssue/WP_20141118_20_12_16_Pro.jpg

Thank you for you time to look into this situation,

-Carl Kelley (RC.Thrills@gmail.com Purchaser of Replicator 2 [ S# R0026297 ])
Writing for Linda Boyles (linda@gingerbreadcutterco.com Purchaser of second Replicator 2 and now the 5th Gen [ S# R50025085 ])