Replicator Desktop 3D Printer (5th Generation)

Makerbot, CTC(has extremely poor quality control with near Zero support) and most other lower priced 3D printers do not come with the correct default software temperature settings, including extruders and heat bed/build plates temps. After working with one for a week, I finally reached out to a forum (3DHub___), and was told the Makerbot software PLA settings were way to hot/high and indeed, after changing the extruder settings and turning off the build plate temp, things began to look much better. I also had to keep turning off the build plate heat from build to build, switching back to PLA instead of ABS even after saving the settings over and over again. I also spoke directly with a 3rd party 3D printer support company which blasted Makerbot, which may or may not be warranted/dependable, and they claimed that Makerbot is a high price basic 3D printer which is, in its latest releases, changing to proprietary software. My advise, go online to forums and burn up a few hours doing the research while you are experimenting and ask questions and be sure to thank those that help. The 3D printer world, including the Markerbot 3D printers can be a lot of fun with good results, but you need to be alert, pay attention to setting, temperatures, materials and don't take anything as a given. Remember, software programmers overlook most of the obvious details just to get the job done. Good luck!

Giving high marks for quality because the PRINT quality is very nice. If you're looking for a point and click solution to 3d printing, this isn't it. As other reviewers have mentioned, the removable extruder is easily jammed. Fortunately if you write to makerbot, and tell them the problem, they will send you a replacement extruder- provided your extruder is still under warranty. The problem is that you're out your printer while you wait the 2-3 weeks it takes to get your replacement- so you buy a back of extruder(which home depot doesn't seem to currently carry). the good news is that if your extruder IS past it's warranty date, it's pretty easy to pop it open, clear the jam, and continue with life as usual. It'll break the warranty if you open it, but it is fairly easy to fix. I am no master of electronics and I've managed to unclog my extruder many times. Unfortunately it does seem to make it harder for the machine to read the extruder as time goes on- so be aware of that. There's lots of videos on Youtube explaining how to self service the extruder. Another thing to be aware of is that this machine is very slow, even on low resolution prints. Larger prints can take as long as 15 hours. You cannot leave your machine unattended either. If there is a minor jam and you don't fix it right away, the nozzle will auto cool and become a clog... rendering your extruder useless. It seems like way more maintenance than you should need to do for the price tag attached. If you're a hobbyist who wants to just press print and have your item, you'll probably get more bang for your buck from printing at Shapeways or another service. If you're a hobbyist building your own props or professional doing casting(like me), then you might find that being the master of your own destiny(instead of waiting two weeks for a print from shapeways) is worth the headache.

I have this printer at my school and I have made multiple projects with it. It works great. I've had a few issues but nothing I can't fix on my own. I would like to point out that most negative reviews on this product are from older people who may not be good with modern technology.. Thus are having issues with basic troubleshooting. Most of their complaints can be solved with a simple Google search or viewing MakerBot's FAQ or Forums for help. The price is high, but that is because of MakerBot's pricing model.

This printer looks nice and is packed full of features however you will NEVER get to use the features because the "dumb" extruder jam 9 out of 10 prints. We have wasted 2 xL spools of filament with failed prints. We have gone through 8 "dumb" extruders. This machine was supposed to assist in teaching the design class however it has been a TOTAL waste of time and money. DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE!!!

I bought this model and the "smart extruder" jammed on the very first attempt to print. I went through the recommended steps to un-jam the extruder many, many times without success. The design is poor. It doesn't isolate the hot end from the filament drive, so the plastic is too soft at the drive mechanism and the drive just cuts into the filament instead of moving it when warm. I returned it for my money back minus an absurd "restocking fee". All in all, it cost me over $400 to find out what a piece of junk this printer is.

I bought the MakerBot Replicator 5th Generation from Home Depot because of a financing deal on my credit card. This was the worst decision I have ever made. I had read negative reviews about this product and wasn't quite convinced that a company like MakerBot would release something so bad... I should have listened! I went through 3 printers before totally giving up and buying a different brand which was rated higher on Amazon. I purchased that unit from Amazon and will review it as soon as it arrives. Back to the MakerBot... The first unit I brought home made a terrible grinding sound on the z-axis. The camera also arrived disconnected. The camera connection was easy enough to fix, but it just goes to show the terrible QA MakerBot has. The first unit printed great and I was really happy except for the grinding sound. About a week later, the belts started squeaking. While none of these issues impacted the printing, I figured I should get it replaced now before it dies on me later. I returned the first unit and brought the second one home. Again, this one made a really loud grinding sound on the z-axis and at first printed just fine. After 2 days the extruder clogged. After about 4 hours of loading/unloading filament, I got the jam cleared and I was back to printing. The extruder constantly oozed filament and Makerware doesn't allow you to change temps so it led to homing errors and bad calibration. If calibration is off, the extruder will make a terrible clicking/grinding sound since it is trying to extrude filament but it cant. The final straw was that it just quit printing and kept getting homing errors. I was done at this point but the Home Depot guy offered me another one and I decided to give it one more try. The third unit had a manufacturing date of just 2 days ago. I figured if there were issues, MakerBot probably figured them out and this one would be better. Nope! This one was damaged in the box with a huge dent in the rear panel. Figuring this was just a cosmetic issue, I pressed on with the installation. Made it all the way through the install and it was time to print. No dice, I couldn't get past a few layers before it started clicking and left a stringy mess of filament on the build plate. Either the extruder is improperly leveling the build plate or something else is causing the leveling routine to think a 5 degree angled build plate is level. This thing is a joke. It has built-in WiFi but the software can never find the printer. I have to constantly add the printer by IP. I had such high hopes for this printer. It's got such a nice design, it's just made by a company who takes ZERO pride in their product. The smart extruder is anything but smart. It's cool that they tried to make it detect the build plate and the auto-level assist is cool.. but the implementation is just terrible. This thing needed another 6 months of QA to detect all these issues. For nearly $3k I expected so much more. Steer clear of this thing and save some money on either the Replicator 2 or one of the Replicator clones. If you go the clone route, you can hook up a Raspberry Pi with octoprint to get all of the "gen 5" features and then some! That's what I'll be doing.

After multiple attempts to get my printer to print with consistency I gave up. I had filament jams and then homing errors. After i would calibrate and level the build plate it would still print in the air. I don't know. It was frustrating. The software was amazing and easy to use but the printer was a big disappointment especially for the price.

Expensive yes, but worth every penny in my opinion. The Maker bot does exactly what it was designed to do, make lives easier. I've had mine for almost two months now and have saved literally hundreds of dollars by printing things I once had to buy. Makerbot is the future of 3D printing! 5 stars!!!

The Makerbot is a very cool toy, but it is also a very expensive one. I would describe it as the "Apple" of 3D printers. Easier to use than some, but ridiculously overpriced in original and subsequent purchases (i.e. both the filament and printer are much more than necessary to make a good profit) If you are looking for a cool toy, you may wish to buy it, but recognize that there are very few uses for it that are more than toys and trinkets. If you make a screwdriver, don't expect it to last through a whole project, and the same for other things. Also, I say "easier than some" and not simply easy for a reason. It still requires a lot of expertise to get it running properly. Be aware of what your getting, and research it before you buy. Also, Makerbot is the one that is overpricing, NOT The Home Depot.

The Makerbot is exactly what my family has been waiting for, easy to use and fun for the entire family. We use this thing daily and fait wait for our friends to get one.