MakerBot 5th gen - Less than impressive results. Advice?

[Sebastian Finke]

That does look really bad. I've rad (here and elsewhere that the Rep 5th gen is a good doorstop. Don't really know if it can be improved...

[saviorself]

Well I called MakerBot and they recommended changing the x/z axis. I explained that it extruder is dragging a bit. After adjusting it twice - adjusted one click, printed... adjusted another click, printed - the prints are the same. I think you may be right about the doorstop option, which they conveniently left out

[wkarraker]

While everyone's mileage varies with the 5th Gen series I've been getting decent results after my Z18 got it's 4th Smart Extruder. It's never going to compete with a liquid resin printer but that's not what we purchased it for. I use it for the occasional art project and building custom brackets and mounts.

6" tall trophy representation
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Bracket mount for a Mac mini
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If you can't get the extruder replaced by Makerbot take a look at the aluminum core where the brass nozzle is screwed in. If you have obvious gouges on the aluminum then the metal plate on the bottom of the extruder needs to be checked for a sharp edge on it's inner surface. A sharp edge digs into the soft aluminum and stops the extruder core from settling into the metal bracket correctly. This throws the calibration of the nozzle out the window, my first extruder was having similar problems to what you have shown.

Taking apart a Smart Extruder will void it's warranty but if you can't exchange it then you're kinda screwed anyways. Below are pictures of what my first extruder had suffered after less than a month of printing. It got to the point where it would home once in 15 tries. After sharing these photos with Makerbot support I was eventually sent a new extruder, but it was delayed for a month while my printer was down. After I polished the metal bracket and cleaned up the gouge in the aluminum I was able to use it for a month while I was waiting.

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