I've been really busy so I haven't been back here in a week or so.

Waytoomanyhobbies, you're welcome, and I tend to agree.

Geoff, thanks for following along and commenting. I appreciate it.

Saifprints, you can download and print a tabletop spoolholder that I designed that will fit Makerbot's old 2kg spools and Lulzbot spools from our account on the thingiverse here, and you can download one that i designed for Taulman spools (and also works for Filament Central spools) here.

As I wrote above, Makerbot support has shifted to a model where they really want you to buy their Makercare. I will say that in general, they have been (tried) to be helpful to me, and on a number of occasions they have sent me free replacement parts for our Rep 2s and instructions on how to perform the repair.

I seriously doubt anyone can build with Ninjaflex on a 5th Gen. After having dissected the extruder, I just don't see how that design will accept it. The Rep 2 might be able to be modified. I saw a video somewhere about how to modify the Rep 2 nozzle to accept Filaflex, which I believe is substantially similar to Ninjaflex. I had to buy a specially designed extruder for our Lulzbots to build with Ninjaflex. The issue with it is that you can't really "push" it because it is so flexible.