# Specific 3D Printers, Scanners, & Hardware > MakerBot Forum >  Makerbot Replicator 5th Generation Problems....

## StrategicNuclearMoose

I've literally had my printer weeks and its already having problems. 

This is my first printer.. Maybe I'm doing something wrong... 

It's been printing these... waves.

It works fine on smaller scale prints.. but when it comes to larger scale prints it just doesn't work. 

First of all, I haven't even put one roll of filament through this thing...

I've had multiple plugs and issues.

Issue number one. Build plate leveling.
I swear this thing isn't even designed to be leveled. I have tried using the assisted leveling like 50 times and its great on small scale prints but when it comes to anything large scale it sucks. If I'm not printing with a raft the right had side of the build plate doesn't even come close to sticking to the print.

Issue number two. Wavey prints.
So I get printing an nice flat blank area.. see the problem with that is... it just doesn't do that. I get this stupid thing happening where the filament coming out of the extruder head sticks to the top edge of the of the previous laid line and then gets lifted before it ever touches the Raft, the previous layer, or the base of the print surface. Pictures attached.

Issue number Three. After thinking that I had Problem number two solved.. I get an extruder 57 error.

So heres what I've tried:

Problem 1
No Idea. I guess for large scale I'll just have to print with rafts for the rest of time.

Problem 2
I've tried:
Heating the Temp of the print from 215ºc to 230ºc
Slowing the extruding rate
leveling, and leveling, and leveling and leveling the print surface. 
attaching and detaching the smart extruder.

Problem 3. 
I have no idea.

Any help is greatly appreciated
20141123_134133.jpg20141123_134125.jpg20141123_134118.jpg

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## StrategicNuclearMoose

Bump, Just need some help. Curious if anyone has any ideas that can help?

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## Mjolinor

Most people know, they just do not want to upset you.  :Frown: 
The Makerbot 5 is crap with the "smart extruder" being the worst thing about it.

The word "smart" in this instance is nothing to do with intelligence it is because it makes your eyes water, same effect as a kick between the legs.

There are not enough people that own these for a significant amount of help to be available. I am sure someone will offer suggestions of things to try and maybe with some effort, knowledge can be gained that will help others but for now you are stuck with trying to find out.

Having said all that you need to try a flat build plate even if it is only temporary, piece of glass, bathroom tile, polycarbonate. The problem as shown in the pictures can easily be all down to a non-flat build area.

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## wpilgrim

> Most people know, they just do not want to upset you. 
> The Makerbot 5 is crap with the "smart extruder" being the worst thing about it.
> 
> The word "smart" in this instance is nothing to do with intelligence it is because it makes your eyes water, same effect as a kick between the legs.
> 
> There are not enough people that own these for a significant amount of help to be available. I am sure someone will offer suggestions of things to try and maybe with some effort, knowledge can be gained that will help others but for now you are stuck with trying to find out.
> 
> Having said all that you need to try a flat build plate even if it is only temporary, piece of glass, bathroom tile, polycarbonate. The problem as shown in the pictures can easily be all down to a non-flat build area.


What he said,  If at all possible I would attempt to return the printer and pick up a different make or model,  I love my rep 2, Ultimaker has an amazing printer, lulzbot taz 4 is another stand out.  Again I know its not much help but from all everything I have read, even if you discover fixes to these issues, you have a very long annoying road ahead of you when it comes to owning a rep 5th gen...

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## richardphat

It's not your fault, it's those makerbot scum selling their 5th gen garbage. Here's my advice return the product and get a refund for unsatisfaction.

Heck even the Ultimaker 1 still works all after these years.

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## American 3D Printing

Unfortunately I have to agree with what others have said here about the 5th Gen. Read my review and head to head comparison with their earlier gen (and outstanding machine) the Rep 2 here:

http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...ead-with-Rep-2

We've been super-happy with our Lulzbot TAZs, adding to our fleet. They's slower than the Rep 2 but built like a tank. The 5th Gen is so slow, I think the TAZs might be faster. But the TAZs are super-reliable.

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## STSGingie

I also just bought a 5th gen as my first 3d printer. It won't even go through the initial auto leveling cycle. Did I just waste over $3k?

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## Mouser

Take it back STSGingie if at all possible.

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## Davidsohd

Im having the same trouble.  Very stupid design having only 2 leveling knobs.  They had it right with earlier renditions by having 3 leveling knobs. (was bought buy someone else as a group purchase "hey guys, lets buy junk together") and now I have this stupid (and loud) printer that will not level.

It has its fancy light that comes on during leveling, you get it "right" using the front knob when the print head touches down in front,
lights up, then it levels using the side knob.

But THEN the print head touches down in the back and now I'm supposed to mess with the front knob again!!! What do you think will happen?
(same thing happens when it touches down on the opposite side messing up the right knob.)

I'll believe it when it says its leveled.  Read to print 3-4 small objects (or one long one). When the print starts, front base layer is ok, but as it moves to print the next piece behind the first, the table is lower and the filament just gnarls up like a tangled ball of string.

Any help i fixing this or should I just get a hammer?

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## American 3D Printing

> Any help i fixing this or should I just get a hammer?


Yes the hammer would be fun but wouldn't get the bed level.

Simple fix we figured out:

Ignore the assisted leveling, it doesn't work worth a darn because the smart extruder uses a hall effect sensor to tell when it has touched the bed, and hall effect sensors do not have sufficient resolution and precision for this application.

Instead, in Maker ware position a small 3D object on each of the 4 corners, start the build and just watch. It quickly becomes obvious which corners are low and which ones are high. It will take a couple iterations usually (unless you get really lucky) but this is far more effective than the assisted leveling.

Indeed, the Rep 2 leveling is MUCH faster and MUCH more effective than the 5th Gen.

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## curious aardvark

It's gone down to two levelling knobs ? 

Bloody hell Its bad enough with just the three. 
Give me a four corner levelling setup any day. 

makerbot are weird. They start out with one of the best printer designs on the planet (rep dual and rep2x). 
And then over the years gradually work backwards until they've got one of the worst. 

It's not a business model I can see catching on :-)

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## Mjolinor

I could not cope with four at all, one of the first mods I did was to make it three.

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## curious aardvark

weird - one at each corner makes sense, works easily and is intuitive.

Having just one at the back makes adjusting corners pure guess work. 

If I just had 2 I can imagine using a small hammer for fine adjustment on the corners :-)

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## Mjolinor

Three makes sense, any other number doesn't. That's why tripods have three legs.

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## curious aardvark

and tables have 4, and chairs and most of the mammals on the planet.
The only thing that makes more sense is 6, which evloution has deemed the best number of legs judging by the sheers number of hexapods on the planet. 

Always makes me laugh (and cry) when sci fi films always have bipedal aliens. 
It's a frigging 1 in a trillion billion zillion chance on THIS planet - the odds of it ever happening again are larger than the number of electron in the whole quantum-verse.

Seriously how on earth can you accurately adjust the back corners without seperate levelling for each one ? 

I just run on trial and error on the knp.

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## Mjolinor

Think about it. 3 legs will have equal tension without any problem and the table can move any way you need it to. With 4 you cannot, you will always have one leg with less weight on it than the other three. Noting in the world that needs adjusting for level has anything but 3 legs / adjusters except 3d printers.

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## curious aardvark

Nope, does not compute. 

With four I can accurately change any of the four sides of the plate. With three I can only change the two front corners and the back. How on earth am i supposed to level one side or the other equally ? 

Fortunately the knp holds calibration almost indefinitely, so it's not been a problem. 
But I just can't work out how I'm supposed to drop one side vertically without also effecting the horizontal tilt, and vice versa. 
It's completely counter intuitive.

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## Mjolinor

You are not thinking about it.

If you adjust all three then the plate moves up and down
If you adjust front left then the table rocks about a line, back middle / front right
If you adjust front right then it rocks along the line front left and back middle
If you adjust back middle then it rocks about a line front left / front right

That is the only way to ensure that the table is flat and at the correct height. Four does not cut it at all.

If you have four screws then one of them is either doing nothing or it is bending your table.

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## jfkansas

That's why 4 legged tables always rock or will at some point. 3 leg tables never will.

 Comparing to mammals isn't relevant, a mammal can balance on three legs, but they also need to propel themselves to hunt and sprint away from danger. 




> and tables have 4, and chairs and most of the mammals on the planet.
> The only thing that makes more sense is 6, which evloution has deemed the best number of legs judging by the sheers number of hexapods on the planet. 
> 
> Always makes me laugh (and cry) when sci fi films always have bipedal aliens. 
> It's a frigging 1 in a trillion billion zillion chance on THIS planet - the odds of it ever happening again are larger than the number of electron in the whole quantum-verse.
> 
> Seriously how on earth can you accurately adjust the back corners without seperate levelling for each one ? 
> 
> I just run on trial and error on the knp.

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## jfkansas

The only thing 4 can do is offer better support and stability. That doesn't have anything to do with leveling though. 




> You are not thinking about it.
> 
> If you adjust all three then the plate moves up and down
> If you adjust front left then the table rocks about a line, back middle / front right
> If you adjust front right then it rocks along the line front left and back middle
> If you adjust back middle then it rocks about a line front left / front right
> 
> That is the only way to ensure that the table is flat and at the correct height. Four does not cut it at all.
> 
> If you have four screws then one of them is either doing nothing or it is bending your table.

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## richardphat

3 legs is simple in a sense, whereas 4 you are guarenteed to put stress on the plate.
It might not be relevent with thick glass/pyrex bed such as 1/8 and over but becomes a pain with thin one.

But that being said, I'd go 4 legs support for a small print because I tend to print on the edge or  corner, it's quite convenient and keep larger print with 3.

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## harongabriel

Hey Hi, newbie here.

4 years away the discussion, got one makerbot replicator +. Despite the closed system I did well with the configuration of its native software the makerbot desktop (now in its 3.2 release). However, I'd like to properly manipulate gcodes in this printer using the Simplify3D but I'm shitty with the whole scripting thing.

If anyone is used to print in makerbot 5th gen through the simplify3d could please share the fff profile if possible?

Many thanks!!

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## American 3D Printing

> Hey Hi, newbie here.
> 
> 4 years away the discussion, got one makerbot replicator +. Despite the closed system I did well with the configuration of its native software the makerbot desktop (now in its 3.2 release). However, I'd like to properly manipulate gcodes in this printer using the Simplify3D but I'm shitty with the whole scripting thing.
> 
> If anyone is used to print in makerbot 5th gen through the simplify3d could please share the fff profile if possible?
> 
> Many thanks!!


We don't use S3D, but can definitely report that the Replicator Plus is vastly improved over the 5th Gen. We've only had one filament jam that was serious enough that we had to take the extruder apart to clear, and unlike the 5th Gen, the extruder is designed to be serviced, it uses screws instead of highly breakable plastic tabs. That said, the Rep 2 is still a much better machine, more reliable, faster and easier to work on and work with. And using the older software is much faster than the newer versions. I will give Makerbot credit, the newest software does give much more control over parameters than the early versions that were used with the original 5th Gen.

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