XY Plane Drift Problem - MakerBot Replicator 5th Gen

Hi, I'm having some issues with my organization's Makerbot Replicator 5th generation. It was unboxed last week with no visible damage, and boots up fine.

The #1 issue is that the bot builds drift in one direction on the XY plane as they ascend in the Z axis. The pulley belts do not appear to be loose, and I can find no pinched wires. The gantry does not appear to slip or stutter during movement. Additionally, the first test build from the built-in memory, the chain links, printed correctly. Since then, builds from both the internal memory and from USB connected computers result in drifts. The amount by which each build layer drifts off from the previous one is inconsistent between 1 and ~5 thread widths, but always in the same diagonal direction.


Problem #2 is that the machine cannot autolevel the build plate. When the process is initiated, the Makerbot attempts to unload the filament, and then spins the extruder motor backwards interminably. When I assist by manually forcibly pulling the filament out, the machine does not recognize that the filament is unloaded, and resets the process. The machine also requires manual assistance loading the filament. This may be a separate problem or not, I'm not sure. When the extruder head was unpacked, it had a white plastic on the tip, and its first heating resulted in extrusion of a white plastic, darker than the PLA filaments which I was loading. So, I conclude that there was plastic inside the extruder before delivery.


Problem #3 is that the Makerbot does seem to recognize USB drives plugged into the USB front port. It allows selection of the print-from-USB option, but the sofware hangs when selected, and processes for more than 10 minutes while trying to access the USB. I have not tested this with a wide variety of USB devices. The machine does print from computers plugged in using MakerBot Desktop Beta, but with the above XY drift problem. I consider this problem to be minor at the moment.


The issues have occurred on the firmware it was delivered with, and continue to occur on the current version of the firmware after I successfully updated it through MakerBot Desktop Beta.


Please let me know if you have any advice or help at all! Feel free to call - I did not get a response after leaving a message with support via phone earlier.

I know that's a lot . . . I'm really hoping it's a software problem and everything is all related and fixable. Anyone have any idea how to get started solving any of this? Is it possible to completely purge and reinstall the firmware?

Oh, this is how the built-in stretchy bracelet design comes out by the way:
Attachment 1994

My understanding is drift is always a mechanical thing, usually a belt, or a loose X motor wire or endstop switch/wire (if drift is in the X)

Was this ever solved? I got one for cheap and managed to repair it after some time and now this xy drift issue is all that's left. It only recently appeared after a few successful prints and just had to happen right after I needed to make an important print.