5th Gen - Review and Head to Head with Rep 2

[American 3D Printing]

The first thing I noticed is that this machine is significantly larger than the Rep 2, and a bit heavier.



The next thing I noticed is the bed appears crooked - as in really non-level along the X axis, the right side is way lower than the left. Okay, lets see how this "auto-leveling" business works.

The first thing I did was load some Makerbot filament. Since we haven't opened any of our new "2 pound" spools of filament I grabbed a 1kg roll, which of course doesn't fit into the cartridge compartment in the rear, so I used one of the A3DP spoolholders we made for our Z-Morphs.

[American 3D Printing]

I should note that I took the extruder off to get a close look at it and take a few pictures, and then had a dickens of a time getting it back on. There's a trick and THEY DON'T TELL YOU (this is even after spending over a half hour on the phone with tech support, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Here are some close-ups of the smart extruder:



The dual row of connectors are pogo-pins. Those of you who have worked with test fixtures in electronics manufacturing will be familiar with those. The four protrusions around the periphery contain powerful permanent magnets.



Those of you with a Rep 2 will notice the familiar lever to release the spring loaded pressure between the idler and the hobbed wheel.



Other side. Instead of screw type fasteners, the enclosure snaps together with 6 latches.