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  1. #1
    Technologist American 3D Printing's Avatar
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    5th Gen - Review and Head to Head with Rep 2

    We are a retail 3D printing store (meaning you can just walk in and have us build stuff), and have a number of different 3D printers, and a LOT of experience with them. We also sell what we use - we have the machines and filament in stock. As such, we are careful of what machines we use and sell. We don't want our customers to have bad experiences because of poor choices we've made. As such, we haven't brought in any 5th gen machines because of all the horror stories we've heard -- not just on the web, but face to face with other walk-in customers who've bought them direct from Makerbot.

    So yesterday I had a customer come in who's had his 5th Gen Replicator for about a month. He's a 3D n00b -- this is his first experience with 3D printers. He's had limited success, and is frustrated. He's got a specific project in mind and is beginning to wonder if the machine will do what he needs it to do (probably not, it looks like his project is best suited to Ninjaflex, and that's a job for our Lulzbot TAZs). But he asked me if he could bring me his 5th Gen and let me play around with it and see if I can get it working better for him.

    Since we're Makerbot resellers, we get inside info direct from Brooklyn, as well as through our distributor, Ingram Micro. So I kind of already have a feel for what these machines are about, but there's nothing like playing with one with your own hands and seeing it with your own eyes to get a true sense of what they're like. And we have a relatively unique perspective with so much experience with our Rep 2s and our other printers.

    This is going to be long and detailed, so I am going to split this up into multiple posts. Pictures will be included. And since we have a business to run, I'll post up when I get the time.

  2. #2
    Technologist American 3D Printing's Avatar
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    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.

    Last edited by American 3D Printing; 08-05-2014 at 05:06 PM. Reason: Added Thingiverse link for the spoolholder

  3. #3
    Technologist American 3D Printing's Avatar
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    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.

  4. #4
    Technologist American 3D Printing's Avatar
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    Okay, so here's the thing that took me a while to figure out and THEY DON'T TELL YOU. See that round doo-dad I have circled in the picture? It rotates! It has to be lined up JUST RIGHT when you snap the extruder back onto the X carriage or else it won't attach or make a connection or work. It was SUPER-FRUSTRATING trying to get that sucker back on there. Talk about some poor engineering.

    But...we're only getting started



    One major change from the Rep 2 is the fan arrangement. There is only one fan, it appears to be the same squirrel cage fan that's used for the Rep 2. On the Rep 2 that's the one that blows into the duct which blows onto the build around the hot end. On the 5th Gen, they split the air flow so that some of it blows onto the build from either side of the hot end, and some of it goes to the area just above the hot end that's supposed to stay cool enough that filament can be pushed.

  5. #5
    Super Moderator Geoff's Avatar
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    Awesome! thanks for this, been looking for an honest review on it, keep it coming!

  6. #6
    Student papabur's Avatar
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    A printer is only as capable as the person using it...

  7. #7
    Super Moderator Geoff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by papabur View Post
    A printer is only as capable as the person using it...
    A saying I can't really see being applied here.

    So far, he has reviewed the hardware, not actually using the machine, so I don't think that's fair to say until he gets to that point. So far, it's been good and already I don't like the machine. I want him to show me they are worth the money.. there has to be a reason for it other than brand name. I have not seen a makerbot print any better than any other clone of it on the market.

  8. #8
    Technologist American 3D Printing's Avatar
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    Below is an image of the front of the X carriage. You can see the squirrel cage fan, and you can also see that all connections are now using an actual flex cable rather than the traditional wire bundle that all the manufacturers seem to use, including Makerbot on their previous machines. I have had to replace wires in all but one of our printers (including Rep 2) from the constant flexing, and have wondered why these guys didn't have a clue. When I was designing high speed pen plotters back in the 1980s (almost identical robotic motions as printers except much faster), we used flex circuits rather than wires. It's good for a couple orders of magnitude more flex cycles than stranded wire is.


  9. #9
    Technologist American 3D Printing's Avatar
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    This is the back of the X carriage, and shows a several things. You can see that round metal locating pin I referred to when I discussed how difficult it is to attach the extruder. You can see the mating pads for the pogo pins. And you can see how the fan's output is split between the cool part of the extruder above the hot end, and the ducting on the extruder that blows onto the build. You can also see where those 4 permanent magnets connect to.

    If you are REALLY familiar with the Rep 2, you will notice that the X axis belt is about twice as wide as the Rep 2's belt. We haven't had any issues with our belt wearing out, but maybe somebody has? Another difference is that the pulleys at each end are about twice the diameter, which will result in a less sharp radius for the belt to flex. It is hard to see because it's painted black, but instead of the two rods for the carriage to ride back and forth on like you see in most printers, including the Rep 2, the gantry is made of a piece of sheet metal bent into an inverted U shape. Attached to that are some glide rails that the carriage rides on. These type of rails are also used for the Y axis for the bed of the Z-Morph.



  10. #10
    Technologist American 3D Printing's Avatar
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    The famous camera. Chatting in the store after the 5th Gens were introduced at CES last February, some 3D buddies and I were wondering if the addition of the camera was what made the 5th gen "worth" so much more money, since the specs didn't seem to make any appreciable improvement. In fact, there some items we can't build on the new one that we can on the old one due to the change in shape of the bed. And we still keep bumping into that darn 150mm Z height limit!


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