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.