MakerBotReviews of makerbot.com

My first MakerBot replicator X had 3 mother boards replaced and just about every other part on it. I have been using 3 D printer for many years and understand how to use them. Then the printer was replaced with a new one for $500.00 as the first one was a lemon. The new one is doing ok. However I don't like the overly pricey agreement they make you purchase. And they do not let you know when it's running out.

Z18 100lb boat anchor, I purchased a Z18 in Oct 2014 with a two year Maker Care package. It was absolutely the worse purchase I have made for my business. I tried to deal with support and for the most part initially they were fine but as time went on and policies changed they were not very helpful. A list of things that I found unacceptable for the cost that I paid. 1. Carriage belt, constantly kept falling off due to lack of tension in the mechanical holder under the extruder, they wanted me to send the whole machine back after 2 weeks, Actually had a sales rep call me and walk me through a fix, never had that issue again. 2. Bearings in the rollers kept wearing out every couple of weeks, causing squeaking and even worse prints, they replaced them several times, got tired of it and bought ceramic bearings, no more problems with that over the last year or so of use. 3. Extruders, going from Smart, then Smart+, then Smart+ Tough, life on these things is horrible, had many replaced from MB, was given many more but never got past more than 300 hours on any given extruder, some broke down in less than 100 hours. Constant jamming, clicking, filament detection errors. The Z18 never saw anything but MB PLA and PLA Tough filament. 4. Slicing and Firmware, lagged behind the times for so many years, took way to long for fixes to be implemented. I haven't used the Z18 in the last 8 months so not sure if anything earth shattering has been implemented in it. 5. Print quality has always been what I consider to be sub par. I used all the recommendations from the people I knew at MB, tried what they recommended, sent files for them to compare on their own office machines and even sent the parts so they could visually compare. Most often the parts were comparable or mine were worse using the same settings. Print failures were always plaguing this machine. One print would curl where the same model prior to it did not. Long prints of 30+ hours would rarely finish with out some form of issue or complete failure. 6. This is what really set me off the edge with MB. I had a stepper motor that when the unit was experiencing extruder issues with filament detection or jamming repeatedly the upper left motor would overheat and start losing steps which in turn would throw off the X/Y location causing physical crashes into the frame. Major issue but I am long out of my Maker Care and MB considers this an non-serviceable item, well that is unless I paid $9XX for an additional 1yr service contract. The part is $30 at the most, that is if I could have found a non proprietary version of it. Gave up on that. So last year I went back to the cheapo machines, Creality CR-10S5 and a BIQU Kossel Pro just to play around. Honestly out of the box the machines were both fantastic, better and faster printing than I ever had from the Z18. They were also very consistent, back to back prints for days at a time without failure but they are hobby machines and I will keep them around for that. I needed a more commercial printer with a large build volume and capable of multiple non proprietary filaments (business requirements needed more than just PLA now), ABS, PETG, Nylon, Soft materials, and I was also looking for dual extrusion. I purchased a Raise3D N2 Plus a month ago and this machine is what I was looking for when I bought the Z18 but it is also so much more in its capabilities. Honestly the quality of printing with the cheap China machines and the professional quality of the Raise3D machine I now have I would never ever look back to Makerbot as a viable 3D Printing manufacturer. These are just my opinions based on the service I received and the pure headaches and lost revenue from my purchase of the Z18 printer. Take my comments as you see fit.

Despite having a good support system, the products I've used have gotten worse the newer the generation. Replicator 2 — great & reliable Replicator Gen 5 — With the smart extruder, you could only relie on the print failing. With the smart extruder +, the prints work but there are still issues. Replicator + — Completely unreliable, not even the original smart extruder was bad. Errors ever half hour at least. MakerBot Print — An utter failure of a software. First, the fact that it installs in my app data instead of my program files is just questionable. Second, it's so slow - makerware was much faster. Third, it doesn't have the capability that makerware had - prints that used to work now fail, our raft sticks to the parts even on the old printers.

These are very good entry level machines. They are a little pricey for entry level but they are reliable and easy to work with. Great for prototying and small builds.

Good customer service. Their printers do have the occasional bug but nothing too bad. Good printing quality and speed.

Everything was reasonable priced and cam3 when expected

My Makerbot Replicator 2 has been a great first prototype machine. Its paid for itself a hundred times. Repair & upkeep have been pretty good as well. When I've had a problem I can't resolve, the Makerbot techs have been right there to guide me through troubleshooting and getting the right replacement parts. My biggest problem has been and still is keeping builds with larger footprints on the platen - once one corner lifts the part is shot, and building a raft just wastes that much more material on top of it. I've tried several published tips/tricks, but nothing eliminates the problem.

Thanks, MakerBot, for your help with the problem I was experiencing with one of my 3D printers. Your support staff was helpful in guiding me through the steps to determine what is wrong with it. It turned out that I had to ship it back for a replacement. The follow-up regarding the shipping was timely so thanks for all of the help.