The makerbot cupcake has been great in a number of ways and of course frustrating is some as well. It was very fun to assemble and get running and I have already made several very useful things. It requires quite a bit of fine tuning for professional looking prints, and I don't trust it enuf to just hit the print button and walk away, but they are refining the software and technology at light speed and it all gets better every day. There is actually another person who is a colleague of mine at DU who also has one and has been using it heavily for about 9 months now. It has been quite interesting to watch the open source community come together to improve and provide support for new users. It really is the beginning of a revolution.
I also teach programming and electronics using arduinos and have been thinking about how a Maker community can get together in Denver even to the point of supporting a shop and workshop.....
Chris