My first week with the Replicator 2 - lessons learned

[whpthomas]

Steve: asked me the following in a different thread

What have you learned that you wish you knew on day one?

Are you using the stock extruder, or have you make any changes?

What are you using for temp and other settings in Skeinforge? 

So I though I would start a new thread for Replicator 2 owners to provide an account of what we have learned about operating this new machine for the benefit of others who are anxiously waiting for there new gedgets to arrive and to give back to all the generous members of this forum who have helped us along our way.

Some of these posts may be obvious to some, but I am assuming that a lot of Replicator 2 owners are new to 3D printing as I am, so I am assuming nothing about what people already know.

I am going add one post for each tip/though/topic starting with the practical stuff and then moving on to the workflow.

[whpthomas]

Look after your PLA

From what I have read, PLA is susceptible to moisture related problems. The plastic will absorb moisture from humid air and this can cause problems with how it extrudes, including uneven flow and even bursts of gas popping out the end of the nozzle caused by steam building up in the heat chamber - I have not experienced any of this personally myself, but have read other peoples accounts.

I live in an area that is prone to high humidity throughout the year. So here is what I am doing to mitigate this problem. I am storing each filament spool in a zip lock bag in a plastic box. I took the silica gel satchels that came with my filament and dried them in the oven - I did this on the lowest temprature setting i.e. plate warming - and left them in there for about an hour. This dries them out nicely. I have put one silica gel satchel in each zip lock bag with a filament spool to keep it dry when I am not using it.

[whpthomas]

Changing colours mid print

Figure out where in the print you want to change colours, and when you get there, hit the left botton and scroll down to change filiment. The printer will move to a home position and pause - but the heater on the nozzle will remain on. You will be presented with the filament change menu, do the unload followed by the load, then select resume build, finally scroll down and select return to monitor to return to the live build statistics.

[whpthomas]

Estimating how long a print will take

Note how much the print has progressed so far (P), for example 10%

Hit the left button during printing and scroll down to build statistics, this will tell you what line the current build is on and how much time has passed since it started (T), for example 5 minutes. If the time is already in hours and minutes convert to minutes.

Do the following calculation 100/P*T

In the case of our example 100/10*5 = 50 minutes

Once you are done, hit the left button and scroll down to the bottom to return to the monitor mode.

REQUEST TO MBI: It would be nice to have this statistic reported in the live monitor mode :)

[whpthomas]

Cleaning the hot end

There is also a setting in the main menu called preheat - select this and the Replicator 2 will turn on the heater in the nozzle. Once it reaches 190~200 degrees you can clean off any excess filament from the nozzle with a paper towel.

[whpthomas]

Preparing the build platform

I did not get any blue tape with my Replicator 2 so I cannot comment on how well it works. Instead I just started printing directly onto the acrylic build platform - M logo side down. 

At first I thought I should clean all my fingerprints off the build platform to help the filament stick. So I used mentholated spirits (similar to rubbing alcohol) and wiped it down before every build. But the exact opposite happened, I ended up with parts stuck on the build plate that were almost impossible to get off - I had to use a small wooden mallet - I broke a few in the process. Some parts even left a very thin film of residue on the build plate.

Then I read that some people were wiping their acrylic plates with a very think film of vegetable oil - so I decided to give that a go. At first I was wiping vegetable oil on before every print, but then it got too greasy - so I cleaned the excess off with metho. Over time, the vegetable oil seems to have impregnate the surface and now I to have a build plate that is working quite well, the PLA sticks, but it also snaps off without too much effort. I will probably have to apply more oil at some time in the future, but not as frequently as I at first thought.

[whpthomas]

Bed levelling

One of the problems I have been having with is that as the nozzle heats up above about 215c filiment starts to stream out of the nozzle, even before the extruder stepper motor is engaged. This causes the chamber to empty which can be a problem in itself because sometime there is no PLA coming out until after the print has well and truly started - however ReplicatorG does have a module to deal with this called skirt - when your turn it on it lays down an outline around your work piece before getting started ensuring the chamber is primed before printing starts.

That being said, the other consequence of this ooze is that when it comes time to level the build platform there is invariably still some PLA right at the tip of the nozzle - which I can't easily remove as using a exacto knife might damage the brass tip of the nozzle. This causes the height above the build platform to vary - even with a feeler guage, there is quite a bit of variation, not in the level itself, but the Z offset from one attempt to the next. I am used to machining metal to 0.01mm tolerances, so this degree of variability is not something I am used to seeing. I have tried using the pre-heat and wiping the tip, but there is still a small amount held in the tip by surface tension that seems to bulge out as the tip cools.

The problem as I see it with having variability in the nozzle Z offset, is that you can level your board only to find that it is closer or further away than it was from the previous print, and this gap can effect the degree to which the base layer sticks to the build platform. To close and it can really stick too firmly and gum up, too far away and the forces involved in printing can cause the work piece to break loose.

I have purchases a dial indicator and plan to make (3D print or machine) a removable bracket with neodymium magnets to stock to the gantry rails so I can make repeatable Z offset measurements so my build platform is both level and has the right z offset for consistent base layer prints.

In my opinion the build platform is also too sloppy. I can grab it at one corner and wiggle it up and down - now I realise that sometimes this is a good thing because if the platform was too firm, extrusion irregularities on the surface of the work piece could catch against the nozzle and break the work piece off mid print - whereas at the moment this give in the build platform allows the nozzle to just rub over the top of these irregularities until the layers being added cause the nozzle to clear it.

Nevertheless, in my opinion the fit of the build plate is not sufficient - there is just too much play in it. Partly because the rubber pads on which it rests have squashed so flat that there is a gap between the top of the build platform and the retaining clips that hold it in place, so I am going to replace these rubber pads, with some polyethylene stand-offs that are much more ridged.

Temperature settings

From what I have read, there are several types of PLA, with different formulations that have different melting points and temperature ranges. Rather than getting cheaper stuff form china on ebay, I purchased mine from a guy who has his own 3D printer on which he had tested the reels he was selling - its actual diameter was 1.69mm and its melting point 180~220c. So I decided to purchase all of my filament from one vendor, to reduce potential problems caused by different formulations - at least while I am still learning. 

Talking to bot operators with older machines the first comment they make about PLA is that the Replicator 2 seems to be printing much too hot - but I think the Rep 2 is quite a different beast with faster print speeds, so as long as we have acceleration turned on and feed rates of 80mm/s then 230c seems to work just fine. I have even played around with pre-heating and running the base layer at 240c because it seemed to me like the beads were cooling too much - however now I am not so sure the problems I am having with first layers clumping are temperature related - instead they may be from the inconsistent Z offset problem I already mentioned. Nevertheless I am planning to run some calibration tests with 5 degree increments on my batch of PLA just to make sure. 

I have attached a photo of a failed print that had a really nice clean looking base - no clumping at all, but it failed to stick to the build plate - the Z offset was too great and it broke loose.

[whpthomas]

Adjusting the pinch pressure after the Replicator 2 is bedded in

Examining the construction of the extruder, the Delrin plunger is held in place by a grub screw that pushes against the housing via a rubber o-ring and nut. Over time this rubber o-ring will bed in (get permanently squished) causing the pinch pressure to lesson. The point is that rubber tends to yield a bit under compression over time, so a new Replicator 2 that works in the first week may very well start having extrusion failures a week later - so you should expect that this will happen and the pinch pressure each time you load a different PLA reel - squeeze the PLA filament once its loaded and see if it slips at all - if it does you need to tighten the grub screw bit. Makerbot has a video about how to do this on their support page.

It could also be that if you purchase PLA filament from different vendors that it may have a different diameter. For instance my PLA is only 1.69 mm wide. I think MBI filament is thicker. Clearly you don't want to adjust the pinch pressure of your extruder each time you load it, so having a spring loaded mechanism is probably a better way to go.

This is probably the first mod I plan to make - I have already ordered all the parts. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:36482

[whpthomas]

Makerware vs Replicator G - which is better?

What I was after from my Replicator 2 was fast repeatable print with a good surface finish. Basically I plan to use it to create models of products I am designing so I can demonstrate design concepts to others.

Makerware worked first time I installed it without a hitch. It sliced my models and the medium and fine prints all worked well - never tried the course setting. However I was looking at the stretchy bracelet model included on the SD card and quickly realised that Makerware in its current form could not generate this type of print. So to satisfy my curiosity I downloaded ReplicatorG to see if I could figure out how it was done.

At first I could not get ReplicatorG to work at all. It would seem to slice and dice the model but there was no GCode at the end. After a lot of stuffing about thinking it was the profile settings that were wrong I updated my version of python, tcl and reinstalled ReplicatorG - from then on it started behaving.

Another newbie mistake I made was to select the PLA profile in the material settings - it seems that the PLA profile is bogus and only the ABS one works - even though we are printing in PLA - go figure.

ReplicatorG has help buttons but none of them seem to work on my Mac installation. So no luck accessing documentation form within the app itself. The documentation on the web for ReplicatorG and particularly Skeinforge (the slicing engine) seemed all over the place, one site would recommend doing something and another would contradict it -  so I was starting to feel like it was too much work to figure this thing out. However, then I read an article on the MakerBot website that said that the best documentation for skeinforge was embedded in the python code itself, and after digging around a bit on my mac I found what appears to be the compiled documentation from the python code embedded within the application itself. You can find it here

file:///Applications/ReplicatorG.app/Contents/Resources/skein_engines/skeinforge-50/documentation/contents.html

It is well worth a read.

I have zipped up the current profile configuration I am using. In ReplicatorG under the GCode menu, select Edit Slicing Profiles and click on the Locate button. This should open a finder window to

~/.replicatorg/sf_50_profiles/ 

You can unzip my profile into here is you want to use it.

Firstly, here are the Print-O-Matic settings I am currently using.

Object fill (%) = 15

Layer height (mm) = 0.2

Number of shells = 2

Feedrate (mm/s) = 80

Travel Feedrate = 150

Print temprature = 230

Filament diameter = 1.69 (measure your own and use that)

Nozzle diameter (mm) = 0.4

You will notice that I am only using a 0.2mm layer height - this is because I am using the skin module so the outer surface is printing at 0.1 but the internals print faster at 0.2 you can even bump this up to 0.25 with little visible difference to speed things up even more.

Here is a list of the main things I have been mucking around with.

Fill

If you want a work piece that is strong and light try adding some internal filled layers with 

Diaphragm thickness = 15 (set to zero if you don't need this)

The main variables to consider are

Extra shells on alternating layers = 1 (this should be different to the base layer to help stitch the infill together)

Extra shells on base layers = 2 (this is controlled by the Print-o-matic settings)

Extra shells on sparse layers >=2

Grid Rectangular (selected) seems the fastest strongest option infill style

Solid surface thickness >= 3 (if you want a solid base on a 0.1mm layer print 5 works better)

Start from choice = Nearest (I know they recommend lower left, but I find that leaves a seam)

Jitter

Jitter over permitter width = 2 (this helps remove seams)

Raft

Even if you are not using one - leave the module activated

Skin

I tried using 3 divisions but I think 2 gives more reliable results on curved surfaces. On flat walled objects, 3 divisions and a 0.3mm layer height would probably work quite well.

Horizontal Infill Divisions = 2

Horizontal Perimeter Divisions = 1

Vertical Divisions = 2

Attached is a photo of a Makerware medium 0.27mm layer height print (BLUE) and a ReplicatorG 0.2mm print skinned at 0.1mm using my attached profile.

[whpthomas]

Some things I have made

The gear cube took about 5 hours. The pins were stiff (because of the PLA) but with a bit of force it all came together. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:10483

The Kochflake Vase took about 20 hours, but had some stray filaments inside from the Jitter setting I think so it was not as successful as I had hoped - will try again http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:37117

The starwars X1 tie fighter was something I made for my son. The black PLA warped and lifted on the edges (apparently black PLA is tricky) - I also think I set the shell number too high (6) for this, and the infill was probably not enough to compensate. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:14480

[Dan Newman]

> Talking to bot operators with older machines the first comment they make
> about PLA is that the Replicator 2 seems to be printing much too hot - but
> I think the Rep 2 is quite a different beast with faster print speeds,

Actually, many of the folks who have made those comments print at 120 mm/s
or faster with PLA on Rep 1's or ToMs. Lacking Sailfish, it's the Rep 2
which is a significantly slower printer.

Dan

[Dan Newman]

Nice prints and thanks for taking the time to carefully write up your
lessons learned.

Dan

> --
>
>
> <gear-cube.jpg><kosh-snowflake.jpg><x1-tie-fighter.jpg><sample.jpg>

[whpthomas]

When I got my PLA, I did some calibration tests to see how well it printed. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:34692 There are a couple of things going on in these tests, how well the thin wall is sticking to the base, how well the extruder us bridging the gaps, how smooth the surface finish is as the area being printed changes.

Overall there are loose strands under all the bridges on which all the rest of the layers are build. What you are looking for is how much sag there is.

The GREEN one was sliced in MakerWare using medium with a 0.27mm layer height. You will notice there are a few stay filaments in the bridges where the extruder started a cross pattern without any underlying supports - this is a fault of that slicer.

The BLUE one was sliced with MakerWare using high with a 0.1mm layer height. This print got too hot up top. You will notice that the surface finish is degraded on the top three steps. There is also sagging in the bridge due to excess heat.

The ORANGE one was sliced in ReplicatorG using the stock profile and a 0.1mm layer height. The finish on this is really good, but I think I used too many shells  (6) so the walls on the bridges are thick but there is no fill in between.

Conclusions

MakerWare medium is fast and reliable.

MakerWare high is too hot for smaller items.

ReplicatorG stock profile works well.

You can see why I am trying to use skins to achieve a higher quality outside finish while maintaining the speed of a thicker layer height.

[Andrew Plumb]

No, PLA is *not* hydrophilic. It is hydrophobic.

ABS is hydrophilic and absorbs water and has all the problems you described.

That said, it is a good idea to store unused filament in bags to keep it clean.

Andrew.

Sent from my iPhone

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<pla-storage.jpg>

<silica.jpg>

[Steve]

 

whpthomas 

Great posts, thank you for sharing some helpful  information. I find this very valuable, and hope that others will share 

similar 'how to' information on printing profiles and techniques. Hopefully when MakerBot starts doing the weekly videos 

they can add to this as well.

My printer has escaped the BotCave and is now with FedX. It should arrive around the middle of next week and then after

Christmas I hope to be able to contribute some first hand experiences...

[Dan Newman]

P.S. Typically the faster you print the higher the extruder temp you need
to maintain (as you're running cold filament into and through it faster).
So the likely change is that the newer PLA which MBI is selling actually
needs higher temps owing to its formulation. And this is what BilblyCNC
suggested. (Note that he is a supplier of 3D printing filament down
under so he knows a thing or two about the stuff.)

Cheers,
Dan

[whpthomas]

Hi Andrew,

In another discussion about ABS vs PLA David Shape wrote: "I would still plan on storing it with a dessicant.  It *will* absorb moisture which can cause old PLA to print very poorly".

[whpthomas]

Hi Andrew,

I finally found the original reference I used when I wrote about moisture issues and PLA - the PLA topic in the RepRapWiki specifically mentions humidity being a problem for filament storage here: http://reprap.org/wiki/PLA

[whpthomas]

Hi Steve,

My printer has escaped the BotCave and is now with FedX. It should arrive around the middle of next week and then after

Christmas I hope to be able to contribute some first hand experiences...

I am really glad to hear you are getting you Replicator 2 before the christmas break, let us know how you go. 

[Andrew Plumb]

It could be related to the pre-extrusion formulations, colorants used and the degrees to which they may/not be hydrophilic.  This is the site I'd found back when I last searched on the matter, which does suggest more of a gradient than "absolutely hydrophobic": http://www.uweb.engr.washington.edu/research/tutorials/plagla.html

I've never had the humidity-related issues with PLA that I have had with ABS (steam-powered extrusions at 180C!), but it certainly doesn't hurt to get in the habit of keeping all filament well sealed! :-)

Andrew.

On 2012-12-15, at 7:41 PM, whpthomas wrote:

Hi Andrew,

I finally found the original reference I used when I wrote about moisture issues and PLA - the PLA topic in the RepRapWiki specifically mentions humidity being a problem for filament storage here: http://reprap.org/wiki/PLA

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--

"The future is already here.  It's just not very evenly distributed" -- William Gibson

Me: http://clothbot.com/wiki/

[whpthomas]

To quote someone else (not sure where I read this) - PLA is more hydrophobic than ABS, but can still absorb 1-2% of its weight from moisture in the air.

- Henry

[whpthomas]

Hi Dan,

Sailfish sounds like an awesome upgrade! I am actually really glad that owners of older printers are have an upgrade path like this, I would hate them to feel like they were being left behind. This is really positive.

So if sailfish is ported to the Rep 2 in the future, do you expect we would see a similar speed increase?

- Henry

[Dan Newman]

Yes. Indeed, Jetty and I have done a fair amount of the port. I've just
been waiting for Jetty to have some free time to deal with a couple of details
in his area of expertise.

The MightyBoard RevE (Rep 1) and MightyBoard RevG (Rep 2) are largely the same.
However, there's different thermocouple code between the two (minor) and for
some reason MBI swapped the timer interrupts they use for the buzzer with the
timer interrupt for another purpose (maybe minor, maybe deep, dunno).

Dan

[whpthomas]

Replicator 2 modifications

So far I have only made two mods/upgrades.

My gantry X axis switch was missing the tab when it arrived - I assumed it was damaged during packing, but apparently they remove it to help the nozzle clear the build plate in the home position. I used the end of a zip tie, cut it short and bent it into shape, loosened the retaining screw and inserted it with a dab of super glue. Works fine as it is so I have left it there.

The other thing I made was a spool holder http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:34124 for the 100 x 30 mm reels my PLA came on. Not entirely happy how this one turned out, and will probably design my own one in future.

I was planning to upgrade my build plate with some float glass covered with blue tape, but have found that simply using some folded paper towel to create a shim between the build plate and the rubber cushions - which have flattened too much - has improved the stiffness of the build plate because now latches holt it in place with not gaps.

The other upgrade I am thinking about is adding a spring loaded pinch roller to the MK8 extruder http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:35810 mainly to support potential variations in filament sourced from different vendors - although so far they have all been very consistent.

[Andrew Plumb]

Not sure if this was your motivation, but if your gantry wasn't hitting the X axis switch (without your printed tab) then it was likely out of alignment and may still need to be straightened so your builds aren't skewed.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NP47vjSZQtA

Get an extruder upgrade printed ASAP so you have it ready to swap in before the plunger wears down too much.

Andrew.

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<contact-switch.jpg><spool-holder.jpg><shim.jpg>

[whpthomas]

Fortunately the gantry when moved fully forward is aligned - no problem there - only the switch was a problem.

[whpthomas]

Getting small items to stick to the build plate

Another tip to prevent small work pieces detaching during printing is to add an ear raft to the edges in Makerware. This increases the surface area attached to the build plate. I recently had a few 0.1mm print attempts fail when smaller parts came loose after about 10% - adding these ears fixed the problem. They are only one layer high, and snape off after the print is done quite easily. I have uploaded the STL file onto thingiverse here http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:38272

You just layout the items you want to print in Makerware, then rotate the view so you are looking at your model from underneath. Then add the ear raft and copy and paste is as many times needed. See the attached images for an example.

[whpthomas]

More upgrades to my Replicator 2

I have made a few minor mods to make Replicator 2 life easier. 

Firstly a tool holder specifically for the Replicator 2. It has room for digital callipers, the hex wrench set, a pair or scissors (for trimming filament), a 0.1 mm feeler gauge, super lube, and a toothbrush (for cleaning the extruder head). http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:38949

Secondly a quick change easy filament guide. When it came to filament changes, I often found myself fumbling around trying to get the filament into the tiny end of the tube at the back of my Replicator 2. Buy the time I get the filament threaded the print head has often cooled down substantially, making filament changes slower. So I designed and made a quick change easy filament guide to streamline the process. It supports dual tubes, so the filament tube can be mounted on either side. Its designed to be held in place by a small zip tie. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:38980

[Björn Syse]

Brilliant, i love it!

btw, 0.1 mm feeler gauges, where do people score those?

> --
>
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> <Quick Change Guide.jpg><Tool Holder.jpg>

[whpthomas]

I purchased a set of cheap feeler gauges at a local discount auto parts store - these are a pretty standard item for mechanics. I used the thicker ones as shims for tools on my lathe so I had the remaining fine ones left over - I just unscrewed the retaining nut and pulled out the one marked 0.1mm to use with my Rep2. IT works much better than the support card for setting the nozzle offset from the build platform, but is also easily damaged (bent), so having a dedicated slot in the tool holder for it seemed like a good idea.

[whpthomas]

Another upgrade

I purchased a 24v 40 x 40 x 10 mm ball bearing fan as a replacement for my existing heat sink fan. It has a higher CFM airflow, but lower RPM so runs much quieter. I wired it up by carefully removing the stubs from the connecting block - noting the polarity by marking the red side with a + using a sharpie. This was done using a jewellers screwdriver to press down on the tabs that lock them into place while pulling on the wire at the back. I then cut the wires and teased open the crimped retainers with some fine needle nose pliers. Pulled out the left over plastic sheath, tinned it with some solder and inserted the tinned tips of the wires from the new fan. I threaded these through one of the mounting holes on the fan to help keep the wires better organised. The stubs just pushed back into the connector block.

Finally I designed and printed a fan guard retaining pin http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:40232 to hold the fan guard in place whenever I remove the stepper motor for cleaning. Snaps in place and works like a charm!

[joseph rueter]

Stick it on a shared google doc?

Eric Cheung wrote:

Great thread!

Are they any/plans for a knowledge base for Replicator 2?

e.g. what settings affects what? what settings are best for what? what tricks solve what problems? (it will be general, not specific to a particular model)

It's really inefficient to spend hours browsing through the group threads to not find what I'm looking for. Or to have some really help hints flow to the back due to time, and have new users repeating asking the same thing and have people repeatedly linking to old threads.

I'm building an excel sheet with everything I can find so far. But it'll be nice to have a public collection point that everybody can contribute to and learn from.

wiki.makerbot.com actually exists, but it's just the company webpage.

Appreciate it!

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[Avandss]

Thats a great idea Thomas! could you give me the exact model of the fan you purchased and the link? if purchased online

thanks! 

[Eric Cheung]

I have these so far, will add more as I learn. Feel free to edit!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Au2joJ_XuYbOdHhkOXdRaXVMdG01MTZCU1Y5NjY4VkE

[Björn Syse]

This is an interesting approach. I would love to see a generic troubleshooting flowchart about this. 

[Nagalfar]

Very good stuff, thank you very much! The lesson I had to learn during my first days was more basic. Never ever use your fingernails as tools. They might seem fit to pull of this harmless looking 0.1mm thin thread of fillament sticking to your plattform, but they are not! 100 Micron is as thin as a sheet of paper and just like that it may result in a paper cut under your nails. Imagine it, feel the pain and then never do it ;)

[pashakun]

i wish i found this thread earlier (>< )

On Sunday, December 16, 2012 2:16:42 AM UTC+9, Wingcommander whpthomas wrote:

Steve: asked me the following in a different thread

What have you learned that you wish you knew on day one?

Are you using the stock extruder, or have you make any changes?

What are you using for temp and other settings in Skeinforge? 

So I though I would start a new thread for Replicator 2 owners to provide an account of what we have learned about operating this new machine for the benefit of others who are anxiously waiting for there new gedgets to arrive and to give back to all the generous members of this forum who have helped us along our way.

Some of these posts may be obvious to some, but I am assuming that a lot of Replicator 2 owners are new to 3D printing as I am, so I am assuming nothing about what people already know.

I am going add one post for each tip/though/topic starting with the practical stuff and then moving on to the workflow.

[Wingcommander whpthomas]

i wish i found this thread earlier (>< )

Better late than never!

[3Dengdraft]

I have tried those ear rafts and they are the best solution to curling that I have found. Highly recommended.

[E. WizardGlick]

When we first received ours it was iffy printing. Then after the free, after shipping, extruder updgrade it worked like a charm.
We must be luckt because we print everything at bog standard settings and they come out just fine. That includes USB prints.
We have encountered bad files. We have seen newer versions of Makerware as less forgiving of flawed models than previous.
We were not enchanted with either Sailfish or Repg. Sailfish on the R2 seemed as if acceleration had been turned off, the thunking thing. Repg was too much for the perfectionist experts.
We also learned that using a feeler gauge to level worked wonders.
We do not use high end filament, we purchase from various inexpensive sources at Amazon.
There does seem to be an issue with Blue glow in the dark, but I have read virtually everyone has a problem with glow in the dark filament.
We keep a fair amount of filament, around ten rolls, on a bar under the desk ready for use. Not seeing any dust issues after a year of that type of storage.
The room in kept kind of chilly 65-75, with ac running in summer.
We frequently run 24 + hour prints, rarely from sd.
Runs like a champ.
The R2x is another matter.
But this is not the thread for that.