Hope I’m in the right section now, the question I have is regarding the Makerbot Replicator 2 Extruder Assembly. It seems from the reviews that it works fine or even better than original. And the question I have is if it is an actual updated new version? Or what’s with this replacement that makes it work even better than the original as some says?
I have the makerbot 2 with the first original design (don’t remember if I read that it got some/any fix) and the feeding of filament has always been such a hazzle, the printer is more on shelf than in use and I despair. I earlier printed out an upgrade kit that allowed me to adjust the pressure on the filament against the little ‘feeding wheel’ from the motor. But there’s always something, I change the nozzle from time to time, endless variation with the temperature and trying out modifying the printed parts of the upgrade.
But if this is an actual improved design from the first one that was on my makerbot 2, that would be so great! I sometimes want to completely erase and destroy this printer and forget I ever got it. But then again I have invested so much in both money and time already. And it is so much fun and inspiring for all sorts of projects when it actually works.
For reference: https://www.robotshop.com/en/makerbot-replicator-2-extruder-assembly.html
We have a number of MakerBots (Rep 2 and Gen 5), but cannot tell you if this assembly is better than the original. Perhaps another member of the community has first hand experience. Very few printers seem to operate without at least occasional tweaking.
Thanks for the reply!, well mine is one of the earlier models I think and from the pictures here it seems that this extruder has some sort of spring loaded mechanism so it should be an improvement over the one I first had, which could be adjusted but with some effort. The version where I switched out some parts had an arm acting like a lever pushing a ballbearing that pressed the filament at the ‘weel’ from the motor. It worked better but it’s really to and from and it is a constant hassle getting the extrusion to work.
Seems from the reviews though that people are happy with the assembly sold here, but would be nice with some explanation/information on what’s the difference. I sure have done some tweakings over time, but it feels way beyond that with my printer.
I purchased and installed the replacement Makerbot Replicator 2 extruder. It prints great from the SD card, however will not print using a USB cable and the PC Makerbot software. I get an error massage stating that the USB device is undetectable. In looking in the computer settings the printer is not recognized at all.
Not sure the extruder would affect the printer being recognized by the computer. Did you try to uninstall and reinstall the drivers? Try an older version of their software? Try connecting the printer to another USB port or, better yet, a different computer? Try a different USB cable?
