Hands on with a MakerBot 5th Gen and the Future of Desktop 3D Printing

Then he said: “Go forth and replicate”. I imagined an epic, almost biblical scene, for MakerBot’s launch of its 5th generation of desktop 3D printers. The New York based company needs no introduction, it has been a chief protagonist in the last five years that have shaped a new sector’s birth and initial evolution. Its co-founder and CEO, Bre Pettis, has been among its inspirers.

MakerBot is Stratasys’ $400 million bet on the blooming prosumer market’s potential: it began with the company’s biggest launch to date: three new machines, that were unveiled at CES at the start of this year. The first to hit the streets was the new Replicator 5th Gen and it carries a wide range of functional innovations. MakerBot recently signed an exclusive partnership with Italian distributor Energy Group, so I asked the company’s founder, Mirco Paltrinieri, for a review model. Energy Group is a Stratasys and Autodesk industrial distributor and not really used to this type of media attention. But he decided to give it a shot. And here we are….

UNBOXING

I have never purchased an assembled 3D printer although I have had some experiences with RepRaps, so I did not know what to expect form a machine that arrives as a whole piece ‘ready to go’.

I unpacked it very carefully and the first thing I noticed is that MakerBot does seem to have thought of everything to minimise the start-up time and enable anybody to begin printing immediately.

Every component (filament spool, extruder, cables etc) is neatly placed in the box. All you need to do is take the 3D printer out and insert the filament. Then connect the extruder, calibrate the plate and load a file. Even if you have never done it before, all you need is a single sheet of illustrated instructions. If you want you can download the manual as a .pdf but it is unnecessary.

MakerBot simplified the FDM machine’s set up and the progress made is clear. The new smart extruder connects magnetically in a second, self-attaching to the arm. The control firmware guides you in the print-plate calibration through an LED that lights up to tell you to stop rotating the wheels regulating the axes. In less than 30 minutes I was ready to print, including the time for reading, heating, calibrating, downloading and everything else. I used up more time deciding on what to print.

HARDWARE

The machine’s design is minimal and futuristic, solid yet light, somewhat playful in its forms. It does not look like an object destined to fulfil its manufacturing function. Perhaps it’s because of the black plastic covering the steel structure, hiding away its mechanics. Below the living room toy appearance its components are top notch and perfectly assembled, a few cured details stand out, such as the red-LED-lit control wheel.

All in all, MakerBot left very little room for personalization and modding but the machine is robust and elegant. The new software control functions gave the Replicator a generous 3.5” colour LCD screen to go with its built-in webcam and all the functions: print directly from USB cards, connect the 3D printer to the home network via the ethernet port, with the promise that wi-fi is on the way.

The Smart-Extruder is the biggest innovation and differentiates it from competitors. It’s smart, although a couple of times it failed to sense the absence of filament. The intelligence is in its quick-swappable magnet (hot-swappable is not accurate since you would burn yourself). Above all the intelligence is in the mechanism that raises and lowers the extruder head to avoid touching the freshly printed parts and ruin your creation.

The print plate is wide enough for a 25x20x15 cm print volume, it is acrylic and was developed to be easily extracted and replaced. It is not heated so it can only be used with PLA. Personally I appreciate the company’s choice to persevere with a green policy, by promoting a machine that uses biodegradable plastic and saves up to 35% in energy consumption.

It has a rapidly growing global market ahead, but it is pushing for a more sustainable use while renouncing the multi-material market and attracting complaints from those who want more versatility. Furthermore, MakerBot suggests using only its own consumables. The reason is easy to understand: original MakerBot filament costs more than $60 per Kg while third party filament can cost less than half of that. To further push its customers to use its filament the company created a spool that fits inside a closed container, behind the print plate. The collateral effect is that the filament might get knotted up without you finding out quickly enough to pause and fix it.

Proprietary filament is also about guaranteeing quality and support. The company knows everything about its own PLA, while an unexperienced user, the R5G’s main target, might get below par results with low quality filament.

SOFTWARE

It all revolves around Thingiverse. The objects’ social network is a true universe of models of all kinds and is smoothly integrated into the new MakerBot Desktop control software.

The sensation I felt when I turned on the 3D printer interface and realized that all those things were mine, was powerful. The integration is real, though it still has a few bugs. From the Thingiverse web interface you can transfer the file into the 3D editor with the touch of a button. Here, in the virtual version of the print plate, you can regulate the object’s position, scale, rotation and even modify printing parameters form manual to automatic. You can manage presets, supports and final modifications.

The integrated library lets you organize your models, share them and prep them for printing. You can also access the “store” section to purchase new models by entering your credit card info, a lesson learned from the Apple App Store. Three modes let you choose between low, medium and high print quality. It will be up to you to add supports and the raft and, if so, the software will automatically insert them. The preset in-fills are minimal and in manual mode you can regulate layer height up to a tenth of a millimetre.

Software and automation certainly represent the main advantage that MakerBot offers. It is perfect for those who have no previous experience with 3D printing and 3D in general, but it also works fine for those who want to get to printing fast, without too much mental effort. The interface and its functions are so easy to master that they are accessible by anybody and I believe that new functions are on their way, such as remote web printing, via the MakerBot App.

3D PRINTING

During the time I had the 3D printer it was running non-stop, at least until my neighbour begged me to stop it during the night hours (her bedroom wall is right next to my living room but I did not hear the printer complaining when she was making noise!). Most of the objects came out perfect, at any resolution and with little waste of accessory filament. Even when I cancelled the prints I experienced no difficulties in starting over. I was not used to all this comfort with an FDM 3D printer. A small problem arose while printing more objects at the same times, as if the software failed to calculate the exact trajectories.

All that was left to do was testing it against the Replicator 2. Francesco Pusterla, the soon to be 3D Hubs major for Milan (3D Hubs’ largest 3D printer community) brought his and we ran them in parallel. The aesthetic differences are evident and in my opinion they underline the two products’ different targets: one, the R2, is more rugged, the R5G a bit more “hi-tech-consumer”. I wanted to see what they produced and how.

We set out to print the same object and the big surprise was that the Replicator 2 beat its baby sister by a 40% margin: when the 5th gen just passed the 60% mark, the other had finished. And then we got an even bigger surprise at the end: for the same model the two objects presented some not-so-subtle differences in the slicing and superficial finish.

The two objects also appeared a little different in size. We deduced that the software slices and calculates patterns differently for each machine. I will continue to investigate though I believe that now that MakerBot has reached its mechanical goals it will concentrate research & development on optimizing the software, to compensate for possible mechanical limitations.

I do not think the Fifth Gen is meant to replace the R2 but only to carry on its “mission”. All the innovation in the new machine has been aimed at making it more accessible to newcomers, not at improving print quality, while the Replicator 2 survives in its role of tank-like 3D printer and the Replicator 2X remains the only with a double extruder. Software adjustments and updates will certainly get it fine tuned in the upcoming months and years and one day it might even print better than its predecessor. For now it stands out as the best entry level 3D printer possible, though not the best overall. It wants more users, not more proficient users. It has chosen to go after as many people as possible.

I should add that my opinion of criticism levelled at MakerBot for abandoning the open source cause is understandable but greatly exaggerated as the way I see it is that Thingiverse has created the biggest global community for exchanging files and models, ideas and projects, factually supporting open hardware and software. Now MakerBot wants to give more people this opportunity, with no hassle. It wants to conquer all corners of the world.

“Go forth and replicate”