flavorhythm

First off, thank you every one for their feedback. I understand it is still in the hobbyist's realm. I've done enough research to know this isn't a "push and play" product yet. However, I feel like there could be a difference between the difficulties I experienced and the difficulties everyone else experiences. I'm not saying my problems are of bigger importance than anyone else's. But once the Makerbot Smart Extruder clogged, I wouldn't be able to unclog it because I would lose warranty. That means ten days for my extruder to be replaced. I found this community because of this on the lack of rigidity of the printer which is something I did notice. I just thought... it was normal. Apparently, it is not. Do you believe this to be true? That other printers have a better build.Again, I am new at this but I have done some research and I know this isn't an "easy" hobby to have. But I've made a $3,000 mistake once. I don't want to do it again.

Hi! I got into 3D printing at the beginning of May of this year with the 5th Gen Makerbot. To my disappointment, it didn't meet a lot of my expectation. Looking at the 3D printing community from the outside, the Replicator was the printer to buy. I was completely hooked. However, after two months, four clogged extruders and one printer repair, I'm done wasting my time. I'm currently in the midst of talking to them about returning the printer. I was about to give up on the hobby all together but I found Ultimaker and this community. My question is this: is 3D printing supposed to be as difficult as I experienced it? Not only did my extruder would clog consistently, I had many homing errors, retraction optimization issues, lack of dimensional accuracy of the prints, warping issues and bed adhesion issues. I enjoy tinkering and figuring out why things are going wrong, but I have a limit. I understand there will be hick-ups but I just refuse to believe it's this complicated. I'm not necessarily a patient man, just so we're clear. So please let me know the experience that you guys have had with 3D printing. This community sounds great, and the printer itself seems so much more focused on 3D printing itself (I always wondered why I needed a onboard camera...). I went nuts over a 0.1 resolution so a 0.02 just seems out of this world to me. Thank you in advance!