In 2011 we acquired a 3D Printer – a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic.
It came as an unassembled as a kit, and took about two weekends to build it. It is very well engineered and everything went together well.
I had some problems – within the first 15 minutes of testing, the power supply fried. The motherboard never seemed to work properly (Z only went up), but MakerBot’s customer service was exceptional, and a new motherboard was sent out.
My first print was a Companion Cube from Portal. It’s still printing as I type this. I will likely post a picture at the top when it’s done, unless it totally sucks. In the meantime, there is a cool vid on YouTube
Update Jan 21 2012:
After a variety of sample prints, I have become unimpressed with the Automated Build Platform (ABP).
The platform consists of the Heated Build Platform (HBP) and a wee conveyor belt which spits the completed product out the front of the machine when it’s done.
The problem arises in that the conveyor belting does not continue to lay flat on the HBP – It curls. Which means your prints curl.
So, I removed the ABP and went to just a simple HBP, using painter’s tape to make product removal easier.