MakerBot Industries

Solved!
I stuck it on 255 and then the motor jumped a little and it looked like it was binding up, so I took the motor apart and it ran without any of the gears and it worked. I oiled up all of the gears and put it back together. It looked like the grease was smeared all over the top 3 gears but none on the bottom 3. But thanks for the help, had I not set it to 255 I would not have seen the motor jump.

I got my first bit of ABS extruded for about 2 minutes which was exciting then the acrylic retainer up top broke, oh well on to the next challenge!

I just rebuilt my extruder motor a while back and it had the same problem. it was stopping in the middle of builds for no apparent reason after months of printing fine. probably a good idea to do this early on (like when you assemble your Makerbot) since it seems they come 'standard' with insignificant lubrication. I'm still ordering a spare to have on hand in case this one gives out again.