It should also be noted that when I was disassembling the original solidoodle acrylic it came out in many many more parts than there should have been. Most of the second and third plate was destroyed for some reason. I'm thinking it was either way over torqued or collisions with the heated bed may have put undue strain in the acrylic. Either way if you're still running a factory acrylic setup print a backup just in case.

you can use the original acrylic tension arm on these, so that is 1 less part you need to print.

I have trouble editing .stl  with inventor
I also downloaded sketchup so I could probably use .skp, as I think you've released in the past as .skp.

I'd like to modify the file to made feeding guides along the top and bottom of the extruder gribber.  You have one on the base piece, but it could be a little taller, and none above. With them, (especially the bottom one) it helps reduce the filament from bending.

I can't get the Arm from this pkg to print either, but I will try again slow and by itself... haven't noticed any skipping. (I still have my idler-arm on the printer, but I needed to print a new base...as I messed up the first one testing random ideas)

**Fixed small problem where the back of the DI lightly hits the motor shaft.**

EDIT: fixed it. Had to move the extruder gear a bit on the stepper shaft to like it up better with the bearing.

EDIT2: Nope, still skipping. Sigh.

With the default arrangement of my acrylic jigsaw it was applying enough force that the gear was leaving pretty deep and clear marks on the filament, and getting sort of filled with ABS dust after a while (which I'm assuming was far too tight).

With the replacement I've got it screwed down enough that it's leaving small indentations in the surface but not clear bites like before. Is that enough? Should I aim for deeper indents? None at all?

I suppose part of the answer is "play with it and see what gives you the best prints" but since everyone here must have played with it at some point (if you installed the Mk 2 or 3 replacement) I figured I'd get your suggestions so less playing is required.

Hmmm.   Filament detector...

There is this thing out now called the Makey Makey which allows you to connect ANYTHING and make it trigger a keystroke or mouse click.

put a switch or optical switch on the top of the extruder, connect to makeymakey and make it trigger a mouse click.  then hover your cursor over the PAUSE button on your Pronterface control panel...

Even easier - and probably smarter - would be to use the same switch to control a relay that if the filament ran out, it would automatically power down the printer - and thus kill power to the extruder and bed.

This would certainly be the easiest one to implement, and the opto switch should be more reliable in this case and not make filament dust.

Even easier - and probably smarter - would be to use the same switch to control a relay that if the filament ran out, it would automatically power down the printer - and thus kill power to the extruder and bed.

The problem with this is that you lose the print.

In repetier, can you pause from a keystroke?

There is this thing out now called the Makey Makey which allows you to connect ANYTHING and make it trigger a keystroke or mouse click.

put a switch or optical switch on the top of the extruder, connect to makeymakey and make it trigger a mouse click.  then hover your cursor over the PAUSE button on your Pronterface control panel...

Even easier - and probably smarter - would be to use the same switch to control a relay that if the filament ran out, it would automatically power down the printer - and thus kill power to the extruder and bed.