Guys, I'd like to start by thanking you for all your help. The kind encouragement and replies I received from this posting helped a great deal.
Here's what worked:
We took apart the extruder and could not even pass the metal test rod through the PTFE. Scanning the unofficial build videos on the web, we were able to glean that drilling out the PTFE with a 1/8" drill bit was what was needed. After that, it was easy to pass by hand into the rebuild extruder and produce floss. Should be part of the standard build instruction. If you can't get past the PTFE you can't get into the barrel!
Next, the pinch wheel was slipping trying to get material into the barrel. Almost, but not enough. I had been tightening against the plastic itself, and remembered that the build instructions wanted us to use that crazy metal rod. Well, now we tightened against the crazy metal rod. The pinch wheel now grabbed the material, and straight into the extruder it went. When we backed out, it had the signature bite marks, but not terribly deformed. Produced floss for 5 minutes with no hesitation.
Our first cube attempt was very strange, went through all the documented steps, ReplicatorG started up, ready to produce the 5mm cube, and promptly dove into -10mm INTO the platfom! What the hell! Oh man, damn cables must be backwards!
/BEGIN FLAME
And here I need to slam Makerbot, documentation, and the whole process. Documentation here is beyond terrible. There is NO documentation on the damn ribbon cables. Nor is there a damn freaking word anywhere on INVERT THE FRACKN Z AXIS! Did I miss something? Is this some right of passage? A lousy bug in Replicator 16/Linux? Anyhow, I drove 30 miles to get new Molex connectors, only to figure it it was software settings.
END FLAME/
Long story story, we printed the test box…damn nice looking box..
Then I noticed that the X and Y axis were switched. No problem, easy to swap the Servo Motor controller wires. DUH!!!! I know, I know. Live circuit. Killed one controller board. (Any advice on this? Completely dead X board, motherboard OK, X path tests good on Y board, X controller dead. Is it (hopefully) the 7805 that usually goes? Or more likely that frackin logic circuit) Anyhow, I've been around electronics long enough to know that you don't hop swap motors circuits. New Boards (2 - 1 spare) en route. But if there is a know quick fix, would love to hear it.
Anyhow, I will become active in this community and help noob documentation on PTE, Controller boards, and FRACKN ribbon cables.
RIBBON CABLE: Both connectors, Same Side of Cable, Nubs (pin 1) Face Same Directiion, <—-< See? How hard was that?