Resurrection on the cheap part 1
So first thing to check that the printer has a smart extruder or smart extruder+
Smart Extruder
Smart Extruder +
If one isn't already on the head try to find it. If you were gifted this ask the previous owner, if you're a teacher who is trying to get this running look for it wherever. If you can't find one, you can find them on ebay but remember this printer isn't worth that so don't pay much. I got some waiting and looking for around 30$ a piece. Both will work for any printer and in theory the + version is less prone to clogs I don't know how true that is.
Also make sure the extruder has its fan shroud this not only for part cooling but also to deflect the fan from blowing directly on the heat block. The printer will need one to successfully keep up to temp.
These smart extruder(+)s are prone to clogging and jamming even just getting a small piece of broken off filament stuck inside some place. I suspect this is part of the reason many of these printers were essentially abandoned. Below I've linked 2 videos about cleaning a common jam that happens to these printers I would recommend following the appropriate guide and opening up your extruder and checking it before you start trying to print with it.
When that's all good you should be able to magnet the smart extruder onto it's carriage on the printer.
I have a Mini+ so I'll be writing this part for controlling the printer through makerbot print plugged into USB. I assume you can control the others through makerbot print as well if not please let me know.
The printer needs a "IEC 60320 C13 &C14" cord, basically a desktop or monitor power cord, and a USB-A to USB-B cable what you might think of as a printer cable, or external hard drive cable.
Plug it into power and use the usb cable to plug it into the computer you have installed makerbot print(4.3). When you first turn it on the light (lcd I assume for the non-mini) will flash for a bit while it starts up. Then the light should go solid white. If it keeps flashing that might mean the printer is stuck with an error you should be able to clear either by pressing the button or using the makerbot print.
Using makerbot print (4.3) try to connect to the printer and select it in the bottom right corner. If the printer status says anything but ready you should be able to cancel out of that using that dialog.
In the utilities in the printer menu click load filament. This will heat up the hotend in the extruder so you can load the filament. It should feed out the nozzle successfully.
If not you might have a clog like referenced earlier or a clog in the nozzle instead of the main extruder section. The nozzle's threads actually match the standard threaded nozzle kind like what ender 3s and stuff use so you might want to replace it. To replace it use the filament unload button in the makerbot print dialog and using the release lever on the side pull the filament out, then while it's still hot you can start unscrewing the nozzle, you will need to hold the extruder to the carriage at the same time
After the filament went through successfully you might need to use the utilities menu to calibrate the offset if the printer hasn't used this smart extruder before. You will need to unload the filament first before it will let you do the calibration thing.
So at this point you should have extruded filament using makerbot print.
In another page I haven't written yet I'll go through slicing with a different slicer and converting using mbotmake but here I'm going to start you with just slicing from makerbot print.
Drag a stl file into Makerbot Print or use the file dialog to open one. I recommend stating with a smaller test file many people suggest a boring cube or a benchy, but I'm going to recommend using a print-a-Block
Print-a-Block base
In the print settings you will want to use the default settings, but make sure that raft is turned on. If you want to preview the print there is an icon in the top right that kind of looks like a globe that will cause it to slice it and go to the preview. Their preview mode isn't great.
Now using the dialog in the bottom right you can start the print. It will make a purge line down one side and then start on the raft.
If you use a different 3d printer when it prints the raft it will look like it's over extruder. This is actually makerbot's "lazy hack" so the printer doesn't have to be leveled really well (more correctly trammed but I'll get into that on another page).
Now it should continue up printing the entire cube. If you have other issues I plan to write up a troubleshooting document for all the various errors I've had and link to that going forward.