Shit flinging? I haven't had that happen. I'm on my second littermaid. I bought the larger one the second time, but I'm not sure why anymore.
We clean it 2x a week and other than that we have no problems with it. On Wednesdays we just clean the bin and scrape the bottom of the pan to get off anything stuck there. On the weekends we do a big clean of it, including taking off the rake and cleaning it in warm soapy water. If you don't keep it clean, it gets all gummed up and causes it to jam.
We didn't have any problems with our first one, just got dropped in water and shorted out the motor. Now I'm more careful when I'm cleaning it.