Dremel Idea Builder 3D Printer

This is brilliant - the only reason I didn't give it 5* is that it dropped in price by £200 after I bought it!! :(Everything you imagine a 3D printer will be like.

AS a dedicated model builder who is always interested in aquiring tools to help me I was delighted to be offered the Dremel 3D printer. I had heard of these items and seen kits to build them advertised. One of our really clever club members had even built his own.The Printer arrives ina huge box containing the Dremel printer in its own very effective box and protective packaging. I soon had it up and running and printing out a small T-Rex head. THis was very impressive. The machine sat in my living room with me squeaking away to itself,this could be irritating but did not stop me watching TV. I have to say that I hardly noticed any smell but then my ofactroy nerves have probably been detroyed but some fo the smells that they have been bombarded with over many. many years.I was very impressed with the detail on the T-rex head, all the tiny and very sharp teeth where beautifully formed. When I removed it I managed to break offf the base which allowed me to see the amzing structure inside the head which saves filament and weight, the latter is important as we shall see.I then tried to regiseer my machine but got the American website which does not accept UK addresses. To jump ahead after I registered n the UK site things went well but for some reason now, when I try to download something it reverts to the american site and I have to go and click on the UK symbol.I decided that I would choose a pilot from the range of items that one can download. but this was bigger than I wanted. I was able to use the software to scale it to the size that I wanted. This turned out to be a bit smaller that I had imagined so I made another a little bigger which was just right.Since then I have tried to down load another pilot but have had some trouble. I think that the problem is that I accepted downloading newerr software and my old Windos Vista doesn't like it but we will sort that out.The quality of the pilots is reasonable althought the top of the head is a bit like a contour map however a little sanpapering and filler would solve that on future editions.I will say that the choice of things to download and make is not what I would call inspiring however there are other websites such as Thingiverse with a much bigger selection with more interesting creations.I feel that where the Dremel 3D printer will really come into its own would be if one was using one of the various desing programs to create ones own ideas..Even more interesting would be if I can find a 3D scanner locally to get my own head and shoulders scanned so that my pilots would actually be me!! I have seen someone who has done that in a recent model magazine and all I can say is "I WANT ONE!" Or two ro three or four or...I think that the printer is a tool that one will start finding more and more uses for as time goes on.

The Dremel Idea Builder is a 3D printer based on the Flashforge Dreamer, with a single extruder and no wireless connectivity. Build quality is good in a sturdy metal chassis, and it comes in at about the size of a medium laser printer. Aimed at novice users, setup is as streamlined as it can reasonably be with only the filament to install (a half roll of white PLA is included), the Buildtak bed printing surface to stick on, and the bed to level. The last step is crucial to obtaining good prints, but is poorly explained. You get a leveling sheet included in the box which is a nice touch, but the wording on it is ambiguous on how much resistance from the extruder constitutes a good distance; after some experimentation I decided on getting it as close as possible such that removing the sheet doesn't raise the position of the bed where it would have been pushed down by the sheet. At least the printer has a leveling function which moves the extruder to useful leveling positions. There are no adjustable feet on the unit to get the chassis level.Connectivity is by USB or SD card, and a cable and 4GB card are included. However, the drivers point blank refused to install on my Windows 7 machine so I had to copy generated files through an SD card reader. It wouldn't read either of my SDHC cards, but you shouldn't have need for those capacities. The included software is, frankly, terrible in the grand scheme of things. It looks to be the same as some Makerbot software I've seen in the past, and produces sub-par prints without support material or surrounds. Thankfully, Dremel recently announced that they would be partnering with another software supplier as a result of feedback, and presumably this will be a free download on the web site. If all else fails then Simplify3D now has profiles for the Idea Builder and produces much better prints.Print quality generally is good though not excellent. The amount of filament seepage even as the extruder heats through 185c is a little excessive, and the default of 220c seems too high producing very noticeable stringing; I had much better results at 215c. The warranty only covers the use of the Dremel filament, which is disappointing. The filament is 1.75mm PLA, though you could conceivably use other materials with the temperature being set higher or lower, if you felt like voiding that warranty. Layers are quite even, and for the most part alignment is consistent though I did have it inexplicably create a messy gap in a larger print.Using Simplify3D I found that in addition to the 5c temperature decrease, increasing infill and infill overlap both to 30%, and decreasing all movements to 3600mm/m from the profiles increased quality greatly. Of course, if you just wanted to get going then the printer comes with a few models built right in that they've tested. The Buildtak surface is ridiculously good at adhesion, to the extent that the token spudger provided is dull and useless after a few prints.The printer is a lot closer to novice level than some, and is certainly a leap from the kits to build your own. It's also solidly built, even if the bed does sag forward with the slightest pressure. Print quality is good but had its quirks, and the printing experience still isn't foolproof and requires active thought and time experimenting. Lack of wireless connectivity is frustrating, and a proprietary Dremel g-code format is a shame, but support is improving. You could do a lot worse in terms of printers, but at the time of writing the price point puts it at the mid-to-high area of the consumer printers, past even the superior Flashforge on which it is based. Less knowledgeable users will likely be encouraged however by the setup process being simplified as much as practicable, save for one of the two provided Buildtak sheets perhaps being pre-installed.