Working out of the box?

A good friend of mine, a university microscopist, is interested in getting into 3D printing chiefly as a means of allowing in-house fabrication of various technical components for his work. He's been researching machines in the ~$2k range in hopes of finding a printer which comes as near as possible to just working out of the box, as the demands of his schedule might make it difficult to commit to the deep involvement and frequent troubleshooting -- of both hardware and technique -- which seem to be the common experience with so many machines currently on the market. As my own involvement with 3D printing began less than a year ago and has been limited to the use of a how-cheaply-can-we-build-this-thing Chinese delta, I'm afraid that I'm not much help in offering valid suggestions as to which manufacturer and unit would best fit his requirements.

Perhaps his top contender at this point is the Dremel 3D45. While it seems that many users have very good things to say about this printer, I found it rather curious to discover that Dremel is entirely absent from 3D Hubs seemingly comprehensive listing. And perhaps understandably considering its apparent target demographic, I've personally run across no forum discussions of the Dremel among makers.

I'd be most grateful for any thoughts and opinions out there, either on the suitability of the Dremel 3D45 for his needs or on any other manufacturers' models which might be more likely alternatives.

Its got a locked filament system. You can only use their expensive filament

Thank you very much for the reply Dust!


I recall there being a couple of videos which did show the owners using other filaments, ProtoPasta's CF for instance, and saying that using non-Dremel stuff in their machines just voided the warranty. OTOH you do know your stuff, and I'd never claim to vouch for the accuracy of what's on YouTube. I'll be sure to pass that concern on to my friend.

In any case you've certainly hit on one irritating aspect of the many proprietary systems around (at least from a maker's perspective), personally I couldn't stand not being able to dive completely into the hardware and firmware myself! That would also put a big squash on my ability to be of much use to my friend when problems surface.

Operating any 3D printer requires skill acquired through experience and failure. There's no such thing as a printer you can just turn on and automatically get high quality prints if for no other reason than different prints require different slicer settings, and it takes knowledge and experience to know what slicer settings to use.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

Yes, the digital dentist, that's my position as well. My very many frustrations with the inexpensive printer I have, along with the eventual happy successes, have convinced me that in 3D printing technique and a very thorough understanding are vastly more important than the instrument used. I guess I've just been hoping that for my friend's sake I may not know the complete picture, that there may be machines around which will allow him to bypass a lot of what I've been through.

But then, where's the fun in that?!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2018 06:22PM by papilio.