Dremel Releases a Mass-Market 3D Printer

I'm under the impression that a LOT of companies are currently thinking that they miss their market right now if they don't bring out a 3d printer. Actually, the market is not that big and over-saturated with printers right now. The vendors (this goes especially to the big ones) are missing one critical point: They haven't made it easy enough for Joe User to create printable 3d designs. The "mass" will not buy a product like that if they don't understand why they need it for and also not if they don't have access to easy and powerful tools to make actually good use of it.

I believe Dremel is just rebranding the &quot;Flashforge Dreamer&quot; which is a company out of china.<p><a href="http://www.flashforge-usa.com/shop/3d-printers/flashforge-dreamer-dual-extrusion-3d-printer.html/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.flashforge-usa.com&#x2F;shop&#x2F;3d-printers&#x2F;flashforge-dr...</a><p>I purchase this model a few months ago and it&#x27;s been alright - though the extruder seems to get jammed half way into my prints.<p>It&#x27;s interesting to see the base price is below the OEM.

I own a 3D printer. It&#x27;s an Ultimaker (they are coming to the US [1]) and I&#x27;m using it for prototyping.<p>Some things that you almost never read about consumer 3D printers:<p><pre><code> * 3D printing is hard. * You cannot print &#x27;everything&#x27;. Overhang is always an issue. * Most prints take hours (as in &#x27;a full day&#x27;) to print. * You cannot print fast and have a good quality print. * There are a ton of factors that influence the print quality. * Every type &#x2F; color of filament needs it&#x27;s own settings based on trial and error. * Great 3D print examples are mostly print on +$50.000 printers. </code></pre> I think the Ultimaker and Makerbot are the only brands that deliver good reliable consumer printers. But I&#x27;m also keeping an eye on Formlabs.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.ultimaker.com/blogs/news/2014/09/16/ultimaker-launches-in-north-america" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ultimaker.com&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;news&#x2F;2014&#x2F;09&#x2F;16&#x2F;ultimaker-la...</a>

Neat, but I still don&#x27;t feel that I need one now, or that I&#x27;ll need one in the next few years. I guess I haven&#x27;t really seen what useful things can be made with 3D printers...almost everything from them I&#x27;ve seen IRL is either a small statue or jewelry.

The Dremel site is unfortunately lacking the pricing. They note that it&#x27;s available for purchase on Amazon, but it isn&#x27;t as far as I can tell.<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=Dremel%203D%20Idea%20Builder" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;s&#x2F;ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dap...</a>

I was extremely high on buying a 3D printer, and then I read this post: <a href="http://chopmeister.blogspot.com/2014/08/sifting-through-features-or-guide-to.html?m=1" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;chopmeister.blogspot.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;08&#x2F;sifting-through-feat...</a><p>I think I&#x27;m going to wait a while before buying.

Seems like Dremel did the 3DPer first because it&#x27;s all the hype, but with desktop CNCs like Shapeoko, OtherMill, NomadCNC, etc. coming out, and Dremel being ::the:: company of mini-router spindles, they&#x27;ll probably come out with desktop CNC mill soon.

I got my first Dremel tool in 1982 and have always had one since. I love those things more than I can express.<p>This is awesome. It may not really have anything to do with their &quot;moto-tool&quot;, but it just warms my heart to see their name on it.

Having played around with 3d printers for the last couple of years I have to say that they are an indispensable tool for makers&#x2F;hackers&#x2F;inventors&#x2F;artist types. However for mass market as many here have said we are just not there yet.<p>To get there we really need to have a few innovative large manufacturers start publishing replacement part CAD models for their products. Making that leap is obviously a big deal for a lot of manufacturers who make outstanding margin on their replacement parts, but that is the kind of thing we need in order for a printer to be useful to the truly mass market.<p>Additionally, and I think we&#x27;re seeing this already, we need a lot more 3d printable products to come to market. For example, I just recently finished printing a Clug bike rack for a friend (<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/834664305/clug-cycle-storage-thats-like-a-hug-for-your-bike" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.kickstarter.com&#x2F;projects&#x2F;834664305&#x2F;clug-cycle-st...</a>). This is a prime example of bringing 3d printing to the general public - they provide a high quality version you can buy, or a cheap 3d printable version which you can pay a lot less for just the 3d files. We worked out that with the model cost and the material cost you could print somewhere in the region of 30 replacements before it was more economical to buy the mass produced high quality version. Thus far the rack hasn&#x27;t broke yet either!

interesting that it&#x27;s a 3d printer - would have thought a desktop CNC milling machine would be closer to their traditional high-RPM switchable-toolhead powertool business.

Just another clone of a printer that cloned their ideas from reprap. Nothing to see here except the line where they state they have locked down your options in software...great idea...eliminate user controls...that should make it more user friendly.<p>The only reason to eliminate those features is so that you are locked into using their consumables (or maybe to avoid some patent issue in the case of the variable infill).<p>It is sad that these are the types of printers that get attention. Nothing special about the design, build area or pretty much anything but it has a Dremel logo so of course it will sell.<p>Just another company trying to jump onto the already crowded 3d printing wave. I am sure there are more to come.

Seems like Dremel would be better positioned to offer a mass-market small CNC machine. They have no background or corporate strengths in the additive-manufacturing business.

What limitations on materials does this have? They mention a lack of heating but I don&#x27;t know enough about 3d printers to know what that means it doesn&#x27;t support.

I&#x27;ve played around with both, and the extruder printers are generally vastly inferior to the printers that use lasers.

I wonder if they&#x27;d be interested in my laser cutter attachment. <a href="http://robots-everywhere.com/re_wiki/index.php?n=Main.LCheapo" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;robots-everywhere.com&#x2F;re_wiki&#x2F;index.php?n=Main.LCheap...</a>

1K, I think there are plenty of others out there with more intriguing designs. Whats interesting is the distribution channel though. The article mentions Home Depot...so does that mean it will be next to makerbot products?

Great to see backing from more established manufacturers for home 3D printing.<p>However, am I the only person who thinks the first photo looks like they&#x27;re microwaving a mouse?

It would be cool if Home Depot had a 3D printer in their stores. That way you could upload your design and run by and pick it up 4 hours later.

One serious question. How many have bought a 3D printer, played with it for a bit, and then it stayed gathering dust in the corner of the room?

The key now for any Mass-Market printer manufacturer is to &quot;go apple&quot;. Support a proprietary format so you can only print those out on their printer, and have a &quot;store&quot; full of stuff you can download and print off. Populate the store with unbelievably professionally modeled thingamabobs to kick it off. Let people put up their own models, and even set price points to download the model, but don&#x27;t charge for each copy.

&gt; Dremel Releases a Mass-Market 3D Printer<p>&gt; and a $999 price point<p>No. A 3D printer that&#x27;s over $500 won&#x27;t be mass market. Even $500 is probably too high. Most people might buy one if it&#x27;s only $300 (with good enough quality - which could happen years from now). My guess is it will be another decade before normal families consider a cheap 3D printer, and only then it&#x27;s when 3D printers will be &quot;mass-market&quot;.

To think of all that Dremel&#x27;s destroyed, now, it can create.

Have we moved beyond selling $4 trinkets on esty with these things?