DREMEL DIGILAB
3D45 /£1,100 inc VAT
Despite various Chinese companies offering some compelling and very affordable 3D printers at the moment, there’s still clearly for an easy-to-use, yet feature-packed, 3D printer. Dremel has capitalized on this situation with its range of Digilab 3D printers and the current flagship, the
3D45, offers the biggest print area of its current range. However, tipping the scales at over £1,000 inc VAT, does it justify the price when many of its cheaper rivals offer bigger print areas?
Its huge the footprint of 65cm x 41cm is partly due to the enclosed print chamber, which helps to seal and filter printing fumes,
while also providing a warmer environment to print objects, which can improve print quality. The filament is also stored internally and, to reduce its bulk, Dremel has taken the decision to require the use of its own proprietary filament spools.
Thankfully, these spools aren’t digitally locked, and the filament diameter of 1.75mm is widely available, meaning that many users appear to have easily modified their Dremel printers to be able to use externally mounted third- party spools. That’s just as well, because at roughly £15 for
500g, Dremel’s filament costs roughly twice the price of most third-party filament. Dremel’s spools do come with
RFID tags, though, which allows the printer to identify the filament being used.
3D FILAMENT
- Live print bed video feed
- Wi-Fi, LAN and
- USB print support
- Good quality, reliable printing
DOT MATRIX
- Nozzle and bed heating can take a while
- Small print volume
- Expensive
SP E C
Dimensions (mm)
645 x 406 x 404 (W x D x H)
Weight
21.5kg
Connections
USB, Wi-Fi, LAN
Materials
ABS, Nylon PLA, PETG
(1.75mm Dremel spool
Layer thickness
50 microns (0.05mm)
There’s also a live video feed of the print bed, which is extremely useful if you plan on housing it in a different room from your PC, with the option to print over the Internet using Dremel’s software. Meanwhile, the software is simple to use and handles most common object files, with the option to add supports to overhanging sections.
The print volume isn’t massive, at just 255 x 155 x 170mm, which is smaller than some of the cheaper competition. However, its 50-micron nozzle printing is competitive, plus
it supports Nylon, PETG, ABS and PLA filament. Prints were also reliable and detailed, with only one mishap in dozens of prints coming from loose melted filament. This happened
at the start of the print and required the print to be paused and resumed once we’d removed the offending object. The nozzle and bed heating could be faster, though, as they can take five to ten minutes to warm, especially from cold.
Conclusion
The main issues with the Dremel Digilab 3D45 are a smaller than average print bed, long heating times and the inability to use cheaper, third-party filament spools out of the box. However, as an easy introduction to large-volume 3D printing, it’s superb, with its informative touch-screen and
manual offering a gentler learning curve than the competition. The video feed is extremely useful too, so if you want to get into the world of 3D printing with minimal fuss, we thoroughly recommend the Digilab 3D45
Source From: ANTONY LEATHER Article
Post a Comment