Dremel DigiLab 3D45 Award-Winning Professional 3D Printer with PLA-TRA-01 Filament - 1.75mm Diameter, 0.75kg Spool, Translucent Color, RFID Enabled - Perfect for Home, School & Office 3D Printing Projects

Initially I purchased the Dremel DigiLab 3D45 mostly because it carried the Dremel name and Dremel'shistory as a tool company. Then there were the features that it was a pre-built unit, ready to go rightout of the box in just about 30 minutes. Touted a simple interface essentially plug and play. ToDremel's credit this was all true. I received the printer had it unboxed and ready to go and printingmy first print job in just over 30 minutes. The web interface has the advantage that you can usejust about any flavor of Windows, Apple, Linux, Android, IOS, etc. As long as you have a modernWeb Browser you're in business. The RFID enabled filament spools specific to Dremel take some ofguesswork out of setting up the filament settings and mostly transfer to the web interface for slicing.The first print job was a spool adapter so that I could use NON-Dremel filament. There is where we hit the first downside of the Dremel DigiLab 3D45, it's reliance onproprietary spools of filament. Yes, I knew this going in, but after watching some videos andreviews and seeing that the community has had success with some various adapters to useno Dremel filament I went and pulled the trigger and bought it. Of course the above reason cameinto play too.At first we were rocking and rolling printing like mad fools. Had a few failures, as expected,some good successes, overall the experience was good. Then disaster struck. I had my firstmajor nozzle clog. Off to the web and Dremel's support site for help. NOT MUCH THERE. Butthere were a few things telling me what to do. UNFORTUNATELY, none of the steps were ableto get my nozzle unclogged. So off I went to purchase a new nozzle. It showed up a few days laterand I was printing again, BUT, a short time later another clog. This went of for a couple of weeksand about 5 nozzles. I finally reached out to Dremel, the of course sent me a new nozzle, but the situation wasn't remedied. I again reached out and this time got a support tech that toldme that the troubleshooting procedure from the first contact wasn't quite right and that Ishould have been sent a whole heating assemble, the coil, heater and nozzle. So that came afew days later with instructions and I sent an email to the tech, we exchanged numerousemails, pictures and videos of the printer in action with the new assembly and getting thecalibrations just right. Overall the printer performed within specs AS LONG AS I used theproprietary Dremel filament. Whenever I strayed from that filament I had problems. Ofcourse the tech also gave me detailed instructions on a full procedure to unclog the nozzle. This entailed setting the printer into preheat mode for 30 or more minutes allowing theclogged filament to soften enough that it can be pushed from the nozzle by the uncloggingtool and new filament. Something that was NOT readily findable on the web.So now I have a $2000 printer that is locked down to proprietary filament with arather limited selection for 500g spools that cost around the same as anon-proprietary 1kg spool on amazon.My final thoughts on the Dremel DigiLab 3D45, it IS a nice sturdy well built piece of machineryworthy of the Dremel name. It is QUICK to setup and get running. The interface is VERY easyto learn and operate and can be used from just about anywhere. The interface DOES have its glitches.Timelapse DOESN'T always capture the whole job, You ARE dependent on an ACTIVE internet connection.Though you CAN load an STL file to USB and used the inbuilt LCD to load your job to the printer.The Dremel DigiLab 3D45 is WiFi, Ethernet and USB capable. It really does NOT have OctoPrint compatibilityout of the box. Though some folks in the community are working on it.Would I buy it again? No. It is too limited for serious 3D work. Would I recommend it? Not really, againit is too limited for serious 3D work. Is it good for light work and an Educational environment (WhereDremel really targeted this product in the first place), YES. It will definitely stand out there.Love the ease of use of this product, it has not stopped printing since we purchased and set it up. Set up took less than a half hour as everything is already put together. The touch screen walks you through the entire process and could not be easier. I haven't had a print fail yet.This is the first 3d printer I've owned, so this isn't really a comparative review, but a review of using the product. First off, it's fantastically fun to 3d print things. My kids have been making themselves toys almost non-stop, and when I can occasionally get in some time for myself, I've been printing up little organizational tools, and it is fantastic for both uses. The printed objects generally come out really fantastic, are very precise, and often look quite handsome. Changing filament is intuitive and fast. However, there are some caveats to be aware of:Caveat #1: The printer comes with really intuitive free software called Dremel DigiLabs 3d Slicer. It is really easy to get started with and takes 3d models that you want to print and converts them into instructions for the printer, including generating "supports" to hold up parts of the 3d model that would otherwise float in space. Unfortunately, the supports that it generates are really a giant pain to work with, are too frequent, too dense, and too difficult to remove. There is other 3D software (you can search for it) that will do a much better job of designing these supports, but the free versions typically don't work with this printer, and the paid ones are quite expensive.Caveat #2: Using other software would be a whole lot easier if there existed printer drivers, but the only evidence that such a thing might exist seems to several months old support posts indicating that drivers are eventually coming but not available yet. So, I instead of running a cable to print, I'm stuck ferrying a USB drive back and forth. It's not the end of the world, but it's more of a pain than it should be.Caveat #3: We've had this machine about a week now, and we've already had to clear two jams. When this happens, material simply stops flowing through the printhead, and device just keeps working away printing (somewhat amusingly) into space. Again, not the end of the world, but disappointing nonetheless.Caveat #4: The "educational software" was not what I expected. It's a very short, very generic course on 3d printing online that seems targeted at teachers who desire to have a certificate that says they know about 3d printing. I was hoping for a lot more detailed instructions on 3d modeling, support structure, relevant software packages and so forth. In its defense, the educational software did turn me onto the entirely independent and remarkably good TinkerCad and Fusion 360 programsSo, two weeks in, this is not a perfect device and not quite what I expected, but it is a load of fun and incredibly useful for little projects and tinkering around the house. Even at this price, I do actually expect it to eventually pay for itself by printing things I would have otherwise picked up at the store, and of course it opens up the potential to create your own projects that are otherwise entirely unattainable.After seeing the potential of 3D printing for my home projects, I wanted to have one at home. I spent a large amount of time reading review. I was looking for a 3D printer that was not to loud, that was closed because I didn’t want an air current on the piece that could alternate the printing quality. I also wanted a printer that was reliable, because I didn’t want to do troubleshooting. I also needed a printer that could print nylon for its proprieties. I finally found the Dremel 3D45 that had all I wanted while being very good price for what it is. After receiving it, it worked out of the box, and I’ve printed lots of part since without any print fail. The printing speed isn’t the best, but you get a very good quality print. The heated bed helps a lot. For those who are more advanced in 3D printing, in the Dremel digital lab digital slicer, you can control every parameter that you want. For that you have to edit the advanced menu first to get all those options. To conclude, I’m very impressed by the Dremel 3D45 printer. I had high expectations, and their all meted with this printer. I would recommend this printer for anyone who wants a 3D printer at home. Knowing people who bought lower cost printer, it is worth spending a little extras buck for this one. For what it can do I find it a very good price.