A good idea (builder).
3D printing is
something only scientists and PhD students do, right? Wrong. Anyone
can, right now, create a physical object from the depths of their
varied imagination via 3D printing, using a machine that won’t
require you to remortgage your home or sell one of your kidneys to a
Russian crime boss. We review one such machine, the Dremel 3D Idea
Builder.
You hear the term ‘3D
printed’ a lot these days, especially in the area of new
technological innovations and design. For those who aren’t aware of
how the technology works; basically imagine a big hot glue gun that
is controlled by a computer, following a set design and ‘squirting’
glue into the shape of a 3D object. Replace the glue gun with a some
precision apparatus, and the hot glue with quick-setting, high
temperature plastic filament, and you have a 3D printer.
However simple the
process sounds, 3D printing technology has, until now, been expensive
and complicated. From designing an object, to programming the
printer, 3D printing has for a long while now been one of those
things that “everybody will use… at some point in the future.”
After testing the Dremel 3D Idea Builder we’re pretty sure the
future is here already, as the damn thing is so simple to use.
Seriously. After
receiving the printer, taking it out of the box and plugging it in,
we were printing our first object within minutes. The big chunky box
of a gadget (which is mostly plastic, making it surprisingly light
and easy to lug about) features a touch display and several
pre-loaded 3D objects, letting users knock something out immediately.
We selected the school bus design, hit ‘print’, then waited a
couple of minutes for it to warm up. The business end of the printer
– the nozzle from which the plastic material is released – needs
to get up to 220 degrees Celsius in order to melt the filament. So
yeah, don’t touch that.
And then it just
started, zipping the nozzle over the printing plate quickly, making
about the same amount of noise as a conventional paper printer. Three
hours later (the length of time varies depending on the size of the
object you’re printing) we had a very detailed little school bus
model. At this point, we geeked out.
As much fun as printing
these preinstalled designs was (we also did a Batarang and a couple
of bracelets – see pics), soon we wanted to get a bit more hands-on
and start creating our own stuff. Here Dremel has made it easy for
you again, as the accompanying software, available to download for
free, is very simple and user friendly. It allows you to import
objects and fiddle around with them, altering size and scale, as well
as position on the printing plate. But, if you want to get fully
creative, you’ll need to talk to someone else.
Dremel pointed us in
the direction of 123D who are working closely with Dremel to make
sure whatever you make with their software (both web-based and
downloadable) can easily be printed by the Idea Builder. Using the
web-based Tinkercad from 123Ds as easy as dragging and dropping
shapes into a work area, then adjusting them to what ever size and
shape you need. The first thing we made was a plaque of our logo…
…which we then
imported into the Dremel programme, copied it to the included SD Card
and popped that in the 3D Idea Maker to be printed...
...which came out looking like this:
And look, we even gave
it a lick of paint afterwards.
The quality of detail
that the Dremel 3D Idea Builder produces is great, and although this
was our first 3D printer, we were told by a friend who uses other
models on a regular basis that it was very good, especially on
rounded edges. The finer details can be made even finer by adjusting
the thickness of the filament as it is printed; making the finished
model even smoother, but increasing the print time.
Of course, even on the
finest setting, the finished product might need a touch of sanding -
depending on what it is you’re printing. We were never that
precious about the stuff we made, and actually like the look of the
(slightly) textured surfaces of the items.
Anyone who read our earlier news story will know what we're #3Dprinting pic.twitter.com/mttdbhi8uQ— The Test Pit (@thetestpit) April 18, 2016
One
thing we did have a tonne of fun making was the Centriphone, a device
for keeping a phone or action cam levelled as you spin it around your
head on the end of fishing wire. Check out our review of it, but one
thing we found super easy was changing the downloaded files by
enlarging them, cutting holes in the 3D shape, and resizing them to
fit our choice of action cam. We were able to do all of this (and
successfully print it out, obviously) without reading any
instructions or following any online tutorials. It really is that
user friendly.
Due to it's rugged
exterior we can imagine the Dremel 3D Idea Builder sitting
comfortably on the workbench of a shed or garage. The casing, coupled
with the opening door on the front, and removable lid on top, means
it can take the odd knock (hopefully not during the printing process,
mind!) and we were happy to see that this is a gadget, a tool, that
will easily find a place in your home. This will quickly stop being a
novelty item and start being useful on a regular basis – like a
drill or a saw.
Whether you need this
to work on your latest gadget to drop onto Kickstarter, or just
because you fancy mucking about with it to create some fun items, the
Dremel 3D Idea Builder does a lot at a very competitive price.
Welcome to the future,
you beautiful bastards.
£799.99
Visit
3dprinter.dremel.com