Sunday, August 13, 2017

FlashForge Dreamer Review

The amount of 3D printers out there are all different and use different methods in order to make the 3D model on the computer into a usable object that you can hold and not necessarily in plastic now some print pancakes or other editable food.

This printer does not print food but it does do plastic very well and while it may take some time using the UI that comes with the printer but this is just as good as the Makerbot printers but a bit cheaper. FlashForge has made an amazing printer here and offers everything that other printers of this type a heated bed, a good place to place your spools of plastic, dual extruders all of that with some missing polish it works exactly as is but essentially its setup and put your plastic in to start right out of the box.

While the accuracy could be better it is just as good as Makerbot's resolution at 100 microns and a build area that measures at 230x150x140mm is just shy of the size of The Makerbot 2X build area of 246x152x155mm despite that the printer runs extremely well and fulfills most of the items i needed to print.

I would recommend getting a glass bed for prints just for quick and easy Bed cleaning I Recommend this for all 3D printers like this but you will need to make a shim to offset the size of the glass so you wont break your extruders during prints Thingiverse has them for all sorts of glass sizes and for all types of Printers.

The process of printing is fine but it is very LOUD and you will need to put this guy on a very stable table or the movement of the head will shake the machine on flimsy table and messing up a print if you have that you can here the printer on the floor below it I have to reiterate this guy is LOUD.Even though the door does dampen the sound greatly once shut it still is rather load. Below there are some videos of it printing in ABS a 3D N64 logo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfpCv4JhwWs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW9YawzcQig

I have Had this printer for about 2 Years now and i will say it has been a blast to use importing models i have made in 123D to the Printing software it is a rather simple process once you are done making the model export it to the .stl file type and drag it into the printing software Flashprint the program is bare bones very little options but it works you will most likely need to update the Firmware on your printer unfortunately it will need a wired connection to do so though once that is done you can set the printer up to connect to your wireless network easily from its touch screen. I would recommend getting a better printing program just for better options Flashprint is a bit too bare bones and has some issues such as a character limit on the file you are trying to print and sending bad files over from time to time.

The printer comes with 2 spools of plastic ABS and PLA at 1.75mm  thickness of random colors a USB cable and a 4GB SD card which is another way of getting your projects over to it unfortunately it cant update its firmware like that it had also shipped with an off brand exacto knife and a nice carrying case.

Over the few years I have had this I have made many things and designed a good amount to they are free to download and are free to be modified at any moment on thingiverse there are more examples of what was made there to see it will be linked below.

https://www.thingiverse.com/snintendog/designs

I give the FlashForge Dreamer a Good out of 10 could be better but for the Cost you get a very good machine as of right now it retails at about 1100$USD which is easily half price of Makerbot's 2X at 2400$USD the prices tend to jump around but stay the same roughly. If you don't mind the more DIY stuff the FlashForge Creator is cheaper at 900$USD and even Cheaper is to buy the not built kits they need to built and programmed from the ground up but you essentially have full control of how big you want it to be whether or not you need 2 extruders or a heated bed there are cheaper options for the printers and of coarse you could go for the other type of printers they are far more accurate and at times faster and use Lasers though that is another topic entirely unrelated to the Dreamer.