Review on Enclosed Flashforge Dreamer Printer with Upgraded Extruder by Michael Willis

I've spent weeks figuring out the ins and outs of a number of popular 3D printers. The last project was between the Dremel Idea Builder, Flashforge Creator Pro and Flashforge Dreamer. I wanted something that was fairly easy to set up and run some high quality builds. Dremel seemed like the perfect candidate. I was trying to convince myself that just PLA would be fine as Dremel doesn't support ABS and doesn't have a heating layer. The compromise will be ease of use and "living room comfort". After much research, I decided I wanted both options. Also, Dremel is actually a FlashForge Dreamer without the above and is clearly aimed at the consumer market. I think it was a good sign that Dremel chose the Dreamer to put their name on. I was one click away from choosing Creator Pro as the reviews were overwhelming, but I wanted something more discreet. As you can see, I'm tall, so this should also look decent next to my living room table. The Creator Pro was a bit more monstrous, with threads flowing from above. I realized that one of the things I would have given up on skipping the Creator Pro was the wide range of filaments from different manufacturers. The Creator Pro thread spools are fed from the back, outside the machine, so there are no size restrictions. With the Dreamer, the spools of filament are located inside the device and there is not much space there. After further reading, I realized that there are several ways to bypass the Dreamer thread limitation. A few examples: partially removing the lid and feeding any size tank from the outside, or Thingiverse.com has several types of 3D printed coil adapters. Yes, you can actually install a new spool adapter on your Dreamer to expand your choice of filament sizes/types. Update: February 18th - Spool printed out and now with Filamex filament (available). The Dreamer took about a week to complete as it shipped direct from China and was in stock at the time. It's been four days since I got it and I've been typing almost non-stop. After reading horror stories about initial trial and error on my first try (this 3D printer), I was happy to get a perfect build on my second try. The documentation can be a little fuzzy (figuratively speaking) in places, but visiting YouTube made things easier. Having to wait a week for delivery gave me extra time to investigate any problems I might encounter. The device comes with a white ABS and a dark blue PLA spool, as well as a tool box with some spares and a few tools which is a nice bonus. Also included is a 4GB SD card and USB cable. You can connect the Dreamer to your computer via USB or Wi-Fi and then send your work to the printer. I put my saves on an SD card and just downloaded them straight to the printer. Also, if you need to make copies of one of your builds, select your SD card from the Dreamer's handy display panel, find your item's name and hit print! Installation was painless - took about 15 minutes. Leveling the slab was originally a tedious process, but it gets easier every time you do it. Now I can level it in two minutes as opposed to the original 20 minutes of paranoia. I started the first few builds with ABS. During my research, I had two concerns: how much noise it would make and how bad the smell of heated plastic would be. As for the ABS, it's not even close to what I expected. I thought it would be like tossing a whole batch of mousetrap up the chimney. There's definitely smoke in the air, but after a few hours in the same room, it becomes invisible. We have one of those essential oil diffusers nearby that definitely helps. Keep in mind that someone who is more sensitive to fumes may feel differently. PLA is even less visible, so no problem. As for the noise, I'm happy to report that it's not a problem at all. Fans are louder than an extruder running on rails, so no arguments with neighbors, not even when driving to the graveyard. The print quality is better than I expected. I've seen several examples of 3D printers on different websites that got me worried. Perhaps the camera's flash zoom has too many flaws, but believe me, the quality of these prints is quite satisfactory, especially for the price. Both PLA and ABS are great and have their pros and cons. We made two plastic iPhone charging pads and they were equally impressive. ABS had a matte finish while PLA seemed to have a little bit of transparency and a little bit of sheen. The quality of your print will depend on a number of factors, including how quickly you want results. We printed the little articulated elephants in just an hour and it turned out fantastic. It was on medium quality settings with 15% infill. while the super nifty nested gyroscope wheel lasted 9 hours. The end result was worth it! The only problem you learn to fear in the world of 3D printing is stabilizing your work. Without the proper preparation, your masterpiece will go haywire and you'll end up with an angel-haired paste monster from hell instead. The heated platform was initially covered with Kapton tape, which initially withstood a couple of ABS prints. I had no luck on my first try with PLA as it fell out of bed minutes after printing. I immediately hit the cancel button. There's a reason Flashforge gives you a big roll of blue duct tape. PLA loves duct tape. Just coat the Kapton and you're ready to print PLA, you know. I've found that using a glue stick (you'll find it recommended everywhere) is one of your best friends when it comes to gluing to a bed. Scatter it across the blue ribbon and these PLA builds will be well behaved and come out perfect! I also started using it directly on the Kapton tape when it came time to switch back to ABS because Kapton wears out in a matter of days. Speaking of Kapton, if you're tired of buying Kapton when the initial coating gets really scary, many other 3D printer owners let you do it by buying a glass plate that attaches to the bed. Removing adhesive residue from glass is much easier than with Kapton. The included software (Flashprint) is very easy to use, but on the third day I took a risk and bought Simplify3D. It gives you more control over your work and has many important features. It's expensive but worth it. Apparently Flashforge supports this system at the highest level. Haven't needed any help yet (other than asking about the whereabouts of my shipment in transit) but I'm confident based on what I've read. All in all, I couldn't be happier with my decision. As I spin this, the extruder dances to a gentle mechanical melody, producing another mind-blowing plastic marvel.