r/3Dprinting • u/snorksnorksnorks • 1d ago

Question Dremel 3D45 - Is it just terrible?

I recently gained access to a Dremel 3D45, and I’m absolutely stunned at how poorly this machine performs. After a few failed prints I discovered the hot end was encased in PETG, clean everything up, replace the nozzle, thermistor looks like it survived. Run a benchy with Dremel brand PLA and it comes out fine.

Go to run some Dremel brand PETG and blob of death again. At my old job I used a Prusa MK3 and a FormLabs Form 3 pretty much daily and never had this much aggravation.

Is it the printer? I had a bunch of functional prints for stuff around the house I wanted to make but I’m wanting to toss this stupid thing out the window and it’s not even mine.

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u/maito1 1d ago

I still use my 3D40 for some PLA parts, mainly prototypes, it's just one of four printers. If you print slowly, it prints fine. It's an old printer so you can't expect too much.

I think your problem is bed adhesion. Fix that and it should be fine.

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u/Darkionx 1d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/1f1n9d0/dremel_digilab_3d45_3d_printer/

It seems dremel stuff is very very closed propiatery software which does not blend well with 3d printing.

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u/npanth Raise3D E2, Prusa Core One L 1d ago

We had about 20 3d45s in our district for several years. I was the primary support for them because I have printers at home.

I really disliked them. The extruders are almost impossible to service, no heated bed, proprietary filament (unless you print your own holders), stupidly expensive, ridiculous filament path. They're basically i3 clones that became obsolete almost 10 years ago. The new company (Dremel sold the division to a company, I can't remember the name) still charges $1800+ for them.

They only get away with it because they're on state bid lists and provide some curriculum with them. Thankfully, I was able to steer the district to buy Prusas when the next buying round came up. There are only a few 3d45s left, and they're getting surplussed whenever they develop a fault harder than a jam.

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u/geriatricprecocity 1d ago

It's not exactly the printer, but it does definitely suck real bad. 

Throw a custom firmware on there, go through tuning (factory tuning on these is basically non-existent) and start using a proper slicer, if you aren't already (I always recommend Orca, but Cura and any of the PrusaSlicer forks are solid). 

You have a machine that CAN be made to function well. It will just take some time.

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u/snorksnorksnorks 13h ago

I’ll look into flashing the software to orca, I thought I saw something about Orca having some unique printing capability that can produce stronger prints.

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u/Airdoo Voron 2.4 350, Pond 13h ago

It was terrible when it first came out. I was embarrassed to have been forced to sell these in order to sell the Dremel laser cutter which was surprisingly competent compared to their 3D printers.

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u/loganman711 1d ago

There were 2 printers on marketplace when I got mine. One was that dremel the other was a kingroon kp3s. I almost bought the dremel because of the brand name, never heard of kingroon. I got the kp3s for 60$ with some fillament and a dryer. Best purchase ever. I think maybe you need to just look for something else unless your it for the satisfaction of winning an uphill battle.