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Dremel has just launched its first-ever 3D printer for home and business use that will allow users to create a wide range of products in 3D using plastic that is heated and formed by the printer. The company is already well-known for its Dremel rotary tools, electric saws and other motorized hand tools.
The new 3D printers, called the Dremel 3D Idea Builder, will retail for $999 and are now available for preorders through Homedepot.com and Amazon.com, according to an announcement by Dremel. The devices will also be available in Home Depot stores in early November.
“Dremel 3D will enable people to take 3D printing to new levels, from imaginative projects for the home, to inventive projects that may impact the world,” John Kavanagh, president of Racine, Wisc.-based Dremel, said in a statement. “Makers have been using Dremel tools to make three-dimensional creations with cutting tools for generations. Today, makers are using Dremel tools to fine-tune and fix their 3D printed creations and have been asking us to introduce a 3D printer. We’re proud to offer them the Idea Builder, and we can’t wait to watch them build what’s next.”
Dremel’s 3D printer includes on-board software and a color touch-screen so that users can create a design and then see it in preview form on-screen before producing it with the printer, according to Dremel. The new printer includes a preinstalled extruder that heats and forms the plastic used to produce items in the printer. The plastic is available in a range of 10 colors so that users can build items in different colors, according to the company. The plastics are plant-based and are recyclable.
The printer also includes special Autodesk 123D apps software and free online design tools to help users with their 3D creations and to inspire new ideas for products they can print out and build using the devices, according to Dremel. The special printer is fully enclosed to reduce operational noise and to protect hot objects as they are being printed and built by the printer. A cooling fan is also built in to help prevent objects from warping as they are being produced. Consumers will be able to choose from print-ready models, simple adjustable templates, such as a jewelry customizer, or they can choose to start their design from scratch using the Autodesk application.
The printer’s 100-micron resolution allows for fine-printing detail in the items that are produced, according to Dremel.
“This is just the beginning for us,” Kavanagh said in his statement. “The Dremel 3D model portfolio will continue to grow with the help of Autodesk 123D apps and the models we will curate from our community. Additionally, we’ll be offering an increased number of customizers on our site that will further empower people to develop and personalize projects of their own.”
Dremel invented the high-speed rotary tool in 1934 and now offers a full line of electric hand tools. Dremel is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Robert Bosch Tool Corp. in Mount Prospect, Ill.
The 3D printing market has been expanding in 2014 as printer prices drop and more uses for the devices as imagined, according to an April eWEEK report from the Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo in New York City.
In December 2013, research firm IDC reported that 3D printing is expected to see a tenfold revenue and growth spurt by 2017, according to another eWEEK story.