The Idea Builder 1.0 from Dremel was a pretty stellar product when it was first released because it worked and it worked well out of the box. For may, myself included this was our first time using a 3D printer. The Idea Builder 1.0 was the first 3D printer produced by Dremel, and as such it certainly had its problems and annoyances. Dremel listened to the feedback from their customers, in fact at one point I logged a support ticket on their site and later that night I had a conference call with one of their engineers to discuss a clogging issue with the print head and other gripes and Dremel appears to have compiled the feedback from not only me but other Idea Builder 1.0 owners into what they are now calling the next generation of Idea Builders, the 2.0

As an owner of the 1.0 and now the 2.0 I wanted to review the differences in these products and share my thoughts on them.

First off the shipping of the 2.0 is similar to the 1.0, it comes very well packed inside an outer carton so you can have this shipped from Amazon to your home or office and no one will be the wiser what is inside. Simply remove the inner carton and you have the official Dremel box with full artwork. I will say the 1.0 did feature a nifty inner packing where when you removed the lid of the box the sides gave way and it was a display within the packaging which I liked, the 2.0 went for a simpler "box" approach which works just as well, just not as fancy.

The printer is nestled between 2 cardboard sleeves, simply open the top of the box, remove the 2 plastic envelopes which hold power cord, usb cable, build platform, build tape, directions,a usb drive, plastic "removal tool" (a.k.a putty knife.), etc and then lift out the top cardboard sleeve. You then pick the printer up, it is wrapped in plastic, take the bag off of the printer and you'll have more packaging to remove. Peel away the blue tape and pull off the plastic covers from the acrylic top and doors, don't forget the tape on the left side holding the filament storage shut. Once done open the front door and gently raise the build platform with your hands and then the last 2 cardboard inserts pop right out, the last insert you'll remove holds the spool of filament. Overall packaging is very minimal but very secure.

The printer has had some drastic changes from the 1.0. For instance the old printer had a lid that was Dremel blue in color and it lifted right off. The new lid is attached with hinges and is clear acrylic so you can see right into the printer, a pretty cool addition to ensure your printer remains protected yet visible. One thing I like is the hinges are not cheap, the lid will actually stay in an open position at almost any angle so it won't slam shut, a nice touch. It's also thick so it doesn't flex when you lift up on one side.

The front door also saw an improvement and is MUCH larger than the 1.0 door. It also feels stronger in build quality and doesn't flex at all when opened. There is a magnetic closure on the right hand side, part of this magnetic closure is a sensor that tells the printer if the door is open or not, if it is open the printer will still function but it throws a warning message on the little control panel. In fact when you hook the printer up to your online dremel account the website will give you near realtime feedback when you try to send a print to it reminding you the door is open.

One thing that I hated about the 1.0 was the filament path, on my printer the screw always comes loose and the filament channel would fall off causing the filament to jam or break, I would then  have to reattach it and then run the filament and feed it into the head again. The new 2.0 does away with that model and uses a simple clear sleeve up the left side of the printer, then the filament goes from that right into the print head. Very easy, no points of failure to fall of or break causing jams.

Now one significant thing Dremel did differently on the 2.0 is completely revamped the spool loading. In the old version you put the spool on a little plastic adapter inside the printer, for me this meant raising the build platform to the top, opening the door and trying to get the spool situated. Now this wasn't always easy but it worked. And while the original printers spool holder was build for Dremel spools fellow makers were able to upload a file where you could print a replacement spool holder that fit most 3rd party spools. On the 2.0 however that is no more. Spools are now loaded through a round cover on the left side of the printer, you turn the cover counter-clockwise just a little to unlock it and remove the door. Then feed the filament through the plastic tube and insert the spool onto the mount, put the door back on and finish threading the filament into the print head. Overall I like the design better but I am not sure if 3rd party filaments will fit this new spool holder, and since it is a massive upgrade, replacing the filament holder won't be easy, but replacing the spool will be. They do make external filament roll holders, you can also print your own that would sit next to the printer so there is a way around using the onboard holder if you needed/wanted to.

Calibration of the old 1.0 meant sliding a tiny piece of paper between the build platform and the print head until it was the right amount of tension. This annoyed me and I burned/melted more than one leveling sheet in the process. The new 2.0 has an upgraded self leveling system, sure you still need to adjust the dials but the printer auto calibrates and then tells you what to do, and when you are done. If it senses it isn't level it tells you what dial to turn and then as you turn it you hear a victory beep letting you know you succeeded, simply press the confirm button and the printer double checks your work and you are ready to print.

The new 2.0 also features one other major upgrade, WiFi and iOS and Android apps. I didn't test the iOS app but I did use the android and it is very slick. First off when you power the printer on it walks you through country selection and language followed by a EULA. Then it searches for your wifi and you use the touchscreen to enter your password. It's very intuitive. Once done you can download the app and register your printer, you do need to get a token from your printers settings menu to register the app but that is a few pushes on the touchscreen to generate that. After that you can link the account up to the dremel autocad app (all within the same app) and start printing directly from your phone, tablet or even computer wirelessly. I did test saving an STL file from thingverse and uploading it to my dremel account on their site and was able to to trigger a wireless print of an STL file I downloaded from another repository of files.

My initial print was a traffic barrel followed by some sunglasses that say "SUSE" (linux) across the frame, I logged into the app, sorted by print time and found a 12 minute print item and hit the print button. Nothing happened, I realized when I looked at the status in the app it told me my printer door was open, I shut it and about 20 seconds later printing started. The overall build quality was really good considering I just unboxed it, loaded the filament and calibrated it. I didn't tweak any other settings and am very happy with how the build went.  Later I printed a fully functional robot toy with hinges as well as a lighthouse that took over 6 hours to build with supports included, everything worked perfectly with no hiccups.

On board in the internal memory there are the typical Dremel standard prints, a frog, chess pieces, a t-rex head, etc if you want some quick prints without any external app. They produce excellent results, in fact all of the prints I downloaded from Dremels site directly have been very successful, they seem to vet those designs very carefully and ensure they are optimized for their printers. 3rd party download sites do work as well, but those are the ones where your mileage may vary.

Overall the enhancements on the 2.0 are really nice, I dare say "essential" and compared to the 1.0 this is my new go-to printer. The fact I can print wirelessly and have a build queue makes this so much more efficient. Mix that with the new acrylic doors, spool loading process and clog free print head (something 1.0 did NOT have) I really like these changes and it shows Dremel really listened to it's customers.

I will add, one feature missing from this is the heated print bed. The 1.0 didn't have it either but other printers of comparable cost DO feature this. I have not needed that yet and all my builds on the 1.0 turned out good, and so far the initial prints on the 2.0 are even better. There are aftermarket heated beds you can install if you want that, perhaps Dremel will add that and a second filament spool and extruder on the next version. But for now I would say the enhancements on 2.0 make this a worthy contender.
The Idea Builder 1. 0 from Dremel was a pretty stellar product when it was first released because it worked and it worked well out of the box. For may, myself included this was our first time using a 3D printer. The Idea Builder 1. 0 was the first 3D printer produced by Dremel, and as such it certainly had its problems and annoyances. Dremel listened to the feedback from their customers, in fact at one point I logged a support ticket on their site and later that night I had a conference call with one of their engineers to discuss a clogging issue with the print head and other gripes and Dremel appears to have compiled the feedback from not only me but other Idea Builder 1. 0 owners into what they are now calling the next generation of Idea Builders, the 2. 0

As an owner of the 1. 0 and now the 2. 0 I wanted to review the differences in these products and share my thoughts on them. First off the shipping of the 2. 0 is similar to the 1. 0, it comes very well packed inside an outer carton so you can have this shipped from Amazon to your home or office and no one will be the wiser what is inside. Simply remove the inner carton and you have the official Dremel box with full artwork. I will say the 1. 0 did feature a nifty inner packing where when you removed the lid of the box the sides gave way and it was a display within the packaging which I liked, the 2. 0 went for a simpler "box" approach which works just as well, just not as fancy. The printer is nestled between 2 cardboard sleeves, simply open the top of the box, remove the 2 plastic envelopes which hold power cord, usb cable, build platform, build tape, directions,a usb drive, plastic "removal tool" (a. k.a putty knife. ), etc and then lift out the top cardboard sleeve. You then pick the printer up, it is wrapped in plastic, take the bag off of the printer and you'll have more packaging to remove. Peel away the blue tape and pull off the plastic covers from the acrylic top and doors, don't forget the tape on the left side holding the filament storage shut. Once done open the front door and gently raise the build platform with your hands and then the last 2 cardboard inserts pop right out, the last insert you'll remove holds the spool of filament. Overall packaging is very minimal but very secure. The printer has had some drastic changes from the 1. 0. For instance the old printer had a lid that was Dremel blue in color and it lifted right off. The new lid is attached with hinges and is clear acrylic so you can see right into the printer, a pretty cool addition to ensure your printer remains protected yet visible. One thing I like is the hinges are not cheap, the lid will actually stay in an open position at almost any angle so it won't slam shut, a nice touch. It's also thick so it doesn't flex when you lift up on one side. The front door also saw an improvement and is MUCH larger than the 1. 0 door. It also feels stronger in build quality and doesn't flex at all when opened. There is a magnetic closure on the right hand side, part of this magnetic closure is a sensor that tells the printer if the door is open or not, if it is open the printer will still function but it throws a warning message on the little control panel. In fact when you hook the printer up to your online dremel account the website will give you near realtime feedback when you try to send a print to it reminding you the door is open. One thing that I hated about the 1. 0 was the filament path, on my printer the screw always comes loose and the filament channel would fall off causing the filament to jam or break, I would then  have to reattach it and then run the filament and feed it into the head again. The new 2. 0 does away with that model and uses a simple clear sleeve up the left side of the printer, then the filament goes from that right into the print head. Very easy, no points of failure to fall of or break causing jams. Now one significant thing Dremel did differently on the 2. 0 is completely revamped the spool loading. In the old version you put the spool on a little plastic adapter inside the printer, for me this meant raising the build platform to the top, opening the door and trying to get the spool situated. Now this wasn't always easy but it worked. And while the original printers spool holder was build for Dremel spools fellow makers were able to upload a file where you could print a replacement spool holder that fit most 3rd party spools. On the 2. 0 however that is no more. Spools are now loaded through a round cover on the left side of the printer, you turn the cover counter-clockwise just a little to unlock it and remove the door. Then feed the filament through the plastic tube and insert the spool onto the mount, put the door back on and finish threading the filament into the print head. Overall I like the design better but I am not sure if 3rd party filaments will fit this new spool holder, and since it is a massive upgrade, replacing the filament holder won't be easy, but replacing the spool will be. They do make external filament roll holders, you can also print your own that would sit next to the printer so there is a way around using the onboard holder if you needed/wanted to. Calibration of the old 1. 0 meant sliding a tiny piece of paper between the build platform and the print head until it was the right amount of tension. This annoyed me and I burned/melted more than one leveling sheet in the process. The new 2. 0 has an upgraded self leveling system, sure you still need to adjust the dials but the printer auto calibrates and then tells you what to do, and when you are done. If it senses it isn't level it tells you what dial to turn and then as you turn it you hear a victory beep letting you know you succeeded, simply press the confirm button and the printer double checks your work and you are ready to print. The new 2. 0 also features one other major upgrade, WiFi and iOS and Android apps. I didn't test the iOS app but I did use the android and it is very slick. First off when you power the printer on it walks you through country selection and language followed by a EULA. Then it searches for your wifi and you use the touchscreen to enter your password. It's very intuitive. Once done you can download the app and register your printer, you do need to get a token from your printers settings menu to register the app but that is a few pushes on the touchscreen to generate that. After that you can link the account up to the dremel autocad app (all within the same app) and start printing directly from your phone, tablet or even computer wirelessly. I did test saving an STL file from thingverse and uploading it to my dremel account on their site and was able to to trigger a wireless print of an STL file I downloaded from another repository of files. My initial print was a traffic barrel followed by some sunglasses that say "SUSE" (linux) across the frame, I logged into the app, sorted by print time and found a 12 minute print item and hit the print button. Nothing happened, I realized when I looked at the status in the app it told me my printer door was open, I shut it and about 20 seconds later printing started. The overall build quality was really good considering I just unboxed it, loaded the filament and calibrated it. I didn't tweak any other settings and am very happy with how the build went. Later I printed a fully functional robot toy with hinges as well as a lighthouse that took over 6 hours to build with supports included, everything worked perfectly with no hiccups. On board in the internal memory there are the typical Dremel standard prints, a frog, chess pieces, a t-rex head, etc if you want some quick prints without any external app. They produce excellent results, in fact all of the prints I downloaded from Dremels site directly have been very successful, they seem to vet those designs very carefully and ensure they are optimized for their printers. 3rd party download sites do work as well, but those are the ones where your mileage may vary. Overall the enhancements on the 2. 0 are really nice, I dare say "essential" and compared to the 1. 0 this is my new go-to printer. The fact I can print wirelessly and have a build queue makes this so much more efficient. Mix that with the new acrylic doors, spool loading process and clog free print head (something 1. 0 did NOT have) I really like these changes and it shows Dremel really listened to it's customers. I will add, one feature missing from this is the heated print bed. The 1. 0 didn't have it either but other printers of comparable cost DO feature this. I have not needed that yet and all my builds on the 1. 0 turned out good, and so far the initial prints on the 2. 0 are even better. There are aftermarket heated beds you can install if you want that, perhaps Dremel will add that and a second filament spool and extruder on the next version. But for now I would say the enhancements on 2. 0 make this a worthy contender.