Fresh Prints

I have now clocked up about 48 hours of printing on my Bambu Lab A1. I just set it going when I decide to make something. I used up my first reel of black PLA filament and am onto the red one now. I know people have big collections of colours and materials, but I have yet to build up mine. I am finding various useful items to produce.

A while back I bought this cup holder from Ikea to reduce the chances of spilling drinks near the computers. The problem was that it is too deep for my mugs as the slot for a handle does not go down far enough. Someone had designed an insert to remedy that. When it was printing I thought it might get too tall, so I abandoned the print and it is about right. I am thinking of doing my own variant of this with a big hole in the middle so that a glass can sit lower. I need to play with the design software, but I could use this model as a basis. I could probably print a whole new cup holder if I wanted to.

I have mentioned that 3D printers produce some waste, known as poop, when they calibrate the nozzle or if you are changing filament. I saw this model for some egg shakers that use poop to make the noise. I have produced a few to give to friends and they work well.

There are literally hundreds of designs for headphone hangers, stands and hooks. This one looked like it would fit the speaker shelf on my desk. The design included a screw, but it fits snugly without it.

I do have a lot of musical instruments and I need places to put them. I am currently printing off these to hang some of my ukuleles. I have one that was signed by lots of people at a community event. I already have a few guitars on the wall and may replace one of those hooks that is not as secure as I would like.

Upgrade Paths

Although I have only had my printer for a few weeks I am already considering. When I bought mine I had the option of paying a little more to get the add-on that allows for multi-colour prints. I thought I would see how I did without it even though there was a good discount for the combo pack.

At that time the only option for my printer was the AMS Lite (AMS is Automatic Material System) that has four open reels. I have now learnt that you have to be careful with some types of filament as they will absorb moisture from the air and this affects the print quality. You can get special drying machines and people store the reels with the moisture absorbing granules you find in a lot of packaging. Bambu Lab just announced a software update so that I could use some of their other AMS units that have a sealed box. One even includes the ability to dry the filament. It seems you can attach several of these so I could print in up to sixteen colours! I am not sure I would really need that and it would all take up a lot of space.

You can see that I do not have too much space on my desk. I may need to look at rearranging things if I get more gear.

Bambu Labs also announced a new model called the H2S. It can print the same size as mine, but has an enclosed chamber that allows use of other materials. That would be a bigger upgrade for me and I have to decide what I want to invest in this hobby.

This technology is evolving fast and has got a lot cheaper in the last few years as well as being easier. I am very happy with my printer so far and will wait a while before I upgrade.