Your new 3D printer has arrived and I bet you’re excited to print something. I know I was when I got mine. Following the advice of Reddit, I printed a Benchy, but that might not have been the right move (print failed). To explain why and help you get started, here are my tips on getting started with your 3D printer, including recommendations for the first few things you might consider printing.
If you haven’t bought a 3D printer yet, check out my 3D printer buying guide, comparing BambuLabs, Creality and Prusa 3D printers.
Follow your 3D printer’s set up instructions
Don’t be in too much of a rush to get your first print out of the machine. Setting up the machine requires you to follow the steps to remove packaging and transport screws. You’ll also need to calibrate the machine and load the filament.
Be careful handling your filament
Filament spools are tightly wound. You should make sure you don’t let go of the end when you’re loading your printer. If you do, you may lose the tension and increase the risk of knotting on the filament roll. I had this problem with my first roll, and it sucks. The filament would knot and cause prints to fail because the printer can’t pull the filament it needs. My knotted roll made an ominous clicking sound as the printer pulled on the filament.
Install a 3D printing slicer
Get yourself a slicer. If you’re not sure what it is, it’s an app you need to convert 3D designs into code that your printer can understand. I limited my choice between three slicers: PrusaSlicer, Bambu Studio and OrcaSlicer. They are all pretty similar. Bambu Studio is a fork of Prusa Slicer. Orca slicer is a fork of Bambu Studio. I chose Bambu Studio as I expected it to be most compatible with my BambuLabs P1P 3D printer. Watch some videos online about how to download a model, slice of and print it.
Your first few 3D prints
If you get a BambuLabs 3D printer, it will have an SD card containing some models. There are a few models you should print (in this order). I recommend you transfer the SD card files to your computer – or find the models online – and print via your slicer. I printed my first print from the SD card in the printer, accidentally adjusted some settings (bed heat) and ended up with a spaghetti print. You’ll use the slicer 99% of the time, you might as well get started by getting used to it.
- Bed scraper handle – this should be your first print. BambuLabs should have sent you a scraper blade and some screws. Print the handle and you’ve got a bed scraper. Use the included magnet and you can attach it to the printer so it’s always handy. There is a cover you can print for the scraper blade, but I never use it. Recommend you skip the cover unless you have children or pets at home. Note: Avoid touching the print bed with your fingers. Transferring oils from your fingers to the print bed will affect print adhesion.
- 3D Benchy – I mentioned earlier that I wish I hadn’t printed the Benchy first. That’s because I didn’t have a bed scraper to remove it from the print bed with! Now you have a scraper, you can easily remove your Benchy and future prints from the print bed. It’s optional, but I think you should print a Benchy! A lot of folks assess printer speed by looking at how long it takes to print a Benchy. By printing yours, you’ll get an idea of how long your printer takes to print and what kind of quality it produces.
- Filament clips – to avoid knotting, you don’t want to let go of the end of your filament. Print some filament clips to keep the tension on your roll. If you have a BambuLabs Automatic Material System (AMS) and all of your filament rolls fit inside it (max 4) then you won’t need any clips. I suggest you print 5 anyway, they’ll be handy for when you inevitably buy and store more than 4 filament rolls.
If you have an AMS you should print these things too. I’ll explain more about why they’re necessary a bit later in this post.
- AMS: Cardboard spool covers – to keep costs low, some filament comes on a cardboard spool. If you have an AMS, you’ll need some spool covers to prevent cardboard dust ending up in your AMS mechanism.
- AMS: Desiccant holders – the AMS comes with space for desiccant, but the two sections are not enough to remove humidity, in my opinion. I printed these desiccant holders and filled them up with desiccant beads (you may want to print a funnel). My humidity dropped from level 5 to level 1 overnight.
Think about filament storage…and consider buying an AMS, if you haven’t already
Note: This post is not sponsored by BambuLabs. I’m writing about the AMS because it solved several problems for me and made 3D printing easier. I wish I had bought the AMS when I bought my printer, it would have been cheaper to buy them together and would have improved my experience from the beginning. That said, it’s totally fine to add the AMS later, once you know you like 3D printing and are printing often enough to be annoyed by the issues I mention below.
Filament needs to be carefully handled. Not only do you need to be careful with maintaining tension, you also need to be mindful of humidity when storing your rolls.
I started out with one roll which lived on the back of the printer and that worked well for some time. Once I bought a few more rolls, I started to run into issues.
- Switching filament – is a pain, especially if you want to print in multiple colours. I like hitting print and letting the printer do its thing while I do something else. Even if you print in one colour and switch the filament rolls once per print, it’s still a pain. Changing rolls multiple times per print is worse.
- Humidity & storage – you need to store the unused roll somewhere. Where and how you store it matters because humidity can make your filament brittle and useless. Ideally, you’d store the filament and some desiccant in an airtight container, to maintain its condition.
- Using the full roll of filament – you have to make sure you have enough filament for the full print or it fails. It’s hard to judge this when you start a print, so you’ll tend to swap for a new filament roll, just to be sure. This leads to wastage. Lots of rolls with a small bit of filament left on them.
The BambuLabs AMS (automatic material system) solves all of these problems.
- Easy switching – the AMS lets you store 4 filament rolls and switches automatically between them mid-print. Even if you aren’t printing multi-colour, just choosing which of the 4 rolls you want at time of print is a much better experience than loading and unloading filament manually.
- Humidity & storage – as mentioned, you can store up to 4 filament rolls in the AMS, so you’re always ready to print. You can also add desiccant to absorb humidity and keep your filament in a good state for longer. The AMS has a handy humidity sensor, which lets you know when it’s time to change the desiccant, to protect your filament. See the section above for my recommended desiccant holder prints.
- Using the full roll of filament – you can load two rolls of the same filament colour and the AMS will automatically switch from one to the other, letting you finish a full filament roll without having half finished prints, or needing to print small objects just to use up the remaining filament.
Alternatives to the AMS
If you don’t want to get an AMS your other options for storing your filament are cereal boxes or zip lock bags.
With both you should put the filament into the container along with some desiccant to ensure it stays dry. It’s a much cheaper solution, but does add some amount of hassle and doesn’t solve problems 2 and 3 above.
What filament should you order?
I found the Bambu filament to be a little pricey and often out of stock. print functional things for use around the house, so I order white or black PET-G filament from Amazon. Again, storage is an important consideration, so I don’t stock a lot of filament or colours. My AMS is usually loaded with two white rolls and two black rolls, at any given time.
PET-G vs PLA
Bambu PLA, which came with the printer, is the only PLA I’ve tried. It prints well. Although, prints I’ve inserted into soil (to water plants) or left by windows have become brittle and broken.
PET-G is also susceptible to becoming brittle after exposure to UV, but in my experience this is less frequent than with PLA.
I exclusively print in PET-G. I don’t have an enclosure or suitable ventilation, so I don’t print other materials, like ABS.
What next?
If you made it to the end of this post, I hope you feel a little more comfortable with your 3D printer. If you find this post useful or have any feedback, please email me and let me know. Please consider subscribing below, so I can let you know when I post next.
Once you’ve finished your first few 3D prints, send me picture via email or tag me on social media. I’m always looking for interesting / useful things to print.
Happy printing!
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