What I learned from my first few months with a Bambu Lab A1 3D printer, part 1

For a couple of years now, I've been trying to find an excuse to buy a decent 3D printer. Friends and fellow Ars staffers who had them would gush about them at every opportunity, talking about how useful they can be and how much can be printed once you get used to the idea of being able to create real, tangible objects with a little time and a few bucks' worth of plastic filament. But I could never quite imagine myself using one consistently enough to buy one. Then, this past Christmas, my wife forced the issue by getting me a Bambu Lab A1 as a present. Since then, I've been tinkering with the thing nearly daily, learning more about what I've gotten myself into and continuing to find fun and useful things to print. I've gathered a bunch of thoughts about my learning process here, not because I think I'm breaking new ground but to serve as a blueprint for anyone who has been on the fence about Getting Into 3D Printing. "Hyperfixating on new hobbies" is one of my go-to coping mechanis ... Read full article.