3d printer gets here tomorrow.

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Dry your filament! ...keep it dry too.

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Excellent. Thank you. Living in a desert state, I'm not overly worried (the humidity in our house runs around 30% all year). But that's something I would not have thought of.

TinkerCad and Blender are what he uses at school.

I already have a few pairs of calipers in my toolbox..

THX!!

I'm able to make some functional models using ChatGPT and OpenSCAD. I describe what I'm trying to make, provide caliper measurements, and if the geometry isn't too complex it can usually get close. Even when it gets it not close, I just take a snippet (jpg) of the shape the code generated so it can reassess and recode. It works surprisingly well.

I hear FreeCAD has some a long way and is a legitimate substitute for Fusion 360.

Here's one: Don't touch the build plate. If you touch have to touch the build plate, clean it before printing. Your hands are greasy and that can cause adhesion issues where your print does not stick to the build plate.

I use 90% IPA and a paper towel. Do it right before the print, It evaps quick and you're good to go. Some people will be along shortly to say don't use IPA and to use soap and water only and dry it in your dish rack, but those people are full of shite.

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Dry your filament! ...keep it dry too

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Have had 3d printers for 5 years plus. Never once did this. Ever. Prints fine.

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Some build plates will absolutely get destroyed by PETG if you don't use glue stick.

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Why would you print PETG on a build plate not designed for it? Especially when the most common/popular build plates (and the one that ships with the OPs printer), PEI coated, prints amazingly with PETG and no glue. Like, you would have to go out of your way to buy a non-compatible PETG build plate to print PETG on.

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This works for PLA, but if you're using PETG or other polymers you probably want to use a glue stick.

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I'm similar to OP. I got my son a A1 mini a month back. I've found when using the PETG on the A1 mini, I have to slow it down.

OP, if you're like me, you will use this more than your son I knew frickall about 3d printing before he asked for one for his birthday, but man, that thing is a life changer. I'm already looking at a bigger one for myself.

For example, I know you're a photographer. I have a Canon R50 I use for my throw-around camera, but I've always disliked how small the grip is. The 3d printer solved that for me. Someone had a file for a larger grip. Boom. Done.

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Glue stick is a crutch for not dialing in your settings.

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Yeah. My settings might be fine, but it's too easy and cheap to use a glue stick. It provides enough stick 'em but allows for release every time. The only additional step is to wash the glue off if it even matters. I keep a plate for PLA that I only use IPA on to keep it clean and then I keep a plate for PETG that I use a glue stick on. Works for me.

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So, literally, this thing has be going non stop since we got it.

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Mine hit 1000 hours in less than 2 months. It ran almost non-stop. I would figure out what plates to run to have it running almost all night, and then running all day while I was at work.

I will try to remember to circle back to this tomorrow for some tips, especially about buying filament and brands.

The most difficult print I have done was the one below. It took me three tries on the main helmet to get a good one. This one is the first one, and you can clearly see the issue with the L, among other smaller issues. The purge tower kept getting knocked down and I had to slow the movements down a lot which sucked because the print took over 60 hours as a result. I don't seem to have a picture of the best one that I gave to the friend I was doing it for. For some reason, that print is no longer available on Makerworld, glad I did it when I did. It did produce a TON of poop because of all the color changes doing the tiger.

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