Practical 3D printing, one project at a time
I share the prints, ideas, and experiments that work in real homes. From small gifts to useful everyday tools, this is my workshop log.
What I am printing right now
Big news on the bench this week: there is a second printer in the workshop. The Anycubic Kobra X arrived after a 10% Amazon discount dropped it to £234 — a price that was impossible to argue with. It is set up, calibrated, and already pulling its weight. The first test prints have been clean, it is noticeably quieter than the A1, and the touchscreen and app integration are better than expected. A full head-to-head comparison with the Bambu A1 is coming — but first impressions are very strong.
Having two printers on the desk has already paid off. The Yoshi figure — printed as a follow-up to the Mario and Luigi figures that went down so well with my godson — ran colour jobs on both machines simultaneously, cutting the overall build time considerably. Yoshi is now on the shelf completing the Super Mario set. The questions about what comes next in the series have already started.
The Grinch is also progressing. ENIQUE3D’s Not-So-XL build is a substantial multi-day project and it is still in progress — parts are accumulating and assembly is being planned. It will be worth it. These seasonal builds always are.
On the radar this week: the Anycubic Kobra 4 has been announced, sitting in a confusing position alongside the Kobra X with the older ACE 2 Pro external system rather than the integrated ACE Gen 2 architecture. The post is up if you want to dig into why that is an odd move. Also watching the Bambu Lab vs OrcaSlicer situation closely — the ecosystem closure concerns are real and worth understanding if you are a Bambu user.
Head to the Projects section for the full build logs, settings, and honest notes on what worked and what did not.
What’s New & Worth Knowing
Printers, tools, and products worth knowing about. Honest editorial from an experienced hobbyist — covering new releases, considered purchases, and anything on the 3D printing radar worth your attention.
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The A2L Has Arrived: First Impressions From Two Weeks In
The A2L is on the desk. After two posts working through the announcement — the initial underwhelmed reaction and the deeper specs and strategy analysis — and after the Kobra X experiment ended in a return, I have placed the order and the machine has been running for two weeks now. This post covers why…
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Self-Hosted Tools That Make 3D Printing Better — My Take
How-To Geek published a piece this week — 5 self-hosted 3D printing tools you should download today by Tim Brookes — that I read nodding along rather more enthusiastically than usual. Not because the tools are new, but because reading a list of five things that would make my workflow better while knowing I have…
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Vortek Nozzles: What They Are, How They Work, and Why They Change the Multi-Colour Calculation
The Vortek system is Bambu Lab’s answer to a question the 3D printing community has been asking for years: why does switching between colours require flooding the hotend with waste filament every single time? Every other approach to this problem has involved either tolerating the waste, using a separate nozzle for each material, or building…
Recent prints from the workshop
A mix of functional home items, small gifts, and experiments. All printed on the A1 unless noted.
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A 3D-Printed Bambu Lab Status Display Using a £10 Touchscreen — Where Two Hobbies Collide
This post is directly inspired by a piece published on the Adafruit blog on July 9th 2026, which featured the CYD Desk Buddy project by MakerWorld designer annaglyph. Full credit to Adafruit and annaglyph for the original — the links to both are at the bottom and I encourage anyone interested to visit both. What…
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Eight Colours on the A1: Why I Bought Two BCMUs and What I’ve Found So Far (Part 1)
This is part one of what will be an ongoing multi-part series. I have just bought two BCMU units, the A1 has detected both of them as AMS A and AMS B, and things look very promising — but I am not far enough into the setup to write the definitive guide yet. What I…
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Building the Filament Drybox for the Eight-Colour BCMU A1 Project
Two BMCU units arrived this week and the printer reshuffle they are triggering is bigger than I expected when I first mentioned trying them. The plan, now firmed up: the new A2L keeps the existing AMS Lite for its multi-colour duties, and the A1 becomes the dedicated eight-colour machine, running two BMCU units side by…
Materials I use every day
I print mostly in PLA and PETG. TPU when needed, and resin only when the job requires very fine detail. These notes come from practical use and real results, not datasheet theory.
PLA
Reliable, versatile, and ideal for most home prints. Easy to dial in and great for gifts.
PETG
Tougher and more temperature resistant. Useful for mechanical parts.
TPU
Flexible and fun. Ideal for bumpers, grips, and soft components.
Guides and workflow notes
Short walkthroughs based on real use. Settings that work, slicer approaches that help, and fixes that save time.
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Is PLA Food Safe? The Answer Is More Complicated Than You Think
If you search “is PLA food safe” you will find two camps. One says yes — PLA comes from corn and sugarcane, it is used in medical implants, the FDA recognises it. The other says absolutely not — bacteria, layer lines, chemical leaching, lead from the nozzle. Both camps are telling the truth, but neither…
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3D Printer Fumes at Home: What the Research Actually Says
There is a version of this post that opens with “don’t panic, PLA is basically harmless.” There is another version that opens with EPA warnings and peer-reviewed studies on carcinogens. Neither is quite right, and the truth sits in the space between them — which is where most genuinely useful safety information lives. The research…
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Is Cheap PLA Actually Worth It?
The temptation is real. You are browsing Amazon for filament, the eSUN spool you usually buy is £13.99, and right below it is a brand you have never heard of offering a four-pack at £7 per kilogram with four-star reviews and a description that says “premium PLA” in bold. The question of whether to click…
About 3DBite
I started 3D printing more than fifteen years ago with a kit that needed constant tuning. Modern printers like the A1 make things far easier, but the engineering mindset still helps. 3DBite is where I share the projects, the materials, and the workflow that have worked for me.