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 Industry Is Quietly Moving Toward Tool Changers — And It Matters
The shift is quiet because it has not announced itself dramatically. There has been no single product launch, no single review, no single moment where everyone agreed the paradigm changed. Instead there has been a gradual accumulation of signals: the Snapmaker U1’s record-breaking Kickstarter, the InfiMech MX Pro’s eight-toolhead announcement, the Elegoo CANVAS at $55,…
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Bambu Lab A2L: Bigger Bed, Vinyl Cutter, and the Dual Nozzle That Never Came
Today is June 1st. The A2L has been announced. I am underwhelmed. That is not the reaction I wanted to have — I have been watching this announcement build for days, wrote a whole post about what I hoped it would be, and was genuinely excited going into 4 PM CEST. The larger build volume…
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Elegoo CANVAS: The $55 Multi-Colour System That Has Everyone Talking
Fifty-five dollars. That is the price Elegoo has put on multi-colour 3D printing capability for Centauri Carbon owners, and the reaction from the community has been exactly what you would expect from a price that is one fifth of the closest competitor. A combination of excitement, scepticism, disbelief, and a large number of pre-orders placed…
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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Toy Soldier Flexi Mini: A Small Print With a Big Colour Change Count
Sometimes a print chooses itself. With two printers now running side by side — the Bambu A1 and the Anycubic Kobra X — the obvious next project was to find a model that would let me put both through their paces on the same job and get meaningful comparative data. The Christmas Toy Soldier Flexi…
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Yoshi: Completing the Super Mario Set
The Mario and Luigi figures went on my godson’s shelf in the earlier post and they have stayed there ever since. Which is both the best possible outcome and, as it turns out, the beginning of a list. Within a week of those figures being delivered, the question arrived: could I print a Yoshi? He…
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ENIQUE3D Not-So-XL Grinch: A Big Build for a Christmas-Obsessed Household
If you have read the how to convince your spouse you need another 3D printer post, you will understand exactly why this project exists. My spouse is Christmas-obsessed. Not casually festive — properly, thoroughly, all-in Christmas-obsessed. The decorations come out early, they go up properly, and anything that adds to the seasonal atmosphere is welcomed…
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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Jailbreaking Your Bambu Lab Printer: What It Is, How It Works, and Whether You Should Bother
The Bambu Lab vs OrcaSlicer situation — the legal threats, the AGPLv3 investigation, the GamersNexus post, the SFC involvement — has pushed a conversation that was previously a niche technical interest into the mainstream of Bambu user discussion. That conversation is: can you take back control of your Bambu printer from Bambu’s firmware, and if…
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What ‘No Sparse Layers’ Really Does — and Why You Should Be Using It
The prime tower is one of those features that most multi-colour FDM users accept without much scrutiny. It is there by default, it grows alongside your model, and when the print finishes you peel it off and put it in the bin. What most people do not examine is a specific question: why does the…
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Where It All Started: Building My First 3D Printer From Scratch
Everything on this site — the A1, the Kobra X, the 40-plus spools, the Grinch accumulating parts on the print bed, the posts about purge waste and filament dryers and build plates — starts from a box of threaded rods and a bag of nuts and bolts. My first 3D printer was a RepRap. I…
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.