The Genesis: My Entry into 3D Printing

J. mentioned that he was quite surprised I didn't have a 3D printer yet, but it's probably better that way because otherwise I'd lose myself in endless rabbit holes. Well, he was probably right, because as soon as I had set up my Bambu Lab P1S printer, I was already deep into the world of 3D printing, which has been taking up weeks of my life now. It feels like the printer runs more than I sleep, and that's really no joke.

My Experiences So Far

From the beginning, I was excited about the possibilities the 3D printer offers me. However, I also quickly realized that it's not always as easy as it seems at first glance and that a 3D printer is not the jack-of-all-trades either. It's definitely not an everyday savior, but for special use cases it's really brilliant and entertaining. I won't list everything I've printed so far, but the funniest thing by far was a nose flute.

Easy Printing of Symbols and 2D Logos

I think it's great that I can now easily print logos and symbols in 3D. For example, I created my blog's logo as a 3D model. I had no reason to print it, but it just looked cool. Such small projects are just fun and are a great way to test the printer's capabilities. For work, however, I converted the logo for our "Sinnstifterorte" into an .svg file and then converted it into a 3D model to print it as a deposit token. Looks great and is really practical.

Here's a brief outline of my process:

1. Convert the logo into a vector graphic (SVG). In my case, I only had a simple jpg image, so I first converted it to black and white in Gimp and then exported it as SVG in Inkscape.

2. Then I simply imported the SVG into Bambu Studio and set the height of the logo to 2.3mm to make it a flat object, and scaled the width and length to 23.25mm to give it the right size for a deposit token.

3. Finally, I copied the model 108 times, positioned it on the print bed and started the print. After about 3 hours, the 108 deposit tokens were finished printing and look great. There were some faulty prints, but I could simply sort them out. Since the adhesion of PLA on the print bed of the Bambu Lab P1S is very poor, I used PETG filament, which adheres great and the prints also look very good.

4. The deposit tokens for our "Sinnstifterorte" are ready! Now I'm curious what my boss will say about the self-printed merchandise.

Conclusion

Has the 3D printer been worth it for me? That will probably become clear in time, but even if not everything works out right away, it's incredibly fun to turn your own ideas into reality and discover the possibilities of 3D printing. I'm curious which projects I'll realize in the future and how my skills in 3D printing will develop. One thing is certain: It never gets boring with a 3D printer at home, as long as the filament lasts!