3D printing: My new addiction

I bought a 3D printer a couple of weeks ago and I’m not ashamed to say that I have become a 3D printing addict ever since. The Bambu Lab P2S is my weapon of choice along with an AMS 2 Pro. It’s not constantly printing, but it’s not far off that and the experience has been mostly a brilliant one.

Why Now?

Until recently I had only seen 3D printers in my local Jaycar store and it had always felt, to me, that it was a hobbyist's pursuit with a lot of complexity. It was some of the YouTubers I watch who opened my eyes to the fact that it’s really not just an enthusiast tool anymore, it’s becoming more of an everyday tool.

I like to run my own home lab and self-hosted services and the hosts would very often print spare parts for their PC’s or their server racks, that kind of thing. After watching some 3D printing specific videos it became obvious that it would be something I would use and planned to get one.

Weapon of choice

Bambu Lab was the best choice for me, it has the benefit of being beginner friendly with a large ecosystem, plus their huge library of models means that I would never be short on something to print. The P2S had great reviews, paired with the AMS 2 Pro (Automatic Material System) allows you to print models with up to four colours - Bambu Lab always have a great discount for buying their printer with an AMS in a bundle, same applies for filament.

The setup experience of the printer out of the box was excellent. Packaged well, the documentation is excellent and they point you to online videos which demonstrate clearly how to unbox and set everything up. The Bambu Lab printers are cloud connected and after setting yourself up on your PC with Bambu Lab Studio and the Bambu Handy mobile app and creating an account, you’ll be printing within an hour, if not sooner.

I was lucky in that I cleared out a cupboard (closet) space recently and was able to put the printer in that space so I can keep it out of sight and keep it enclosed, it keeps the noise down when it’s working on something. There are windows in this room I can easily open for ventilation. For the PLA and PETG filaments I plan to use, it requires minimal venting, once you move to engineering grade filaments like ABS then you would need to be careful as they emit very bad fumes which are a health hazard waiting to happen.

There has been some controversy with Bambu Lab and the enthusiasts and consumer rights commentators are not happy with some practices. I don’t know enough to comment properly but if you are interested then you’ll find videos online about this. For me, it’s not really an issue as my first printer is for learning the craft of 3D printing, as long as I can print and the company is not spying on me and selling my data, then I’m fine with that. This may be a factor if, or when, I come to buy a second printer in the future.

Prints

I have been really impressed with the quality of the prints I have been getting. It's quite satisfying to see the end product but I warn you that watching the printer in action is mesmerising and you find yourself just watching it perform its magic.

I have been using mainly PLA filament from Bambu Labs and I have no complaints. I did buy a 3rd party Elegoo PETG filament as well and I had to dial in the settings for that to work well, which was quite simple after a quick Google search.

I’m not expecting to be someone who needs anything other than functional prints, I like and appreciate the models and toy-like things you can print, but I much prefer to use the printer for functional and practical items.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, if you were like me and considering whether you would use a 3D printer then the starting point should be Makerworld where you will find thousands, probably tens of thousands, of models you can print.

Search for models for the items you have in your house, if I search for Unifi Cloud Gateway (an internet router), I see lots of models made specifically for the device, rack mounts, enclosures, mounting options, stands, many many models. If you find, like me, that there are so many models available for the items you have in your house then you should consider one.

In addition, I have also had a little play with CAD programs which can be used to make your own 3D prints. If you are someone who has some experience of using more advanced tools like photoshop, then you would also have the capability to learn CAD via YouTube tutorials and potentially make your own models.

I am thoroughly impressed with 3D printing in 2026 and cannot wait to continue the journey.