My choice of printer was a BambuLab A1 Mini. It is one of the smallest but also one of the most inexpensive 3D printers on the market (BambuLab have a sale on until 15th July, reducing the price even further). The pricing made it affordable but what won me round was the general consensus that it was a device in the “it just works” category. With some printers, the hobby seems to be mainly about building them and trying to get them to work but the A1 Mini has lived up to its billing and I’ve been able to concentrate on designing and printing rather than having to spend a lot of time on the mechanics of the printer.

Shortly after I bought it, there was some controversy around BambuLab as they imposed limitations on the slicer software that could be used with their devices. As a long-term Open Source advocate, this pained me a little but it still all works, including the option to check in on longer running prints from my phone when I am out and about, and it still remains as the option I would advocate (with the caveat that I haven’t had the chance to compare with similar competitors).

One of the benefits of the device is that it is small although the design needs you need to leave a certain amount of space, particularly at the front and back of the printer. You don’t gain a lot of space back compared to the smaller end of the market for enclosed printers and it also means there are some materials (eg. ABS) which it is recommend you don’t print (fumes and heat requirements). The small size means that the touchscreen is also on the small size, although I have found it responsive and still easy to use. If I was wanting to cover my walls and drawers with 3D printed storage solutions a larger build volume would be ideal (18 cubic centimetres means, for example, a maximum 4×4 gridfinity base plate) but I can live with that and most of my printing easily fits within the space.

So, although I haven’t got wide-ranging experience, I can say that the A1 Mini has proved a good starting point.