Last year a close friend infected me with the 3D printing virus. I’ve been immune for over a decade. I didn’t even consider getting one until he asked me if I wanted his Ender 3 S1 pro. He had moved on to a BambuLab X1 Carbon.

Creality, the company behind the popular Ender 3 series, has played a major role in making 3D printing affordable and accessible to a wider audience, especially those on tighter budgets. I was hooked almost instantly, despite some frustrating printing experiences later on. The Ender 3 is known for requiring regular maintenance, and 3D printing itself can be a demanding and unforgiving. However, as soon as I realised 3D printing turned into a permanent affliction, I began searching for an affordable next-generation printer.

BambuLab’s A1 Mini

BambuLab’s entry-level models, the A1 and the A1 Mini (2024), are very affordable high quality machines. I was immediately smitten with the A1 Mini. This cute little machine is a true powerhouse. It features automatic bed leveling with nozzle probing, X and Y axis resonance calibration, pressure advance calibration, and even belt tension monitoring. Filament loading and unloading are fully automated with a single touch, and the printer’s active flow rate compensation ensures smooth, accurate extrusion throughout each print. These features let you enjoy reliable results, especially if you’re not interested in the technical side of 3D printers.

The main difference between the A1 and the A1 Mini is the size of their print volume. The A1 has 256 x 256 x 256 mm, the A1 Mini 180 x 180 x 180 mm. This may sound a bit small, but when I went through my previous Ender 3 projects, I found that most of them would fit on the smaller A1 Mini build plate. So I got myself the A1 Mini, and the AMS multi color system.

Plasticity

In addition to a good printer, you need modeling software if you want to print your own designs. I haven’t modeled in ages though, so I had no clue where the software was at. The last software I used was 3DStudioMax. I created scenes for large inkjet prints with it. I also used it as a professional level designer next to the the Unreal Engine.

Checking out the latest CAD apps, I came across Plasticity. This program is marketed as “CAD for artists” and I must say, as an artist, I feel quite comfortable working in Plasticity. There are a few key differences to other CAD solutions. Most CAD and modelling applications use a modeling (or modifier) history feature that allows you to retrace your steps and change aspects on a model that will be propagated through the entire sequence. Plasticity does not have this. It does allows you to revert some aspects on models like bevels or certain boolean operations. But its workflow is mainly destructive. This means that once you apply a change to the model, it will be permanently applied. This sounds like a major drawback, but to me it isn’t actually. Once you get used to destructive modeling, it feels quite natural, and helps making quick and bold decisions even.

I found Plasticity very intuitive to work with after having learned the basics. It’s interface is very lean and focused. I use very simple shapes in most of my work and mainly do hard surface modelling anyway. Granted, I think Plasticity is not perfect for 3D printing yet, but it is catching up quite nicely.

The Chess Set

The first project I started on the A1Mini was creating a chess set based on a French design from the 18th century. This project turned out to have the perfect learning curve. The modeling ranges from revolving a simple spline curve create a solid pawn, to modeling a horse’s head in Blender in order to create a knight.

The delicacy of the models need a near perfect execution. I’ve been able to almost completely avoid print support by adjusting the silhoettes and creating assembly parts. I’ve also started using matte PLA for this build. The initial model had an ugly seam on the back of each part. By setting the seam to random, each layer has a small irregularity where the printer starts and stops. The matt quality helps to hide these small seams. I really like the feel and almost chalk like look of matte PLA. It’s kind of chique and elegant for a plastic.

One thing I realised is how far these machines have evolved quality wise, but also how slow the 3D printing process still is. It’s a labor of love. Printing the entire set of pieces excluding the board takes roughly 19 hours back to back.

Makerlab

The files and print profile will be published on BambuLab’s MakerLab later on. It’s going to be my first published model.

I am also eager to find out if there’s any interest in the physical set for people who don’t print themselves. Let me know if you would be interested in seing this set in my shop.

Chees, Ingmar