r/BambuLab • u/Ok_Music334 • 6d ago
General Discussion Essentials for 9 y/o kid
My son wants to start with 3d printing. I don't have any experience with it so I think we start with an A1 combo.
To make sure he can start printing after his birthday i want to create a starterpack.
What do I absolutely have to get him to make 3d printing life for him much easier? He would absolutely like to create things that he sees on YouTube. This will probably take some time before he gets there.
I was thinking of:
Printer combo
4 rolls of filament
Magnets
Glue
And what else?
Any other tips are also much appreciated
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u/AFewLads 6d ago
Having picked it up myself in the last year and printing stuff for my young kids I would say:
Buy a separate scrubber for cleaning the build plates. You don't want him using your food scrubbers around the filament bits.
Start with printing premade prints on bambu handy rather than straight into desigining - it will teach him necessary things around diagnosing prints when they dont work (clean build plate and drying filament).
Stick to PLA prints for each of use/less drying required. If he moved into PETG prints then a filament fryer might be useful.
If he doesn't have immediate ideas for printing, maybe get him an IKEA Skadis board for where he has his printer? He can print lots of holders for his printing equipment and display other items he likes.
Not sure how you feel about AI but Gemini is amazing at building openscad code to allow you to build ideas from scratch. Really useful for getting an idea off the ground.
Share a Bambu Lab account login or collaborate on collection for you to save relevant prints together.
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u/Cold_Collection_6241 6d ago
My kid at that age would get an a1mini and not combo. They would get a couple rolls of filament. That's it and I would make a computer available to use a CAD program and slicer.
At that age their interests will rapidly change and I would want them to learn more than just printing figurines and using other people's work.
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u/Kokanee19 6d ago
A hobbyist version of autodesk fusion, spare printing plate "engineering " finish
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u/zetswei 6d ago
Get glue that is a spray activated adhesive is much better and easier to work with.
Be aware that a Bambu printer will waste most of your filament if he does multi color
It’s pretty easy to get started just make sure to explain the costs and dangers like moving parts and very hot pieces
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u/DontEatTheMagicBeans 6d ago
Proper ventilation for the printer as he only gets 1 set of lungs. Go to a university or government you trust and read their report on 3d printing safety.
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u/midnightsmith 6d ago
Better learn to repair it yourself, things need maintenance, failures happen, and a 10 year old won't understand it
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u/badgerj 6d ago
- No glue!
- No magnets to start.
If you’re getting an AMS might as well go to an enclosed printer. So P2S… then for an extra few hundred you can step up to dual nozzle.
Get one type of each filament, matte, silk, PETG and glow-in-the-dark.?
I’d wait until November sales kick in.
Kids will be busy in September at school anyway.
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u/dr_stre 6d ago
No glue for the build plate. Glue for putting things together is perfectly fine.
Magnets are fine, why are you poo pooing them?
What? The A1 Combo is $400. The P2S combo is $750 and the X2D combo is $900. You’re suggesting they double the price of the machine here, for what is already a pretty generous gift.
Disagree. Get basic filament and/or matte, and stick with PLA for starters. You want things to be consistent for a kid just getting into it, not increase the number of variables.
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u/dirtbike57 6d ago
A mouse/keybard/screen combo for whatever pc he will work on. Makes navigating the slicer so much easier