So you got a 3d printer for Christmas...
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So you got a 3d printer for Christmas, set it up and printed your first print using the pre-sliced files included with the printer, welcome to 3d printing!
I thought it might be useful to share some general advice for folks new to 3d printing, so here goes.
Avoid tribalism
For the most part most 3d printer owners are chill, willing to help one another and don't buy into the brand vs brand rubbish. But there are some who will preach for their brand and be negative towards those with other brands. Please don't buy into this and contribute to it. We're all printers, and peddling the "this brand is rubbish, you should get my brand" isn't helpful.
Know where useful resources are
Whatever printer you have, there's almost certainly a wiki or troubleshooting/maintenance page that the manufacturer provides online, check it out and bookmark it. Similarly there will be other resources, such as YouTube videos for your specific printer, or for the thing you're trying to do. Things will go wrong, and someone else will have faced the same issue, do a quick search and you'll find something helpful.
Find models to print
You can find amazing models to print, here are some of the sites where you can find them:
Respect designers
There are many thousands of models that are available to print for free, and a good portion of those that you can also sell. However, there are models that the designer has been clear they wish to be paid for your use of the model or for your selling of the physical print of the model. The designer created the model, take a look at the license that comes with it and respect their wishes.
Dry your filament
An understandable impulse is to open some filament and then print with it. On some occasions this will be fine, and on others you'll find wisps of fine filament or other artefacts from moist filament. Also take care of how you store your filament. As a good general rule, you want to keep your filament as dry as possible. I'll share some options for this in a future post.
Lastly, have fun with your new hobby! May all your first layers be clean.