Is 3D Printing Useful or Useless?
Beginner 3D Printing Tips & Behind-the-Scenes (Plus My Girlfriend Rates My Prints)
A few weeks ago, I impulse-bought a 3D printer with zero experience. My girlfriend Zoe, who hates clutter, was not impressed.
To justify the purchase (and make a great video), I secretly printed a series of useful, fun, and ridiculous things — then revealed them to her for the first time on camera to get her honest reviews.
This isn’t a printer review (although I’d be down to make one — let me know in the comments). Instead, this blog is your behind-the-scenes companion to the video, packed with extra beginner tips, fun moments we cut, and thoughts I picked up during my first real 3D printing adventure.
In the video, I reveal each print to Zoe for the first time and get her ratings on usefulness, coolness, value, and overall impression. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch it here.
🔪 Print #1: Butterfly Knife
Zoe’s Ratings:
Usefulness: ★★★☆☆
Coolness: ★★★★½
Worth the savings: ✅
Overall: ★★★★☆
This one’s a printed plastic butterfly knife — complete with working hinges. What’s wild is that the hinges are just cut pieces of filament, pushed through the parts like pins. So if one breaks? You just replace it with more filament.
One of the great things with 3D Printing is you don’t need to know how to 3D model, sure you may want to learn in the future but all the items in todays video have been download by amazing creators on various websites for 100% free! Websites like MakerWorld, Printables, and Thangs have huge communities. Some sites even offer points, quests, and contests — and even better, those points can be redeemed for filament.
Want to print this yourself? Check it out here: Click Here
💀 Print #2: Low Poly Skull Planter
Zoe’s Ratings:
Usefulness: ★★★★☆
Coolness: ★★★★★
Worth the savings: ❌
Overall: ★★★☆☆
This was my attempt to bring some colour into our room (Zoe loves the colour black) This printed in 7 hours — but I could have saved time and filament by choosing a remix. Remixes are alternate versions of a model made by other creators. Some prioritize speed, others save material, and a few totally reinvent the original idea. I picked the detailed original version because it just looked better.
Want to print this yourself? Check it out here: Click Here
🧩 Print #3: Puzzle Block Game
Zoe’s Ratings:
Usefulness: ★★★★☆
Coolness: ★★★★★
Worth the savings: ✅
Overall: ★★★★½
This one was personal. Zoe and I once got obsessed with this game at a museum and couldn’t find it anywhere online. I reverse image searched the photo, finally found it, and reprinted the game with wood-textured PLA filament — then hand-painted the finger spaces with acrylic paint.
If you don’t know what PLA is — PLA is the most common filament type and can be found in a bunch of different colours. It’s great for things like this that won’t see heat or stress. There are lots of other filament types too — some flexible, some super strong. Maybe a topic for another video? and an excuse to buy more filament 😮
Want to print this yourself? Check it out here: Click Here
📐 Print #4: Center Finder + Tracer
Zoe’s Ratings:
Usefulness: ★★★★★
Coolness: ★★★☆☆
Worth the savings: ✅
Overall: ★★★★☆
These functional shop tools were surprisingly accurate — and the creator uploaded tons of variations with different units, lengths, and even multi-color styles.
When you are doing multiple colour prints you can set pauses in the software to manually swap the colours or use an AMS (automatic material system) that swaps filament colors mid-print (Which is what I used). It’s great for multi-color prints, but be warned — it can waste a lot of filament if the print switches often. Sometimes the waste can be even more than the print itself! Thankfully, this model was optimized to keep that waste low.
Want to print this yourself? Check it out the center finder here: Click Here & the marking gauge here: Click Here
🧵 Print #5: Kandi Tools
Zoe’s Ratings:
Usefulness: ★☆☆☆☆
Coolness: ★☆☆☆☆
Worth the savings: ✅
Overall: ★☆☆☆☆
This one… flopped. I tried to make a couple of tools to help Zoe with her kandi making — but turns out they weren’t all that helpful in the real world.
Want to print this yourself? Check it out the planner here: Click Here & the circle helper here: Click Here
🍞 Print #6: Crumb Catcher
Zoe’s Ratings:
Usefulness: ★★★★☆
Coolness: ★★☆☆☆
Worth the savings: ✅
Overall: ★★★★☆
A surprisingly handy tray that fits under cutting boards to catch crumbs. It thankfully worked with out countertop considering it had a raised lip. We also found a funny moment where our cat Thor peaked at the print during the timelapse. (Shown in Youtube Video).
Want to print this yourself? Check it out here: Click Here
🪵 Print #7: Corner Sander
Zoe’s Ratings:
Usefulness: ★★★★½
Coolness: ★★½☆☆
Worth the savings: ✅
Overall: ★★★★☆
This one required a bolt and nut to assemble. Not every 3D print is plug-and-play — but some can actually be fully functional products, even with internal parts (hint at next print😉) You can find many builds incorporating things you can buy at hardware stores like magnets, nuts, bolts, bearings, etc.
Want to print this yourself? Check it out here: Click Here
🖱️ Print #8: Wireless Mouse
Zoe’s Ratings:
Usefulness: ★★★★★
Coolness: ★★★★★
Worth the savings: ✅
Overall: ★★★★★
This was the showstopper: a fully printed mouse shell, plus hardware I got for free with my printer (switches, PCB, wheel, etc). We assembled the whole thing on camera — like Lego for adults.
Some creators upload “hardware-ready” models — you print the plastic parts, then buy the electronics separately. These kinds of prints are perfect if you want to explore real engineering or useful tech projects. Honestly one of the most interesting things I have done.
Want to print this yourself? Check it out here: Click Here
🎥 Behind-the-Scenes Moments You Didn’t See
To keep the prints secret, I had to shut myself in my office every time the printer was running — not the most ideal setup as the room quickly gets uncomfortably hot. One day, in my rush to keep things hidden, I accidentally locked our dog in the room. We only realized an hour later when we were about to go for a walk. (I actually watched her sit sadly at the door during a time-lapse of the print that was going on 😂.)
Also, painting the puzzle blocks took way longer than I expected — turns out shaky hands and fine detail aren’t best friends.
💭 Recap on What I Learned About 3D Printing (As a Total Beginner)
Going into this, I thought 3D printing would be complicated and slow. I was wrong on both counts. My Bambu Lab A1 Combo made the process insanely smooth (Not Sponsored) — most models printed in under 5 hours, and the detail was surprisingly good right out of the box.
But here's the real lesson:
3D printing is only useful if you're intentional.
There’s a fine line between printing cool gadgets and filling your house with plastic clutter.
Beginner Takeaways:
✅ Start with prints that solve real problems — tools, organizers, or adapters.
🌐 Use MakerWorld or Printables for high-rated, free community models.
🔧 Don’t underestimate the value of custom parts — especially for things you can’t buy anywhere else.
🔗 Links & Resources
🛒 The 3D printer I used (Bambu Lab A1 Combo)
📦 Check out all the prints in one collection I made on MakerWorld
❤️ Want a Part Two?
I actually have more prints I didn’t include in this video. If you want to see another round of “Zoe Rates My Prints,” like the video and drop a comment — we’ll make it happen.
Got an idea for what I should print next? Leave a comment and I might use it in the next one (with credit of course). Bonus points if it’s:
Functional
Genuinely useful
Or so weird Zoe might secretly love it
🧠 Leave your print suggestions here
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