Five days. That’s all it took from hitting “order” to having a box on my doorstep. I opted for the bundle deal—for a hair over $400, I walked away with the printer, three build plates, six rolls of filament, and a spare hot end. In the world of 3D printers, you can spend much more for a printer, so the value felt immediate.

I purposely went with a single-color unit. While the multi-color setups look flashy on YouTube, I’m not here to print trinkets or figurines. I need functional, engineering-grade parts that can handle vibration and heat. This machine has a reputation for printing technical filaments without the “fiddling” tax. I’m hoping to spend most of my time designing parts and wrenching on bikes instead of fiddling with the printer.

My only real concern with the printer was how loud was it going to be? Several reviews I’d read talked about how loud the cooling fans were and that the unit made lots of noise when printing. I have to laugh at the reviews I read regarding the noise. After running a few prints in my home office, I’ve realized that tech reviewers and motorbike mechanics have a very different definition of loud.

To get my feet wet, I’m starting with the classics: Gridfinity bins and some custom tool holders. It’s the best way to learn the machine’s tolerances before I try to print something like a bespoke airbox adapter. I’m sticking to PLA and PETG for now—the “gateway drugs” of 3D printing—since they’re forgiving for a new user.