Where to start

I have been thinking about 3D printing for a while. I don't know too much about it, except that a printer makes plastic things by slowly building up layers of melted plastic. I decided that the best way for me to find out more is to have a go, so I ordered a printer from Prusa Research who are based in Prague in Czechia.

I was recommended this printer and after a bit of googling it seemed a good choice. I choose the kit option. It was cheaper and available quickly. It seemed to me that assembling a kit is a good way to get to know the printer's workings. Today the printer arrived.

Printing is done using plastic filament which comes on rolls. Prusa sells these as 1kg spools. The machine comes with one spool of silver-coloured PLA plastic. I ordered two more spools of PLA, one black and one orange. I now wish I'd bought a spool of a different type of plastic, such as ABS but it's easy to order some more. Including the extra filament the package weighs in at 14.1kg, according to the delivery note.

I started to unpack the box and there was plenty to see. There are two manuals, one assembly manual and one handbook, various cardboard boxes and a power supply. There are some tools included, pliers, screwdriver and allen keys, which should be all that are needed to assemble the printer. there's also a bag of Gummy Bear sweets which I think are intended as little celebrations for completing the stages of assembly. I'm going to read through the assembly manual and the handbook before I do anything else. Time to put the kettle on ...