Blue_SpeedYou just bought a 3D printer. Congrats, you're joining the best hobby in history. But what should you actually print first? In this post you're getting 10 must-prints for when you're starting out. No matter what printer you have or what you're into, I think you should start with these.
You're probably thinking "oh great, obviously I have to print a Benchy." But don't just print the pre-sliced Benchy profile that came with your printer, those are tuned for speed, not accuracy.
If you want the real deal, print the original 2015 Benchy model on Thingiverse. Old, clunky website, I know, but that's the actual original file. If you'd rather use MakerWorld, this version works too, just know it's not from the original creator. There's also the official Benchy site if you want it straight from the source.
Most modern printers can crank out a Benchy fast or pretty, but rarely both. I want you to print the slower version. Two reasons: one, it shows you your printer's real limits, and two, it matters even more if your printer is used, especially if it's Ender-3-tier. I'd recommend watching this video from Teaching Tech, most of the issues you'll see come from printers tuned for speed over quality, and this helps you spot exactly what needs fixing. If it's a modern printer, though, it should come out like 99% perfect, because most manufacturers tune their default settings around the Benchy.
This, THIS, is more important than any print on this list, I mean it. It's the one mod you actually need. The community calls it a purge bucket, or informally, the "poop bucket."
What does it do? Every modern 3D printer purges a small bit of filament before (and sometimes during) a print, this is just called purge, or "poop." The purge bucket exists to catch it so it doesn't end up all over your floor. It might seem tiny at first, one or two little blobs, but after 5 prints that's already 10 purges, and it piles up fast. It matters even more if you print multicolor, since the nozzle purges after every single color change, so you'll probably want a bigger bucket for that.
Don't be lazy about this one. I went a full month without a purge bucket and I still haven't gotten all the plastic off my floor from some heavy multicolor printing. Not an experience I'd recommend repeating.
How do you find one for your printer? Easy, search "[your printer model] + poop bucket" on MakerWorld or Thangs. Grab a bigger one if you can find it, especially if you do multicolor. If not, even the small clip-on ones that hang off the printer work fine. Sometimes your printer already ships with one pre-sliced. Sometimes, especially with niche printers, you'll have to dig a little, check the manufacturer's own site first for those, otherwise MakerWorld is still your best bet.
- Bambu Lab → MakerWorld
- Prusa → Printables
- Creality → Creality Cloud
- Elegoo → Nexprint
- Anycubic → MakerOnline
- FlashForge, Snapmaker, Qidi, Flsun, Sovol, Comgrow → nothing official that I know of, try the general sites below
Other general sites worth checking: Thingiverse, Thangs (free + paid), MyMiniFactory, Yeggi, and Cults3D (paid).
Time to have some fun. There's a simple reason this one made the list: it's just fun. A little flexy dragon shows off how cool 3D printing really is, and it's a great "wow" moment early on.
I'd recommend this articulated crystal dragon. I scaled mine down a bit so it prints faster, but it's still just as fun.
This one's a genuinely fun category because there's no single "right" model, it really depends on you. I'm a huge How to Train Your Dragon fan, so my own phone stand is dragon-themed, but that's just me.
Honestly, just head to MakerWorld and search "phone stand." You'll get amazing results in seconds, small ones, big ones, wallet-sized ones, ones that adjust in every direction. If you want something specific, just add it to the search, like "How to Train Your Dragon phone stand", and you'll usually find exactly what you're picturing.
If you've ever struggled with organization, struggle no more. Gridfinity is a modular grid system, you build a base grid, then drop in bins and boxes that snap into it. There's a whole community behind it, including custom bin designs from creators like Zack Freedman.
Just go to MakerWorld and search "gridfinity", you'll find basically everything, from fully covered bins to filament-efficient designs. If you already know what you want to organize, search "[your object] + gridfinity" and you'll probably find it pre-made.
If you can't find exactly what you need, use the Gridfinity Generator, it lets you build fully custom bins and grids of any size. I use it for like 90% of my own gridfinity setup.
This one's all about personalizing your prints, there's something genuinely satisfying about making something with your own name on it.
My go-to model is this no-AMS name keychain generator. Since it's built for printers without an AMS, the slicer just pauses at each color change so you can swap filament manually, then resume. If you do have an AMS, you can remove the pause in your slicer. If you're not sure how manual color swaps work, this video walks through it well, the model handles the slicer setup for you, you just swap filament when it pauses.
Don't want to deal with manual swaps at all? Try this customizable nametag instead, it stacks the letters so they don't come apart, and commercial use is allowed.
Back to the fun stuff, a print-in-place sword shows off just how flexible 3D printing can be. You can print something that big, fully assembled, even on a small printer. Genuinely cool.
I don't have a single model I'd recommend here, since they all print and move pretty differently. Just search "print in place sword" on MakerWorld and pick whichever style you like.
Getting practical now. Filament clips are a must-have for me, filament storage turns into a mess fast without them. I've had to get up in the middle of the night before because an overnight print jammed from tangled filament. Not fun.
My pick is the ProClip Filament Clip, it works with basically every spool, no matter how thick or thin, which isn't true of a lot of the other clip designs out there.
This one's pretty specific, but it's earned its spot: the Bed Scraper XL. It's strong, and it holds up for most jobs. I'll admit metal sharp scrapers are still technically the best, but this one gets the job done without risking your build plate in most situations.
I like this model specifically because you can swap the blade, I do it about every 3 weeks, though you can go longer or shorter depending on how fast yours dulls.
Even if you only have a few cables, this is a must-print. Nothing crazy for cable management, just if you've got a couple loose cables lying around with no place to go, might as well keep them organized.
For loose cables that aren't plugged into anything, this minimalistic cable organizer is a great pick, it's cheap and quick to print.
And for cables running along your desk, this cable organizer is great too, it holds 5 cables in one organized row.
Okay, now go on and print them. And while you're at it, try printing other things you find interesting too. Happy printing, see you next week.