3D printing is the other engineering hobby I keep around, mostly for the same reason most hobbyist engineers do: it shortens the distance between an idea and a part you can hold. The technology has crossed enough thresholds in the past few years that it's now closer to a workshop tool than a novelty.
A few things I think are worth attention:
The machines have gotten genuinely good. The current generation of consumer FDM printers — fast, well-tuned out of the box, with input shaping and pressure advance as default firmware features — produces parts that would have required tuning work and patience just a few years ago. The hobbyist workflow has become much more about design and material choice than about coaxing the printer.
Material variety matters more than print speed for functional parts. PETG, ASA, PA-CF, TPU — each one earns its place in a workshop for specific reasons, and most of the interesting hobbyist work I've seen lately has been about choosing the right material for the load case rather than printing the same PLA part faster. Functional drone parts are an obvious example; jigs, fixtures, and replacement components for other tools are quieter but probably the higher-value use.
The CAD layer is where the hobby actually gets interesting. Print quality is a solved problem at the bottom 80% of complexity. Knowing how to design a part for the loads it'll see, the orientation it'll print in, and the post-processing it'll get is the skill that separates "I have a printer" from "I use a printer." Most of my own learning curve is here, not at the printer.
Posts under this section will be light: design notes, project write-ups, and material/process opinions when I have something specific to say.
Recent posts
Printing Tesla Accessories in ASA
Why ASA is the right material for in-car and on-car parts, and a tour of recent prints — adapter locking rings, EDC console trays, camera covers.