Big Sales, Printer Upgrades, and a PETG Disaster

Hey folks,
Okay, so I missed last week’s update — whoops. Let’s just say this one’s a double feature to make up for it.

The good news first:
Things have been picking up! I had my biggest sale yet — a 250g custom print order for a client, which was super satisfying. I also almost landed a 3kg order, which would’ve been a huge win, but unfortunately that one didn’t pan out. Still, it was cool even getting close to that scale.

I’ve also made a few smaller but profitable sales, including my very first miniature figure for a tabletop gamer (you know, the kind people paint with tiny brushes and a ton of patience). That was a fun one to print.

On top of that, I officially leveled up my setup and bought a Bambu Lab A1 Mini! It’s been a solid upgrade — not only does it help me print faster, but it also lets me juggle more projects at once.

Now, for the bad news...
The other night I had a bit of a PETG incident. Anyone who’s worked with PETG knows it can cling to the nozzle, and, well, this time it really clung. I woke up to a horrifying sound coming from the printer — turns out a giant glob of molten plastic had formed and was slamming into the inside of the printer like some kind of gremlin.

Here’s what I found when I opened it up:

Long story short:

I had to heat and peel the plastic off the toolhead

I accidentally melted part of the front toolhead cover

The nozzle was toast

And later that week, when swapping a 0.2mm nozzle to 0.4mm, I forgot to tighten it, and it melted the build plate. Yep.

So... yeah. A week full of maintenance, learning, and light trauma. But I got it all sorted: new nozzle, fresh toolhead cover, and a brand-new build plate.

It’s been a bit chaotic, but also kind of exciting — I’m definitely feeling the momentum.
AD-BITS is growing, and so is the printer graveyard, apparently.

Thanks for tuning in — and please check your nozzles before printing.

—AD