Purge Wiper Grid Basket for BambuLab A1 Mini

Purge Wiper Grid Basket for BambuLab A1 Mini

How It All Started — and Why This Basket Even Exists

Two days ago, my new printer arrived — the Bambu Lab A1 Mini. To be honest, I wasn’t particularly excited in advance. I had my doubts: just another entry-level, budget-friendly printer, right? What could possibly surprise me? But as it turns out, I was wrong. My surprise bordered on shock — in a good way.

This little guy prints just as precisely as the X1 Carbon. Seriously. The only real difference is in how it’s meant to be used: the A1 Mini is an open-frame printer, so of course that limits the range of filaments. But I bought it exactly for PLA, PETG, and TPU — simple, non-fussy materials. And you know what? It handles them quietly, reliably, and… with remarkable confidence.

The Engineering Is Outstanding

The build is tight, solid — no play, no rattles, every element thought through. I have to give huge credit to the Bambu Lab engineers. They put everything they knew into this little machine. And how they managed to hit this price point? No idea. It’s a small miracle. It’s now proudly sitting on my workbench among the other “workhorses.”

And as you’d expect, it has massive upgrade potential. Naturally, I started with the most immediate issue — those little blobs of plastic during color changes. This printer loves to fling hot purge blobs sideways. And trust me, if you don’t catch them, they’ll shoot halfway across the room (okay, maybe just a meter — but still annoying).

The First Mod — Purge Wiper Grid Basket

So I designed a basket — lightweight, reliable, with a mesh bottom. It mounts directly beneath the purge nozzle. Now every bit of purge filament during color changes lands neatly inside. No bouncing, no plastic flying across your desk. Everything stays contained. This is the Purge Wiper Grid Basket for A1 Mini I’m sharing with you here. It’s a simple thing — but a really helpful one.

Printing Details

Everything’s ready to go. Inside the archive, you’ll find a pre-configured 3MF file with optimized print settings. My recommendations:

• Layer height: 0.1 mm
• Nozzle: 0.2 mm

Why? Because of the mesh structure. That’s key. It’s better to print slowly and get clean, crisp geometry. If you go with a 0.4 mm nozzle — well, let’s just say it’ll look rough. But that’s entirely up to you. I chose dark gray and light gray PLA to match the printer’s color scheme. No tower used. I printed it with tree supports placed only where truly needed. You’ll see this clearly in the slicer. At first, I made a bigger basket. Then I realized — overkill. The small one works perfectly: it catches everything, even during frequent color changes. You can see through the mesh when it’s time to empty it. It mounts securely — no wiggle, no rattle. You can remove and reattach it with one hand. I’ll show all of this in the upcoming video.

Downsides? Just One — The Plate.

Let me be upfront: there’s only one thing I didn’t like about this printer — the stock build plate. The texture is way too coarse. That, I definitely disagree with. I’ve already ordered a smooth one. For now, I printed on my X1C. But of course, you can use the A1 Mini too — it’s a regular build surface, regular print quality.

Final Thoughts

Other than that — it’s a fantastic little machine. Sure, there are some compromises:

• The motherboard is less powerful
• The camera isn’t great

But it’s all fair — and expected in this class. The part cooling is well-designed. The overall construction is smart. This is not a toy — it’s a real tool.

I can confidently recommend it. And if you’re tired of sweeping purge blobs off your desk — give this basket a try. I think you’re going to like it.

PS: What I liked most was the sticker with the infographic, a short instruction. It reminded me of… tube TVs… black-and-white ones… from the 70s. You had to smack it to get the picture to show up. Same here—one tap in the front, two taps in the back. At first, I didn’t even read it. 

Of course, it’s actually about distance. But it cracked me up. I’m still laughing at that graphic.
 

See the video for details:

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