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SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → General Discussion → Opinions needed
So I ran across a ANET A8 for sale for 100 with 4 spools of filament. Has any one used this or own this type of printer. I figure its worth the just in filament and parts if nothing else. Don't really need opinions but curious about the general feeling about this printer.
I dont have one but I see a ton of people on the facebook 3d printing groups love them. For $100 w/ 4 rolls of filament wouldnt hurt to give it a try
I have a friend who has one. He has tried and printed with my Folgers tech Prussa 2020 I 3 clone. He says he like my printer better than his. That said my kit cost $269 - 10 % Facebook users discount. Then i added a titan exruder and an e3d hotend.
I also added some bracing to the center column.
So they are selling a printer for $ 100 with four rolls of filament. essentialy you are paying $ 40 for the printer (KIt)
Sounds a bit too good to be true but we could be reaching the point of market saturation.
One caution these printers do have a reputation of starting fires . so you may want to ditch the Power supply and insure the Thermisistors are well attached to where they belong.
so i guess pay your money and take your chances.
It is an assembled printer from a private party. So the biggest concern is that it actually works.
Well there should be $ 40 worth of usable parts.
Well there should be $ 40 worth of usable parts.
That was kind of my thought.
I think it would be fair to expect the filament worth $10 each unless you know for sure what brand filament they are and if they are still in vacuum sealed bag.
I ran across a ANET A8 for sale for $84 on ebay with no filament. After read something on internet, I decided to buy one and let my 11 years old and 13 years old son to assemble them. They had lots of fun and overcome some trouble to get it running, so from this angle, it well worth the money.
ANET A8 is a popular low cost 3D printer, you can find stl file for every part that can be print and upgraded version of them. After reassemble the printer myself and fine tune it, the printer vibrate when print at speed >=30mm/s, and it is more noisy printer than MonoPrice Select mini, MonoPrice Maker Select V2, and MonoPrice Maker Plus.
The main board don't have the pot to reduce motor current so the high frequency noise will be there, I have not re-flush the firmware to explore the possibility to reduce motor current digitally. The Step motor do not come with vibration damper, and belt pulley for x-axis and y-axis are smooth so the hotend and print bed vibrates when belt Pitch go through the pulley even print with lowest speed. I replaced the pulley with 2mm pitch version and the vibration is gone.(frame vibration at >=30mm/s still there.)
The LCD display is 20 X 4, and the button is hard to push, so I would not consider this a money worthy part. The power supply works, but it is not a great one. The main board looks like a high quality board, I would have liked it if it have pots to adjust the motor current. The rod for x-axis and y-axis is not as straight as you want and sometimes turn it for 45 degree can reduce the vibration. I thought my kids may bent it during the installation and later found many tips like this on internet.
None of the step motor have issues except the noise, I think that worth $7 each at least and can be useful to add 2nd extrduer to other printers or replace x-axis motor. I would use better motor for y-axis and z-axis. The hotend works well and does not jam a lot. The aluminum print bed have 220mm X 220mm build volume and will work well with addition of glass on top. But the bed leveling screw need complete rework to make bed leveling easy.
If you like fine tune, calibrate, upgrade, DIY 3D printer, this will be fun project, especially for kids to assemble. Every time you fix some problem and get it print stable for 2 days and you feel achieved something great. You can redesign/rebuild every parts of the printer and there are lots of information and resource available online.
If you want the parts for the money, those parts came with it are all low quality and you will most likely to replace it with something else later. I would recommend your buy other broken 3D printer that known came with high quality parts.
If you want a 3D printer that actually works, there is nothing complicated about this machine, and all parts you can easily find replacement for low price (or 3D print it). I think you can get it work sooner or later, it just may not stay that way for very long. Some minor issue will show up every once a while, and then you will find a mod online and get the issue solved.
Did I mention it is noisy? Don't buy it if noise is a concern.
One box is 3dmars-top can not see the spool. 2 boxes are green and can see the vacuum packed spools through the cut out in the side. I am sure one or 2 are open and he at least tried to print with it. Sounds as reliable as my Jr. It looks like the bed is heated but I could be wrong. Thanks for all the replies.
The bed is heated and the heated bed/bed themostate have not give me issue so far. Issue related to print bed is more about bed leveling and there are many mod can over come the issue.
My RAMPS converted Jr. is at least 6 times more reliable than ANET A8. Much quieter and less vibrating if it vibrates at all. But to be fair, RAMPS converted Jr. has major MOD with replacement of mainboard, LCD panel and E3D hot end. However, issue with ANET A8 is with the rest of the part.
Seems like the filament worth at least half of the cost, the main board is $29 in value and step motor is $35 in value at least. The rest is all bonus if you can find good use.
So I went and picked up the printer on Saturday. On First inspection after getting I thought I just had a paper weight. Only the upper left corner of the screen had anything readable in it. Most of the screen was just solid squares.
I removed the screen assembly to see if there was any visual damage, and while looking at it I dropped it on the concrete floor. I hooked it back up to see if it worked at all now. Surprisingly the rest of the screen lights up. It works unless I mount it back where it is supposed to be. Not 100 percent but enough to be able to print.
The guy told me He printed a few things with it but didn't have time anymore. With the condition of the printer he only tried to print. He had the y and x axis bars in the wrong place. So they were sticking out past the frame on the y and barely in the hole on the x. Tried a print where he had the z stop and the bed at. No way he printed anything usable. Had to take the extruder apart and tighten the gear for it to work. Bed was to far away. So I fixed the bed so it adjusts by the wing nuts and not with a screw driver reset the z stop and set the four corners of the bed. The center was a little higher then the corners so I set the z of the center to do the first test.
Left one is the first one. Not sure if the next 2 are in order but think they are.
The letters in the sides have a ghost image. Does any one know the cause?
The ghosting is called ringing it is caused by exceeding that printers speed capabilities. The ringing is actually a visual of the guide for that axis vibrating from moving too fast on the curve that makes the letters edge.
You can also see it in the wall right after each corner.
OK so it cant print at 20mm/s then?
The LCD display issue is due to interference from step motor wire to the LCD wire. Don't run your LCD wire side by side with step motor wire. You can shield your LCD wire with alumium foil or print out the LCD mount to relocate your LCD to the front of the print bed.
The ghost image is mostly caused by the vibration of the printer. As Carl said, it happens when you print at speed exceeding that printers speed capabilities. With Anet A8, there are things you should do to reduce the vibration and increase the stability of the mainframe and therefore reduce ghost image. Like lubricate the rod, tight the belt, replace the smooth belt pulley with GT2 pulley. Print out mod that stabilize the frame you can easily search in thingervise with term ANET A8
I think the test cube you print are not too bad, I mean you can at least use it to print many stuff that don't need to be high resolution. I think it is good idea to reduce max feedrate, acceration, and jerk in settings-motion section. I think default setting are too high and make printer vibrating too hard even at mid speed. You will be able to easily print 40mm/s after that.
SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → General Discussion → Opinions needed
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