Anet A8 3D Printer.

[ukracer]

One more question .
For:- flsun 3d printer plus prusa i3 diy kit, dual nozzle.

The filaments are on reels, I cant see any reel holders for them in the pretty pictures . Do you normally have to make your own reel stand and fit it to a wall or make it a free standing unit that can be stood very close to the machine ?

Its your choice...so many things you can print to make life easier.
As for dual nozzle ....personally i would not try running before i could walk. But others may decide to suggest different.

Personally i have decided on my upgrade path being a Geeetech A30 as the reviews are coming out as better than a CR10 and ender 3 plus i can get 15% off

 

[ukracer]

If i wanted a cheaper smaller printer i would be looking at Geeetech A10 or Creallity ender 3.

Seems like Geeetech are getting rave reviews regarding support.....creallity its almost non

but make your own mind up. I think the A30 does now come with bed levelling and wifi module.

 

[DAPPH]

Funny thing was it printed perfect when i had it. I never even levelled the bed.

The difficulty came when the software took over lol. I was not armed with historical faults that the other guy had worked through.

Reading other forums it seems like Cura messed a lot of hotends up by setting retraction to 6.5 in a upgraded version.

I am well pleased with adhesion though. I printed a small test piece out vertical and it stuck like a limpit.




I have order a sheet of PEI as the lead time on the printbite was up to 5 weeks. but i wont be using it while i am still learning the basics and happy with adhesion.

I do need to find a glue to stick PLA as the super glue i tried failed miserably and the Gorilla glue stuck but took ages and always expands 3 times its size and makes a white mess.

Would a weak solution of Copydex work . its rubber sticks like the proverbial when it cures with a bit of heat but would it peel off glass & plastic ….PERHAPS ?

 

[ukracer]

Would a weak solution of Copydex work . its rubber sticks like the proverbial when it cures with a bit of heat but would it peel off glass & plastic ….PERHAPS ?

They do use all sorts but mine works brilliant with Lidl hair spray just before pressing print. However i now clean the glass and use nothing. My issues were out of sync z axis...

 

[Normsthename]

You need borscilate glass as it's heat resistant.
A 200mm square is about a tenner posted.

Ideally you want to use borscilate glass.
But I have just used 3mm standard glass with my last two printers and never had a problem.
I guessed it was cheap enough that if it didn’t work I would then get some borscilate glass.
I used the same glass on my first 3D printer for a couple of years without any issues.
My printer has an aluminium bed for the heating part and they are not 100% flat so the glass helps level everything out.
On top of the glass PEI is stuck to the glass and then that is held in place with 20mm heatsink foam pads every 40-50mm or so.
No need for printed clamps that have a habit of coming undone
I just clean the bed with isopropyl alcohol every print and it’s good to go
No messing around with hairspray or tape or ABS Juice etc etc

Andy

 

[DAPPH]

Do the aluminium beds distort with heat over time directly above the heater element ?
What is PEI that nonstick sheet stuff with holes in it ?

 

[PhillipM]

Yes, they're not very flat to start with anyway, unless you're using half inch thick tooling plate.

PEI is a sheet that helps with adhesion for some materials, I don't use it, I print straight on glass.

 

[DAPPH]

Does anybody use thermally conductive paste that cures with heat to stick the glass to the alu bed or is it best to use the double sided thermally conductive sticky pads ?

If heat transfer pads are being used do you only get good thermal transfer only directly above the thermally conductive pads or do you need to cover the whole bed in such heat transfer products ?

 

[130]

Heat conducts through the pads so pretty obvious answer

Glass and aluminium will have different thermal expansion rates

 

[Hopefuldave]

I've just read through the entire thread, and still no wiser...

I've seen the Anet A6 recommended in a few online reviews (aimed at those who understand 3D printing - seems to be an upgraded A8 with a more rigid frame), are they likely to be good enough for a complete novice who wants to print things like transformer bobbins, mock-ups of mechanisms and linkages?

I'm on a fairly tight budget, ideally under £200 with a spool or two of filament

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[bigegg]

A8 will do you fine for that.

 

[130]

^Exactly

 

[130]

The A8 is cheap, produces a good finish, if setup according to manufacturers instructions / video, out of the box

It won't print to decimal points of a mm out of the box without going through one of the calibration procedures, that's an area where you swap time you are likely not being paid for anyway to save hours in work to earn the extra for a more expensive one.

As said earlier mine works fine and consistently once assembled. I don't believe they need constant messing, I believe a lot of the messing causes reasons for more required messing

 

[Hopefuldave]

Thanks Gents, sounds like either would do for my needs - and I like the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" principle

IF (note the big if) I get on well with it, I've some coke-can sized steppers and two racks of Parker Digiplan drivers rescued from the World's Best Skip, and a load of ally extrusion for when I want something bigger...

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[130]

Have a look on thingiverse.com and see if the A8 is big enough to print the parts for one of the 1200x1200mm ones

 

[Hopefuldave]

Have a look on thingiverse.com and see if the A8 is big enough to print the parts for one of the 1200x1200mm ones

It looks like other than small parts for the print-head carriage and e.g. stepper belt pulleys it's only the linking pieces at corners that need to be printed, and the extrusions I have are bolt-together... Hmmm, where could I put it?

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[130]

There are scalable ones too that you can size up and down

 

[ukracer]

It won't print to decimal points of a mm out of the box without going through one of the calibration procedures, that's an area where you swap time you are likely not being paid for anyway to save hours in work to earn the extra for a more expensive one.

I have still to work out how on earth anyone actually makes any money out of 3D printing other than selling filament??

 

[PhillipM]

It's a tool, like any other, mine's paid for itself probably 20x over at least.

 

[tlovatt]

I've just read through the entire thread, and still no wiser...

I've seen the Anet A6 recommended in a few online reviews (aimed at those who understand 3D printing - seems to be an upgraded A8 with a more rigid frame), are they likely to be good enough for a complete novice who wants to print things like transformer bobbins, mock-ups of mechanisms and linkages?

I'm on a fairly tight budget, ideally under £200 with a spool or two of filament

Dave H. (the other one)

As in a few previous posts, for that money you can look at some of the Ali framed printers - The Creality Ender 3 or the Geeetech A10 (which is remarkably similar to the Ender 3). One of the big advantages of these printers is there is a lot less assembly work required and they can be put together in 45 mins to 2 hours (depending upon how quick you are) - but the A8 is around £90 cheaper.

The printers seem to be going up in price, there were plenty of Ender 3s for around £160 a few weeks ago, now they are £200 for UK ones - prices may come back down though. the A10 seems to run at about £170 at the moment which leaves enough in the budget for a couple of reels of PLA.