If you're looking for tips here are my top five with this. 1 - don't rush assembly. You'll need a whole day or several evenings. I did mine in about 7 hours over 2 nights. It's got a lot of steps and can be fiddly at times. 2 - cable management! Use the supplied wrap and think ahead when assembling so you can keep the cables out of the way of moving parts and belts. 3 - level the bed, heat it to 65'c and then level again. This will stop it warping or jamming after it heats up. Use hairspray to prep the bed before printing. On temps, try 65'c for the bed and 190'c for your extruder. I would try 90% movement and 110% fill also. 4 - don't try ABS right away, it really is a pain to print due to cooling issues. PLA is fine and quite a good material. Order a 1kg roll when you order the machine so it's ready to go. 5 - download Cura (free slicer program) and print some spool hubs, this way the filament spool turns much more smoothly and doesn't need to be supervised. I didn't do this straight away and had the filament spool pull the holder off its shelf. This could have damaged the printer if I wasn't around to catch it. There are plenty of upgrades but the spool hubs are essential and improved my print quality by providing much more consistent and manageable feed rates.
Man, almost every RUclipsr out there is gonna say that only the "name brand" stuff (Ultimaker, Prusa, etc) is worth it. It's total BS. I personally own an Anet A8, got it online for $160. I've put $15 extra for a glass plate, and plan on spending another $3 for a mosfet for the heated bed. Let me tell you: it works beautifully. My school has a mid-range Lulzbot that cost them $500 or so and the performance between the two is nearly identical. I'm pretty sure theirs doesn't have a heated build plate, either. No reasons for these 3D printing elitists to bash on the economy kits as not even worth it when it opens up the community to way more members.
I also own a Anet A8, and I really happy with it :) But you can't compare other printers like le Lulzbot with the Anet A8. They don't offer the same security. Anet A8 mainboard is a cheap one and there is a pretty high chance that it will fail one day (mine still works though). Anet A8 connectors are not (properly) strained relief neither. The PSU cables that are not protected + not crimped is very dangerous (without any PSU box mod). More than one Anet A8 catched fire ;-) The print quality of the Anet A8 can be really really good. It possible to have the same quality than an other one that cost $500 -> $1000. But not at the same speed :) Just to say. Anet A8 is good when you know what you're doing,
+David, stop that. And same to to an extent to +Martin White. This machine is good, for the money. BUT it is not as good as many more expensive machines, as it comes. You can get a better A8 with modifications, which you don't need to do to more expecive machines, like the original, Prusa machines. Yes, if you want to tinker, or don't have the money but doesn't mind doing that. Anet A8 is a great machine If you want to just print, without the first you do print some exchange/extra parts to your printer. You should pay some more and by an original machine, like the Prusa. So in short, they have different targets and different demands. So yes, you actually trade things away with less money, like a bad PSU. BUT if you know that, it is ok and could even be a perfect machine. So Martin and David. Are you ok with your machine, don't bash others that have different goals. (Yes, I do have a Anet A8 myself)
The Anet A8 can be made WAY more safe with a couple simple things, 1. Solder the hot bed wires instead of using the flimsy plug. 2. Use a mosfet for at least the heated bed and also hotend for overkill. 3. Put a fusible switch on the power supply.
Dude, I like the way you did this. Clean, straight to the point. No music or special effect distractions. Makes me wanna buy a Anet A8 and I'm not even looking for a 3D printer.
I did the same thing as you. I got the same printer for the same reasons as you and I could not be happier. My prints look every bit as good as prints from much more expensive machines. I absolutely 100 percent agree. Great video and great advice.
Bought one for my son because he wanted to learn about 3d printing. Build it, upgraded it and used it quite well. He sold the upgraded and improved printer and bought a better one. The a8 is still in use at his friend he sold it too. So yes, for my son it was a perfect printer. He learned how they work, troubleshoot the little problems it had and how to fix them. He is 13 and autistic btw.
The most valuable tricks I learned on my Tronxy x8 (similar to anet a8) 1) put a 3mm or so thick pane of glass on the heated build plate. 2) Slicer: set the line width a little smaller than the nozzle, set the layer height around .2mm, use a fan at about 25% . 3) Get ABS to adhere to the build plate, just spill a little acetone on the build plate and rub a piece of ABS on there where the print will be. a very clean and thin film of ABS will result so you don't have to maintain a jar of liquid slurry. 4) you can also print pet-g on the same thin film of ABS. i don't use PLA but maybe it would also stick to an ABS slurry.
Bought one. Built it. LOVE IT!!!! After a little tinkering to get it level and feeding filament consistently, it's worked perfectly for over a year now. No issues, just printing cool stuff!!! Highly recommend this kit.
First and most important upgrade that I made to my Anet A8 was to add 1/8 inch thick Aluminum plate doublers to both ends of the Y axis. Then replaced the shattered Y axis motor mount with a purchased 17 Stepper motor metal bracket. It now prints awesome and is over a year old now.
European sockets don't have a standard polarity, so even if you install the correct wires to the printer's power supply, you might get live or ground on your brown cable, depending on the wall socket you are using or whether you plug your cable one way or the other to the wall or extension socket.
I brought this printer and it printed surprising well once I had assembled it. The best upgrade I done so far is installing a glass bed (Ultra Base clone). Followed closely by Octoprint.
Very well edited video and informative content. I purchased the Alunar version of this same printer 03/16, still printing awesome today. Only failure I have had concerning build quality has been the positive lead on the build plate came loose and had to re solder it. Looks like your version had a connector instead. Happy printing!
I love my ANET A8. I Bought a cheap $3 picture frame from a discount shop and removed the glass and place that on my heat bed. I then use folder clips to attach it to the bed.(It's easier and faster to level the bed with a true flat surface) I give the glass a very light mist of hair spray before placing it on the bed . And after a big print i remove the glass give it a wipe down with paper towel and methylated spirits (alcohol) another very light mist of hair spray, clip the glass back on and its good to go again.( never had a print lift ). Great vid .
Had my A8 for months, possibly over a year now and it's has been perfectly fine, I'd recommend one as a first purchase. Always makes me laugh how many people can't follow instructions but still feel qualified to post technical videos on YT. :D
Yeah, I've been happy with mine for over three months. There are some real haters out there. It's not a perfect printer, but it works for my needs. Thanks for watching.
I've been running an Anet A8 now for 2 years without any measure of major issue. I saved myself a massive amount of headache and installed a BLTouch after about 6 months. OMG that was one of the best $20 I've ever spent. I now never have to level my printer. It only fails to level 1 out of every 15 times or so. I simply re-start the print and it behaves. I'm now just about to start printing TPU with my A8. I've put PLA, ABS and Nylon through it so far with NO printing/extruding issues.
I bought an Anet A6 printer. Brilliant printer if you construct properly. Printed z-xis bearing supports and stable. Marked the z-axis left/ right stepper drives to both be equal height. Sometimes disabling stepper drives and making sure z level important. Very happy with it.
Have an A8 myself. Was very surprised how well it prints. Mostly slicer settings that improve things for me. Tons of upgrade parts available on thingiverse. Better part cooling shroud, belt tensioners, frame braces. And some people replace the frame with extruded aluminum structure. And he's right a fantastic online community... One of the reasons I gave it a shot too. Great video.. thx.
I am not hating, i just trying to understand your thought process. 9:10 Ok, let me see if i got it right, you are saying that live and neutral are swaped right ? but is the green wire is connected to ground? As long as the earth wire is connected to the right place having L and N wires swaped will be irrelevant, the case will be connected to the green wire, if the green wire is connected to earth as it should and the live wire toches the case it will cause a short circuit. 9:40 Your argument doen't make sense, in the beginning you talk about N and L and at the end you make it sound like the earth wire is wrong
I don't know about a wiring but I followed the wiring diagram and when I went to plug it in I got a little tickle, I was not touching any metal so I wonder if something wrong with ground. My printer works though so idk.
Exactly what I'm thinking. The ground will always ground the circuit no matter if the L and N are switched (which is natural in AC circuits). If its DC output then their would be a problem way before any wire got loose
I’m an electrician, and when building the pipe racks for data centers we use ten foot long pieces of all thread to hang the strut from the ceiling. Multiple levels of conduit on the racks calls for a nut on top and bottom of each level to hold the strut at a specific height. Instead of spinning the rod, we used a piece of rod about 6 inches long and wound some duct tape onto the rod. Then chucked this lollipop looking thing into the drill. That way you can friction spin the nut without damaging anything. You could get something like a worn out paddle bit and cover the sharp end in cheap tape, then it becomes a specific and useful tool that will snap in and out of your impact. Note: think about what way your spinning and what way your tape is wrapped.
The A8 was my first printer... I built it, got frustrated with it and then didn't touch it two years... Now I own 3 printers and 2 of them are A8's... including my first... at least as far as the frame goes... I built my 3rd printer from scratch around an A8 frame with a Titan Extruder and V6 hotend... all in all, I like the A8... it's low cost makes it a good starting point for a custom build...
I've had my Anet A8 for 2yrs now. It's an excellent printer for the $. The only problem so far was the hot bed connection, after the 3rd 1Kg spool of filament. I just soldered the wires directly. Works great with PLA & PETG. I've made lots of models ranging from the files that came with the printer to motorcycle and firearm parts that I designed myself. I do plan to purchase another.
Bought a anet a6 135euros, assembled in a morning and was printing by afternoon, included in the price accessories and 0.5kg spool which i already spent....super cool learning, already upgraded for 0.6 nozzle and learned to setup it better to print almost flawless!
I think that was a big take away for me as well. Some of these super cheap 3D printers can produce decent prints with a little effort on our part. For me I bought this printer to learn about 3D printing. Good luck with your upgrades!
which country are you from, here in India we have phase line coming out from right of the plug socket and neutral from the left of the plug socket,may be ur country follows this in reverse or ur house connected in reverse 9:10
Great vid thanks but you are absolutely correct about the reversed wires being an issue if you are using the earth. Neutrals are cross bonded at the power source (distribution box in the home, sub or station depending on earth type) so will get a GFI/RCBO fault everytime you plug it in. Without the earth it wouldn't matter but I wouldn't have an exposed case on a 2-pin plug.
The mod I've done to my A8 that seems to have made the biggest difference is using glass on the bed with some 3D printed nubs to hold the glass on the bed. I use a set of feeler gauges and manually level to .006mm across 12 points before printing. It works pretty decent. Another is some tension brackets for the X and Y axis belts.
If you find the Y-axis stiff check the aluminium H is flat. When it's stamped out during manufacturing it it gets a slight curve which puts the bearings out of alignment. I bent mine flat by placing it on two rods on the floor and pressing in the middle. Made big difference. Overall I'm getting pretty good results from my A8. I paid £100 in the UK for the Anet version. There are even cheaper versions available that use a wood frame. Best upgrade I've done so far was to replace the linear bearings with Drylin.
I have had my Anet A8 for about a year now. The only thing I did was get an 8x8 piece of glass out of a Walmart picture frame, and use paper clamps to hold to bed. I also used clear elmers glue then rubbing alcohol to clean/sticky the surface before printing. It's about time for some new belts, but i don't print a lot. P.S. You better get good at Fusion 360 3D modeling or all you can do is print other peoples stuff.
If the live wire comes loose it will conduct to GND and fuse will blow unless you have a security breaker (you could have a problem if you stupidly use a non grounded outlet) so it really makes no difference if you reverse phase and neutral for that reason. In Europe we can plug the plug in either way - so these are swapped all the time.
9:35 WTF???? Yea, it's ok to put brown to neutral and blue to live, but the blue wire can be live or neutral. It depens on how you plug the cord in the wall. It doesn't matter at all
I own this printer took 11 hours to put together upgraded to mosfet and put a power supply that can safely push the correct juice so you don't have a fire issue. Some small tweaks to calibrate it an it runs awesome. I just use cura for my slicer program an most upgrade parts you can print for it right on the machine itself how can you argue with that
I think these cheap printers are worth every penny..I bought my Tronxy P802M(which is similar to the A8) about a year and a half ago and it has given me zero problems...It was fun to assemble and the best part is that the cost of the kit is way cheaper than sourcing the parts and building one from scratch which is exactly what I was going to do before buying the Tronxy kit.
I bought the Anet A8 a while ago, and the instructions were in Chinese. Not only that, but two problems happened after following an online English tutorial: One of the ball bearings fell apart (fixed it with duct tape), and the extruder's temperature started dropping during printing. I bought a new extruder, installed it, but I still have to re-measure everything, reset the temperature, and hope it works. That's a whole day's work, and I kinda wish it wasn't. However, it did start printing after assembly and hook-up. The heat bed might need a plastic cover or something to keep the print from sliding everywhere. 😐 I did learn a lot by putting it together myself, I just wish the parts all worked correctly in the first place. 😑
one of the things I did when I built mine was make some cardboard washers from a cornflakes packet and place them with a steel washer between the springs and the underside of the bed as I suspect after some time the springs will scratch through and short, the other thing was get rid of the heatbed plug
You can make two loops half an inch apart in your X belt with zip ties. Then loop another zip tie thru those loops and tighten it to add belt tension. The one way action of the zip tie is very good at maintaining tension.
I’ve seen them as cheap as $140 on gearbest. I’ve never had an issue with mine, ever, and have gone through 4 rolls of filament. The Anet A8 Facebook page is a good resource
Spend $2 at the hardware store on 3mm washers. Add washers to all the screws holding the frame together. I did everything except stepper motors. Its rock solid.. no extra gussets or supports required. Print a x axis tensioner... perfect prints!
Good advice, but we can do MORE! Get SQUARE nuts for all of the 3mm screws. The hex nuts allow for 6 different axis of movement. The square nuts with LOCK washers end ANY movement between the two parts. Your printer will always be square and immovable. So many people design stiffeners for this printer when all it takes is to use the proper hardware in the first place. I wish Anet would have provided square nuts to go with their SQUARE slots, but I got my square nuts off ebay for cheap and its worth the cost. I have them on all of my A8s with superb results. Great advice Jay!
Had (have) this printer, tried printing with it and it was always either not leveled or builds kept un-adhereing. I thought mine was just weird or broken, but it turns out after I bought another printer it was just that I didn't have my heated bed turned on and I was trying to print abs without an enclosure as well...
hi, I have problem in my new anet A8 board v1.7 ... When the initial operation, the extruder is directed to the opposite side to the end and continues for a while the engine rotates even when the extruder reaches the end ... The same applies to the surface ... Also, the z direction motor works one and the other does not work .. Note that I almost checked the connections All are correct, i am using Anet A8,How do you think the problem is solved?
I like the video. Good tips. I look forward to your video on the upgrades you made. One thing I am curious about is the upgrades you print, and the upgrades you purchase (if any). Thanks for the video!
I have already built my 3d printer but the only thing I didn't connected yet is my positive and negative wires to the motherboard. the motherboard didn't show which was which. could you help with this one problem
Looking at 5:46, your belt looks off set. This is caused by having the front plate on backwards. If you measure the each edge to the center of the the holes, you will see the front plate is not symmetrical.
huh, interesting. I'll have to investigate that a little more. Just looking at it in person, it doesn't look off set. Maybe the video made it look weird.
By "offset", I think he means vertically. As you look at the Y platform from the side, the upper and lower sides of the belts should be parallel to each other. With the support plate mounted the way it's described in the instructions, the upper belt will be higher, which can cause binding at the ends of travel. I've seen this mentioned on a couple of build videos for the A8. You don't have to take the whole plate off to fix this, which if you did, would require the careful tightening of the screws going into the linear bearings. You can just take the cross plate off and move it from the top to the bottom.
Nope I mean left to right position. Brightbluejim is also correct about the H plate being upside down though. I just don't think the H plate orientation matters as much at the point you're at. As you start to tighten you belts, you will want to flip it around to keep the force from pulling down. I was skipping teeth when the plate was at the front of the travel because the belt wasn't lined up left to right because of the asymmetrical front acrylic AND my H plate was upside down. Honestly, I don't think it matters much unless you are printing faster than you should. I did notice it made things a little quieter when I fixed it though.
Nope I mean left to right position. Brightbluejim is also correct about the H plate being upside down though. I just don't think the H plate orientation matters as much at the point you're at. As you start to tighten you belts, you will want to flip it around to keep the force from pulling down. I was skipping teeth when the plate was at the front of the travel because the belt wasn't lined up left to right because of the asymmetrical front acrylic AND my H plate was upside down. Honestly, I don't think it matters much unless you are printing faster than you should. I did notice it made things a little quieter when I fixed it though.
Well done! I want one! The only thing I see wrong is that the prints look small, in fact they are small. I saw a (very very expensive) 3D printer (which also cut by laser too) back in 2007 in the US and that was creating big prints and I mean 80 cm high, 20-25cm width and depth. So comparing, the little boat is very small. Could I print for example parts 200mm width, depth and high? Other thing is... where do the reels of filament hang?
If a live wire were to come loose, as long as the yellow wire is where it's supposed to be, it would cause a short circuit and blow a fuse. I don't see how the color of the wire makes any difference.
I believe you're confusing return current "neutral" with safety "ground", the chassis of the power supply is grounded. The reason for grounding the chassis is not for return current, if you're in contact with the chassis and the live wire comes free and contacts the case also, you won't be electrocuted!
you should never fasten wires without crimped cableshoes anyway so what he did in the video is unsave in itself also with cableshoes the chance that a wire comes lose i near to nothing since the whole screw needs to drop out to get the wire out anyway
I'm definitely no electrical engineer, but I know stuff about electricity, but want to understand what the problem is: Yes you are right, the cable is wired backwards and that’s not correct, and yes, swapping line and neutral CAN be dangerous, (depending on how the PSU was designed, but nowadays they almost all have the same clearances) you said that if the live wire were to come loose, the case would earth the current, but if the wires are swapped, dangerous voltages would be present in the case, won’t those be earthed as well? I'm not saying you have done the wrong thing, I’m trying to understand the problem, maybe I’m biased because I’m used to reversible European plugs
I got a6 which is really similar. It's OK for getting into 3d printing and fault finding if you have nerves and time. Now after more than year I decided to give prusa mk3 a ago and boy is the experience so much better. Right out of the box immediately better results even though I've modded a6 heavily. Also it's whisper quiet compared to a6. All the safeties are on by default (know that a6 and a8 are fire hazards out of box). Also no more leveling, taping the bed etc. If you have the money, skip and go directly to prusa or something else with better quality. Anet models just are pos devices without vast modifications
In European Union and several other coutries and according to IEC 60446 , blue wire is (always) neutral and brown wire is phase (hot wire). The phase can also be gray or black for wiring.
Please describe what settings you changed to get the better benchy print please. I'm new to 3d printing and trying to get better quality prints with mine.
I think my first problem was I was trying to print benchy too small. I scaled him down too much on my first try. Play around with print speed (60-80) and hot end temperature (around 205-210 degrees C for PLA) and bed temperature (60-70 degrees C). Keep printing until you like what you get. Good luck!
I don’t think it matters on A/C because if you are from Europe you can switch the N and L because the plug can go in both ways also your plug can be wired backwards lol
I love my anet a8. It isn't a pretty printer, or a very friendly printer. But by getting it, you have to learn how it works. And it gives you a deeper understanding of how FDM printers work
I'm very confused with the original plug on the video. As I look closer to the plug, I didn't see the manufacturer reverse the wiring. (By imagining the plug is plugged into the wall) The upper is Earth (yellow), the left is neutral (Blue), the right is Live (Brown, usually connected with fuse), and that's exactly what I saw on the video. Did I really mess up with the wiring? I did google the wiring standard and I see no mistake on the plug.
Its not junk, at all. Its cheap, and you need to be mechanically inclined and a bit of an engineer. Its also good to have a machine shop and an account to McMaster Carr for replacement parts when you get the damaged and bent version like I did. Definitely add a relay or transistor for switching that heat plate on and off. Next go to thingiverse and print out some upgraded parts or design your own in some CAD to make the darn thing much less a headache to deal with. I love it now i got it working perfectly. You get what you pay for.
Yeah, like I said in the video, this printer isn't for everyone. It was perfect for me. I actually didn't have to do much to get it to work well. I will have a video coming out soon with the modifications I made to it.
I own one of those printers too, and making it work and improving it was a fun little hobby when I was new to 3D printing and had time to spare. However, the sheer number of quality issues and calibration problems you're going to experience makes it way too frustrating to deal with long term especially if you need something reliable and user friendly that your coworkers can figure out. So honestly you get what you pay for.
3 years on with using my Anet A8 and I can say it has been printing nearly ever single day throughout the 3 years, and i make outstanding equipment /products on it, Anyway this guy describes who best would enjoy having one. I can also say i have No mods on mine. But i did change the Firmware to Marlin and is needed to do so for the fire risk Basically the Thermal runaway problem. I dont know if the latest version of the Anet a8 software is any better.
Great lil printer, Kids bought me one. I've made a good few mods, printer produces pretty good results now, though it really needs a better power supply. The one it comes with though sufficient is not exactly safe and is at its limit.
I got an anet a8 from a friend. I ended up changing all the parts on it. Aluminum frame E3d V6 and Titan extruder. I want to get a duet card and use octoprint on it.
Where's the link for the video of the assembly you watched and included a clip of? Sorry if I'm just missing it in all the "unbiased" links to give you kickbacks ...
The order of the AC wires didn’t matter so much in Europe (reversible plugs), also for someone who says that will use their electric engineering skills on this assemble, it’s strange that you didn’t use any terminals. I have an anet A8 and my first benchy doesn’t compare with your results (and I didn’t have any prior experience I’m 3d printing). Some considerations: you mounted the heat bed support reversed (it’s a common mistake because the video instructions are wrong), I think you didn’t tension well the belts (I use some belt springs), you should add more play on the “shaft” that connects with the threaded rods. My modifications (most did from the day 1): Mosfets and thicker wires New connectors to the heatbed Springs to tension the belts Glass (the aluminum bed wasn’t perfect flat) Careful assembly with a digital caliper
The polarity of AC wires isn't crucial here in the US as long as your appliance doesn't have a metal chassis. So my cell phone charger for example can plug in either way, but my computer has a third prong (earth) which requires it to be plugged in a certain way. I'll be honest I like the way European plugs solved these issues, it's much better than how we do it here in the US. Good call on the terminals, that would have been safer. The power supply was one of the first things I want to upgrade. I bought a switched/fused IEC connector that I'm going to install. On the heat bed bracket, I tried both ways until I found a way I liked. Belt tension upgrades was the first thing I did after getting this up and running. I downloaded some good solutions on thingiverse. Thanks for the tips, I appreciate your feedback.
UK has a 3 pin connector that only goes in one way. Convention says Brown = Live, Blue = Neutral and Green/Yellow is Earth (Ground). I can only assume that the Chinese got their plug on the wrong way as no way should the Blue be live.
I still don't get it it. What makes you think that it is unsafe to reverse N and L? The case of the psu is earthed anyway so nothing changes. It really doesn't matter. The path to ground is the same. That's the exact reason why we can reverse eu plugs. Because it is irrelevant and just makes life a little bit easier. Everytime i unplug my printer i probably reverse my connections. I also never checked if N and L are reversed on my cable because i can't control it anyway because of the reversable plugs. I only checked if earth has continuity considering the cable came from china. As long as the earth wire is correct you have nothing to worry about. The printer will function and you will be safe. It only matters if you install a switch that only switches one wire to turn the printer off. This could give you the wrong assumption that there is no voltage on the psu anymore even though there still is voltage because N is actually live.
Tobias L. This is how I see it. You don't want to switch earth and neutral, that seems more like the dangerous scenario. I used terminals and solder. I think the polarity matters on a 3 phase system, for example, but no one uses that daily.
I got the same with my A8 … and i just throw that cord to trash can and get one spare from PC where the colors where right… to got it right and not confuse me in later upgrades.
Zach, it's great that you caught the error in the instructions regarding wiring the line cord, but I'm a bit confused. You started out talking about the LIVE (HOT) and NEUTRAL being reversed, but then at about 9:30, it sounds like you're saying HOT and EARTH were reversed. Please clear it up for me.
Sorry for the confusion. The cable that came with my printer had the live (hot) and neutral wires reversed from the conventional color standard. I used a multimeter to determine which prong went to which wire.
Better to start with a cheap 3DP so if you do something horrible wrong, and it break, no big deal, you learn. And if you decide its not for you, you can gift it away and make someone happy. There is more, technology is evolving, your pricy printer will be obsolete in the blink of an eye. 1 Axis resin epoxy + UV bottom projection, and 5 Axis printers are getting the spotlight.
I think you are mistaken on the AC cord wiring. There is a world-wide standard for power cords, and it is brown = hot, blue = neutral, yellow/green = earth ground. (This supersedes the old standard of black = hot, white = neural, green = earth ground.) It is highly unlikely that the cord was miswired, but if it was, you should terminate that cord with extreme prejudice and replace it with a correctly-made one. If they got the colors wrong, you don't know what else they did wrong, and this is the kind of carelessness that causes house fires. Looking at the video at 9:10, I see that you are clearly measuring continuity between the hot blade and the blue wire, so yes, that cord is improperly wired. I bought an Anet A6 about a month ago. I'm checking the cord polarity right now ... wow. Mine's wrong, too! It looks like they got a bad batch.
Wow! That's crazy! That makes me feel a little validation for my questionable wiring. That just goes to show that it's always a good idea to double check things like that. Since filming this video I've gotten rid of that cable and replaced the power supply wiring with a fused IEC connector with a switch. I feel a little better about this now. Thanks for all your great suggestions on this thread by the way. It's super helpful to have people who know what they're talking about chiming in.
I am adding a fused IEC connector switch too. I wanted to double checked my original wiring before installing it. That led me to your great video. I did the continuity test on the cord and and sure enough live and neutral are reversed. But later on in your video (at 10:06) brown and blue are reversed again! Was that an editing error or am I just confused?
Are you going to do another video soon? I received my printer around the same time and I’d be interested in how you are getting on with it compared to how I am.
Hello, I am looking for ur help. I have bought anet a8 3d Printer. But y and z axis motor fixed plates are missing in the package. It will be nice if you can share the parts picture with dimensions. I'll be able to manufacture the parts on my own. Thank u.
Questions 1: can you get a finer tip extruder? Question 2: if you get said finer tip extruder, is the rest of the hardware precise enough for you to use it without stacking tolerances?
Thank you so much! I will definitely be delving deeper into 3D printing now that I have a machine. I'm starting to see so many problems around my house and I say, "oh! I could 3D print something to fix that!"
Thank you! for the video I discover it when searching for a solution for my problem: My Display stays blue nothing is showed! Can you please advice or do you think I did something wrong? how can I solve this problem?
I have the 3DCStar P802 i3 clone (essentially Tronxy) as my second printer. The first being the M3D micro. The i3 clone was $100 less than the M3D and was bounds better. One of the best upgrades I did that made the largest improvement was buying an actual E3D V6 hot end. I also used a PTFE tube from the direct extruder to a fixed point on the frame so the pull on the spool made no effect on the carriage. Now I am experimenting with a removable flexible build plate (0.02" 1095 spring steel) with blue tape and glue stick and magnetically attaching it to the aluminum hot plate. Should make a world of difference with part removal.
Thanks for the great tips! I will probably look into getting a new hot end at some point. Let me know how your removable flexible build plate experiments go. I know the newest Prusa i3 has one that is supposed to be good.
byte sized I just had a few prints with the new flexible bed. I have to say, it's simply amazing. When you flex it, parts pop right off! And the tape stays intact. I started with glueing small round neo magnets (150°C rated) under the aluminum heat bed and the steel wasn't held firm as much as I liked, so I used a couple of magnets from old hard drives and that did the trick. I highly recommend this build for anyone with an FDM printer.
At 9:10 you are correct that the blue wire is the hot wire, but it's because the cord set that was provided with the printer is wired backwards from the factory. Brown is supposed to be the hot wire, and blue is supposed to be the neutral (European color code). So swapping the blue and the brown was the correct thing to do (if you are going to use this cord). However, the instructions for the printer are correct, it's just that the manufacturer of the cord got it backwards at the factory. www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/reference/chpt-2/wiring-color-codes-infographic/ BTW, nice catch! :)
I've heard of people using the wrong type of glue and it shatters the acrylic. I would do more research and experiment first before using it on my machine.
The nozzle has two parts to make it work. The heating element that makes it hot, and a thermistor to measure how hot it's getting. The control board uses these two parts in a control loop. The thermistor is the feedback. I would check to make sure both parts are plugged into the control board and check the nozzle end to make sure the thermistor isn't loose. I had mine come loose once and that caused problems with the control loop.
@@glenmccall4571 AND that's.. Exactly.. How and Why Anets earned their title: "Firestarter" Wrap some tinfoil around the thermistor until it's a tight friction fit into it's little hole. Or buy a heater block with a screw to lock it in ~2$
@@barenekid9695 yes thank you that was the problem kool but you have the setting for a smooth print one where i can use for everything i have cura latest but everyone have diff setting but i confused on which best do you have a good one
I know there are many valid safety concerns in switching the live and neutral wire, but "the live becoming loose and coming in contact with case" seems like a problem regardless of whether the live and neutral are switched. Wouldn't the earth wire function the same either way regardless of which colour wire carries live current.... If current leaks to the metal case, the earth wire takes it out. Why does it matter if the live wire is mislabeled in regards to this reason ?
There is a must do upgrade for these printers and that's a mosfet for the heated bed, and a second for the hot end. The 12v from the PSU is too much for the underrated board connectors, so it's only a matter of time before they fail and become a fire hazard. The $160 price should also come with the caveat that you will also be spending another $80 making the printer safe.
I've heard that from a lot of people. I haven't seen anyone actually quote numbers and reference any datasheets to back up that claim. I am going to look up the part numbers and read the datasheets to determine if there is any base to these claims.
some electronics connects a resistor from the metal parts to the neutral wire of the cord. wiring it backwards can liven up the body of the device at a very low current since the resistor limits the current too. lamp sockets if you reverse the wires you liven up the threaded part of the light socket and that is very bad because there you have no resistor to limit the current so you can get zapped very bad. since the 3d printer is a computer device reversing the wires can send line voltages back through to the computer if the device connects to the computer directly via like usb or ethernet
I love my anet a8, however it is not for everyone. And they have better printers now for cheap. Lot of work lot of mods and 100% awesomeness once all done and tuned perfect
3D printer kit: $160. Enjoying putting it together yourself and learning how it works: Priceless.
I agree, but not everyone sees it that way unfortunately. Thanks for watching!
ya exsactly
Yeah I can't wait to get one and learn as much as I can about 3d printing. Any tips before buy it?
If you're looking for tips here are my top five with this. 1 - don't rush assembly. You'll need a whole day or several evenings. I did mine in about 7 hours over 2 nights. It's got a lot of steps and can be fiddly at times. 2 - cable management! Use the supplied wrap and think ahead when assembling so you can keep the cables out of the way of moving parts and belts. 3 - level the bed, heat it to 65'c and then level again. This will stop it warping or jamming after it heats up. Use hairspray to prep the bed before printing. On temps, try 65'c for the bed and 190'c for your extruder. I would try 90% movement and 110% fill also. 4 - don't try ABS right away, it really is a pain to print due to cooling issues. PLA is fine and quite a good material. Order a 1kg roll when you order the machine so it's ready to go. 5 - download Cura (free slicer program) and print some spool hubs, this way the filament spool turns much more smoothly and doesn't need to be supervised. I didn't do this straight away and had the filament spool pull the holder off its shelf. This could have damaged the printer if I wasn't around to catch it. There are plenty of upgrades but the spool hubs are essential and improved my print quality by providing much more consistent and manageable feed rates.
Here is my tip buy a ender 3
Man, almost every RUclipsr out there is gonna say that only the "name brand" stuff (Ultimaker, Prusa, etc) is worth it. It's total BS. I personally own an Anet A8, got it online for $160. I've put $15 extra for a glass plate, and plan on spending another $3 for a mosfet for the heated bed. Let me tell you: it works beautifully. My school has a mid-range Lulzbot that cost them $500 or so and the performance between the two is nearly identical. I'm pretty sure theirs doesn't have a heated build plate, either. No reasons for these 3D printing elitists to bash on the economy kits as not even worth it when it opens up the community to way more members.
I agree, thanks for watching
I also own a Anet A8, and I really happy with it :)
But you can't compare other printers like le Lulzbot with the Anet A8. They don't offer the same security. Anet A8 mainboard is a cheap one and there is a pretty high chance that it will fail one day (mine still works though). Anet A8 connectors are not (properly) strained relief neither. The PSU cables that are not protected + not crimped is very dangerous (without any PSU box mod). More than one Anet A8 catched fire ;-)
The print quality of the Anet A8 can be really really good. It possible to have the same quality than an other one that cost $500 -> $1000. But not at the same speed :)
Just to say. Anet A8 is good when you know what you're doing,
Why would you want to do that?
+David, stop that. And same to to an extent to +Martin White.
This machine is good, for the money. BUT it is not as good as many more expensive machines, as it comes. You can get a better A8 with modifications, which you don't need to do to more expecive machines, like the original, Prusa machines.
Yes, if you want to tinker, or don't have the money but doesn't mind doing that. Anet A8 is a great machine
If you want to just print, without the first you do print some exchange/extra parts to your printer. You should pay some more and by an original machine, like the Prusa.
So in short, they have different targets and different demands. So yes, you actually trade things away with less money, like a bad PSU. BUT if you know that, it is ok and could even be a perfect machine.
So Martin and David. Are you ok with your machine, don't bash others that have different goals.
(Yes, I do have a Anet A8 myself)
The Anet A8 can be made WAY more safe with a couple simple things,
1. Solder the hot bed wires instead of using the flimsy plug.
2. Use a mosfet for at least the heated bed and also hotend for overkill.
3. Put a fusible switch on the power supply.
Dude, I like the way you did this. Clean, straight to the point. No music or special effect distractions. Makes me wanna buy a Anet A8 and I'm not even looking for a 3D printer.
Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it!
I agree.
Thomas Veach You are def...There is music in the background.
RC Hobbyist Extreme Yeah but it's not overbearing or distracting almost unnoticeable
I did the same thing as you. I got the same printer for the same reasons as you and I could not be happier. My prints look every bit as good as prints from much more expensive machines. I absolutely 100 percent agree. Great video and great advice.
That's great to hear, thanks for watching!
Bought one for my son because he wanted to learn about 3d printing. Build it, upgraded it and used it quite well. He sold the upgraded and improved printer and bought a better one. The a8 is still in use at his friend he sold it too.
So yes, for my son it was a perfect printer. He learned how they work, troubleshoot the little problems it had and how to fix them. He is 13 and autistic btw.
mightress Oh wow, is he?? I am too! :)
that's really nice of you! i wish my parents could do this to me at his age.
Nice! What better printer did he buy?
The most valuable tricks I learned on my Tronxy x8 (similar to anet a8)
1) put a 3mm or so thick pane of glass on the heated build plate.
2) Slicer: set the line width a little smaller than the nozzle, set the layer height around .2mm, use a fan at about 25% .
3) Get ABS to adhere to the build plate, just spill a little acetone on the build plate and rub a piece of ABS on there where the print will be. a very clean and thin film of ABS will result so you don't have to maintain a jar of liquid slurry.
4) you can also print pet-g on the same thin film of ABS.
i don't use PLA but maybe it would also stick to an ABS slurry.
Thanks for the great tips!
Bought one. Built it. LOVE IT!!!! After a little tinkering to get it level and feeding filament consistently, it's worked perfectly for over a year now. No issues, just printing cool stuff!!! Highly recommend this kit.
Good to hear, thanks for commenting!
First and most important upgrade that I made to my Anet A8 was to add 1/8 inch thick Aluminum plate doublers to both ends of the Y axis. Then replaced the shattered Y axis motor mount with a purchased 17 Stepper motor metal bracket. It now prints awesome and is over a year old now.
European sockets don't have a standard polarity, so even if you install the correct wires to the printer's power supply, you might get live or ground on your brown cable, depending on the wall socket you are using or whether you plug your cable one way or the other to the wall or extension socket.
Yeah, I live in the US. There are devices that have polarity requirements while others don't
I brought this printer and it printed surprising well once I had assembled it. The best upgrade I done so far is installing a glass bed (Ultra Base clone). Followed closely by Octoprint.
I love my Anet A8. I have had it for 2 years and use out daily.
Very well edited video and informative content. I purchased the Alunar version of this same printer 03/16, still printing awesome today. Only failure I have had concerning build quality has been the positive lead on the build plate came loose and had to re solder it. Looks like your version had a connector instead. Happy printing!
I love my ANET A8. I Bought a cheap $3 picture frame from a discount shop and removed the glass and place that on my heat bed. I then use folder clips to attach it to the bed.(It's easier and faster to level the bed with a true flat surface)
I give the glass a very light mist of hair spray before placing it on the bed .
And after a big print i remove the glass give it a wipe down with paper towel and methylated spirits (alcohol) another very light mist of hair spray, clip the glass back on and its good to go again.( never had a print lift ).
Great vid .
Thanks for the tips!
Had my A8 for months, possibly over a year now and it's has been perfectly fine, I'd recommend one as a first purchase.
Always makes me laugh how many people can't follow instructions but still feel qualified to post technical videos on YT. :D
Yeah, I've been happy with mine for over three months. There are some real haters out there. It's not a perfect printer, but it works for my needs. Thanks for watching.
I've been running an Anet A8 now for 2 years without any measure of major issue. I saved myself a massive amount of headache and installed a BLTouch after about 6 months. OMG that was one of the best $20 I've ever spent. I now never have to level my printer. It only fails to level 1 out of every 15 times or so. I simply re-start the print and it behaves.
I'm now just about to start printing TPU with my A8. I've put PLA, ABS and Nylon through it so far with NO printing/extruding issues.
I bought an Anet A6 printer. Brilliant printer if you construct properly. Printed z-xis bearing supports and stable. Marked the z-axis left/ right stepper drives to both be equal height. Sometimes disabling stepper drives and making sure z level important. Very happy with it.
Have an A8 myself. Was very surprised how well it prints. Mostly slicer settings that improve things for me.
Tons of upgrade parts available on thingiverse. Better part cooling shroud, belt tensioners, frame braces.
And some people replace the frame with extruded aluminum structure.
And he's right a fantastic online community... One of the reasons I gave it a shot too.
Great video.. thx.
Thanks for the tips, and thanks for watching!
Your explanation on why you wired it the way you did might have saved someone else's life. I love the fact that you explain saftey issues .
Thanks Edward!
I am not hating, i just trying to understand your thought process.
9:10 Ok, let me see if i got it right, you are saying that live and neutral are swaped right ? but is the green wire is connected to ground?
As long as the earth wire is connected to the right place having L and N wires swaped will be irrelevant, the case will be connected to the green wire, if the green wire is connected to earth as it should and the live wire toches the case it will cause a short circuit.
9:40 Your argument doen't make sense, in the beginning you talk about N and L and at the end you make it sound like the earth wire is wrong
I don't know about a wiring but I followed the wiring diagram and when I went to plug it in I got a little tickle, I was not touching any metal so I wonder if something wrong with ground. My printer works though so idk.
after all the Manual isn't laying may be he did found that its a fault
Exactly what I'm thinking. The ground will always ground the circuit no matter if the L and N are switched (which is natural in AC circuits). If its DC output then their would be a problem way before any wire got loose
I’m an electrician, and when building the pipe racks for data centers we use ten foot long pieces of all thread to hang the strut from the ceiling. Multiple levels of conduit on the racks calls for a nut on top and bottom of each level to hold the strut at a specific height. Instead of spinning the rod, we used a piece of rod about 6 inches long and wound some duct tape onto the rod. Then chucked this lollipop looking thing into the drill. That way you can friction spin the nut without damaging anything. You could get something like a worn out paddle bit and cover the sharp end in cheap tape, then it becomes a specific and useful tool that will snap in and out of your impact. Note: think about what way your spinning and what way your tape is wrapped.
The A8 was my first printer... I built it, got frustrated with it and then didn't touch it two years... Now I own 3 printers and 2 of them are A8's... including my first... at least as far as the frame goes... I built my 3rd printer from scratch around an A8 frame with a Titan Extruder and V6 hotend... all in all, I like the A8... it's low cost makes it a good starting point for a custom build...
Good video,no stupid music and the correct amount of information.You have just sold me a 3d printer that I don’t need.
I've had my Anet A8 for 2yrs now. It's an excellent printer for the $. The only problem so far was the hot bed connection, after the 3rd 1Kg spool of filament. I just soldered the wires directly. Works great with PLA & PETG. I've made lots of models ranging from the files that came with the printer to motorcycle and firearm parts that I designed myself. I do plan to purchase another.
Good to know! I have had a couple of problems that were pretty easy fixes.
Bought a anet a6 135euros, assembled in a morning and was printing by afternoon, included in the price accessories and 0.5kg spool which i already spent....super cool learning, already upgraded for 0.6 nozzle and learned to setup it better to print almost flawless!
I think that was a big take away for me as well. Some of these super cheap 3D printers can produce decent prints with a little effort on our part. For me I bought this printer to learn about 3D printing. Good luck with your upgrades!
For me it was the only option or an A8, but the A6 was smaller and my room is small. Also i have no money so it was either that or never get into 3D.
which country are you from, here in India we have phase line coming out from right of the plug socket and neutral from the left of the plug socket,may be ur country follows this in reverse or ur house connected in reverse 9:10
I love my two A8s. They don't look much like they did in the beginning with all the upgrades overtime but have paid for themselves 10 times over.
That's really cool! What kind of upgrades did you do? I'd love to hear suggestions.
That's really cool! What kind of upgrades did you do? I'd love to hear suggestions.
H plate is upside down.
Marcos Ramirez works either way...
JAY IRVING It does, but the belts aren’t completely paralleled to each other.
Marcos Ramirez ahh ok i see. Guess i gotta swap mine.
Thats the way the instructions say how to install it(95% sure) but most people end up flipping it to keep the belts parallel
I originally placed mine according to the instructions, but later turned it upside down :)
Great vid thanks but you are absolutely correct about the reversed wires being an issue if you are using the earth. Neutrals are cross bonded at the power source (distribution box in the home, sub or station depending on earth type) so will get a GFI/RCBO fault everytime you plug it in. Without the earth it wouldn't matter but I wouldn't have an exposed case on a 2-pin plug.
The mod I've done to my A8 that seems to have made the biggest difference is using glass on the bed with some 3D printed nubs to hold the glass on the bed. I use a set of feeler gauges and manually level to .006mm across 12 points before printing. It works pretty decent.
Another is some tension brackets for the X and Y axis belts.
Thanks for the great suggestions!
If you find the Y-axis stiff check the aluminium H is flat. When it's stamped out during manufacturing it it gets a slight curve which puts the bearings out of alignment. I bent mine flat by placing it on two rods on the floor and pressing in the middle. Made big difference. Overall I'm getting pretty good results from my A8. I paid £100 in the UK for the Anet version. There are even cheaper versions available that use a wood frame. Best upgrade I've done so far was to replace the linear bearings with Drylin.
Those are some great suggestions! Thanks for the feedback!
I just ordered one for $89 shipped from China. Good video.
Wow that is almost half of what I paid. Good luck with your build, let me know how it goes
where did you buy it from???
I got it on Ebay. That seller only had 20 units and sold them all in a few days.
I hope you get good copy of A8 and you wont regret it.
But i got a very bad one. I never recommend buying A8.
@@jw200 you probably just got a bad batch, but you could also opened up a ticket to whoever you bought the printer from and ask for a exchange.
I have had my Anet A8 for about a year now. The only thing I did was get an 8x8 piece of glass out of a Walmart picture frame, and use paper clamps to hold to bed. I also used clear elmers glue then rubbing alcohol to clean/sticky the surface before printing. It's about time for some new belts, but i don't print a lot. P.S. You better get good at Fusion 360 3D modeling or all you can do is print other peoples stuff.
If the live wire comes loose it will conduct to GND and fuse will blow unless you have a security breaker (you could have a problem if you stupidly use a non grounded outlet) so it really makes no difference if you reverse phase and neutral for that reason. In Europe we can plug the plug in either way - so these are swapped all the time.
9:35 WTF???? Yea, it's ok to put brown to neutral and blue to live, but the blue wire can be live or neutral. It depens on how you plug the cord in the wall. It doesn't matter at all
Small corrction: not any type of plug allows reverse plugging. I live in Eruope and here you can plug in froundet or ungrounded plug in both ways.
I own this printer took 11 hours to put together upgraded to mosfet and put a power supply that can safely push the correct juice so you don't have a fire issue. Some small tweaks to calibrate it an it runs awesome. I just use cura for my slicer program an most upgrade parts you can print for it right on the machine itself how can you argue with that
I think these cheap printers are worth every penny..I bought my Tronxy P802M(which is similar to the A8) about a year and a half ago and it has given me zero problems...It was fun to assemble and the best part is that the cost of the kit is way cheaper than sourcing the parts and building one from scratch which is exactly what I was going to do before buying the Tronxy kit.
I bought the Anet A8 a while ago, and the instructions were in Chinese. Not only that, but two problems happened after following an online English tutorial: One of the ball bearings fell apart (fixed it with duct tape), and the extruder's temperature started dropping during printing. I bought a new extruder, installed it, but I still have to re-measure everything, reset the temperature, and hope it works. That's a whole day's work, and I kinda wish it wasn't. However, it did start printing after assembly and hook-up. The heat bed might need a plastic cover or something to keep the print from sliding everywhere. 😐 I did learn a lot by putting it together myself, I just wish the parts all worked correctly in the first place. 😑
one of the things I did when I built mine was make some cardboard washers from a cornflakes packet and place them with a steel washer between the springs and the underside of the bed as I suspect after some time the springs will scratch through and short, the other thing was get rid of the heatbed plug
Good to know, thanks for sharing!
Excellent checking the wiring to make sure that you have proper earth. People don’t know how dangerous that can be, hooked up backwards. Good catch.
You can make two loops half an inch apart in your X belt with zip ties. Then loop another zip tie thru those loops and tighten it to add belt tension. The one way action of the zip tie is very good at maintaining tension.
Good to know, thanks for sharing!
I’ve seen them as cheap as $140 on gearbest. I’ve never had an issue with mine, ever, and have gone through 4 rolls of filament. The Anet A8 Facebook page is a good resource
Good to know! Thanks for the tip
Spend $2 at the hardware store on 3mm washers. Add washers to all the screws holding the frame together. I did everything except stepper motors. Its rock solid.. no extra gussets or supports required. Print a x axis tensioner... perfect prints!
Thanks for the suggestions, I may have to try that!
I could only find zinc 3m is that fine?
Patrick Rivera any kind will work. It just helps increase the surface area that the screw is putting tension on.
Good advice, but we can do MORE! Get SQUARE nuts for all of the 3mm screws. The hex nuts allow for 6 different axis of movement. The square nuts with LOCK washers end ANY movement between the two parts. Your printer will always be square and immovable. So many people design stiffeners for this printer when all it takes is to use the proper hardware in the first place. I wish Anet would have provided square nuts to go with their SQUARE slots, but I got my square nuts off ebay for cheap and its worth the cost. I have them on all of my A8s with superb results. Great advice Jay!
Hi, which parameter did you change to improve prints on small diameters ?
I have the same problem and I can't find an efficient solution
I own a a8. It works good once you fine tune it. Upgrades can and do help. The acrylic frame will wabble as ot prints.
Had (have) this printer, tried printing with it and it was always either not leveled or builds kept un-adhereing. I thought mine was just weird or broken, but it turns out after I bought another printer it was just that I didn't have my heated bed turned on and I was trying to print abs without an enclosure as well...
hi, I have problem in my new anet A8 board v1.7 ... When the initial operation, the extruder is directed to the opposite side to the end and continues for a while the engine rotates even when the extruder reaches the end ... The same applies to the surface ... Also, the z direction motor works one and the other does not work .. Note that I almost checked the connections All are correct, i am using Anet A8,How do you think the problem is solved?
I like the video. Good tips. I look forward to your video on the upgrades you made. One thing I am curious about is the upgrades you print, and the upgrades you purchase (if any). Thanks for the video!
Thanks for watching!
I have already built my 3d printer but the only thing I didn't connected yet is my positive and negative wires to the motherboard. the motherboard didn't show which was which. could you help with this one problem
Check the documentation that came with your printer
Looking at 5:46, your belt looks off set. This is caused by having the front plate on backwards. If you measure the each edge to the center of the the holes, you will see the front plate is not symmetrical.
huh, interesting. I'll have to investigate that a little more. Just looking at it in person, it doesn't look off set. Maybe the video made it look weird.
By "offset", I think he means vertically. As you look at the Y platform from the side, the upper and lower sides of the belts should be parallel to each other. With the support plate mounted the way it's described in the instructions, the upper belt will be higher, which can cause binding at the ends of travel. I've seen this mentioned on a couple of build videos for the A8.
You don't have to take the whole plate off to fix this, which if you did, would require the careful tightening of the screws going into the linear bearings. You can just take the cross plate off and move it from the top to the bottom.
Nope I mean left to right position. Brightbluejim is also correct about the H plate being upside down though. I just don't think the H plate orientation matters as much at the point you're at. As you start to tighten you belts, you will want to flip it around to keep the force from pulling down.
I was skipping teeth when the plate was at the front of the travel because the belt wasn't lined up left to right because of the asymmetrical front acrylic AND my H plate was upside down. Honestly, I don't think it matters much unless you are printing faster than you should. I did notice it made things a little quieter when I fixed it though.
Nope I mean left to right position. Brightbluejim is also correct about the H plate being upside down though. I just don't think the H plate orientation matters as much at the point you're at. As you start to tighten you belts, you will want to flip it around to keep the force from pulling down.
I was skipping teeth when the plate was at the front of the travel because the belt wasn't lined up left to right because of the asymmetrical front acrylic AND my H plate was upside down. Honestly, I don't think it matters much unless you are printing faster than you should. I did notice it made things a little quieter when I fixed it though.
Well done! I want one! The only thing I see wrong is that the prints look small, in fact they are small. I saw a (very very expensive) 3D printer (which also cut by laser too) back in 2007 in the US and that was creating big prints and I mean 80 cm high, 20-25cm width and depth. So comparing, the little boat is very small. Could I print for example parts 200mm width, depth and high? Other thing is... where do the reels of filament hang?
Super job - totally agree with the live and neutral reversal mod.
Thanks for watching!
If a live wire were to come loose, as long as the yellow wire is where it's supposed to be, it would cause a short circuit and blow a fuse. I don't see how the color of the wire makes any difference.
I believe you're confusing return current "neutral" with safety "ground", the chassis of the power supply is grounded. The reason for grounding the chassis is not for return current, if you're in contact with the chassis and the live wire comes free and contacts the case also, you won't be electrocuted!
you should never fasten wires without crimped cableshoes anyway so what he did in the video is unsave in itself also with cableshoes the chance that a wire comes lose i near to nothing since the whole screw needs to drop out to get the wire out anyway
That's what I thought too
I'm definitely no electrical engineer, but I know stuff about electricity, but want to understand what the problem is:
Yes you are right, the cable is wired backwards and that’s not correct, and yes, swapping line and neutral CAN be dangerous, (depending on how the PSU was designed, but nowadays they almost all have the same clearances)
you said that if the live wire were to come loose, the case would earth the current, but if the wires are swapped, dangerous voltages would be present in the case, won’t those be earthed as well?
I'm not saying you have done the wrong thing, I’m trying to understand the problem, maybe I’m biased because I’m used to reversible European plugs
I got a6 which is really similar. It's OK for getting into 3d printing and fault finding if you have nerves and time. Now after more than year I decided to give prusa mk3 a ago and boy is the experience so much better. Right out of the box immediately better results even though I've modded a6 heavily. Also it's whisper quiet compared to a6. All the safeties are on by default (know that a6 and a8 are fire hazards out of box). Also no more leveling, taping the bed etc. If you have the money, skip and go directly to prusa or something else with better quality. Anet models just are pos devices without vast modifications
In European Union and several other coutries and according to IEC 60446 , blue wire is (always) neutral and brown wire is phase (hot wire). The phase can also be gray or black for wiring.
Please describe what settings you changed to get the better benchy print please. I'm new to 3d printing and trying to get better quality prints with mine.
I think my first problem was I was trying to print benchy too small. I scaled him down too much on my first try. Play around with print speed (60-80) and hot end temperature (around 205-210 degrees C for PLA) and bed temperature (60-70 degrees C). Keep printing until you like what you get. Good luck!
@@bytesizedengineering Thanks for replying!
I don’t think it matters on A/C because if you are from Europe you can switch the N and L because the plug can go in both ways also your plug can be wired backwards lol
this man electricity
It shouldn't matter here either, but I wanted to stick to convention.
I love my anet a8. It isn't a pretty printer, or a very friendly printer. But by getting it, you have to learn how it works. And it gives you a deeper understanding of how FDM printers work
I totally agree. Thanks for watching!
I'm very confused with the original plug on the video. As I look closer to the plug, I didn't see the manufacturer reverse the wiring. (By imagining the plug is plugged into the wall) The upper is Earth (yellow), the left is neutral (Blue), the right is Live (Brown, usually connected with fuse), and that's exactly what I saw on the video.
Did I really mess up with the wiring? I did google the wiring standard and I see no mistake on the plug.
Bonjour 🤝
Peut-on imprimer du filament flexible avec cette imprimante ?
Merci 🙏
Just one question. When you build it are you able to move it arround the house with no problems? Or are there problems?
Its not junk, at all. Its cheap, and you need to be mechanically inclined and a bit of an engineer. Its also good to have a machine shop and an account to McMaster Carr for replacement parts when you get the damaged and bent version like I did. Definitely add a relay or transistor for switching that heat plate on and off. Next go to thingiverse and print out some upgraded parts or design your own in some CAD to make the darn thing much less a headache to deal with. I love it now i got it working perfectly. You get what you pay for.
Yeah, like I said in the video, this printer isn't for everyone. It was perfect for me. I actually didn't have to do much to get it to work well. I will have a video coming out soon with the modifications I made to it.
I own one of those printers too, and making it work and improving it was a fun little hobby when I was new to 3D printing and had time to spare. However, the sheer number of quality issues and calibration problems you're going to experience makes it way too frustrating to deal with long term especially if you need something reliable and user friendly that your coworkers can figure out. So honestly you get what you pay for.
Blue, Brown and Yellow/Green are the UK colour standard and the instructions were correct for that. The mains cable was faulty
3 years on with using my Anet A8 and I can say it has been printing nearly ever single day throughout the 3 years, and i make outstanding equipment /products on it,
Anyway this guy describes who best would enjoy having one.
I can also say i have No mods on mine. But i did change the Firmware to Marlin and is needed to do so for the fire risk
Basically the Thermal runaway problem.
I dont know if the latest version of the Anet a8 software is any better.
Great lil printer, Kids bought me one. I've made a good few mods, printer produces pretty good results now, though it really needs a better power supply. The one it comes with though sufficient is not exactly safe and is at its limit.
I got an anet a8 from a friend. I ended up changing all the parts on it. Aluminum frame E3d V6 and Titan extruder. I want to get a duet card and use octoprint on it.
Where's the link for the video of the assembly you watched and included a clip of? Sorry if I'm just missing it in all the "unbiased" links to give you kickbacks ...
The order of the AC wires didn’t matter so much in Europe (reversible plugs), also for someone who says that will use their electric engineering skills on this assemble, it’s strange that you didn’t use any terminals.
I have an anet A8 and my first benchy doesn’t compare with your results (and I didn’t have any prior experience I’m 3d printing). Some considerations: you mounted the heat bed support reversed (it’s a common mistake because the video instructions are wrong), I think you didn’t tension well the belts (I use some belt springs), you should add more play on the “shaft” that connects with the threaded rods.
My modifications (most did from the day 1):
Mosfets and thicker wires
New connectors to the heatbed
Springs to tension the belts
Glass (the aluminum bed wasn’t perfect flat)
Careful assembly with a digital caliper
The polarity of AC wires isn't crucial here in the US as long as your appliance doesn't have a metal chassis. So my cell phone charger for example can plug in either way, but my computer has a third prong (earth) which requires it to be plugged in a certain way. I'll be honest I like the way European plugs solved these issues, it's much better than how we do it here in the US. Good call on the terminals, that would have been safer. The power supply was one of the first things I want to upgrade. I bought a switched/fused IEC connector that I'm going to install. On the heat bed bracket, I tried both ways until I found a way I liked. Belt tension upgrades was the first thing I did after getting this up and running. I downloaded some good solutions on thingiverse. Thanks for the tips, I appreciate your feedback.
UK has a 3 pin connector that only goes in one way. Convention says Brown = Live, Blue = Neutral and Green/Yellow is Earth (Ground). I can only assume that the Chinese got their plug on the wrong way as no way should the Blue be live.
Samuel Carreira hn
I still don't get it it. What makes you think that it is unsafe to reverse N and L? The case of the psu is earthed anyway so nothing changes. It really doesn't matter. The path to ground is the same. That's the exact reason why we can reverse eu plugs. Because it is irrelevant and just makes life a little bit easier. Everytime i unplug my printer i probably reverse my connections. I also never checked if N and L are reversed on my cable because i can't control it anyway because of the reversable plugs. I only checked if earth has continuity considering the cable came from china. As long as the earth wire is correct you have nothing to worry about. The printer will function and you will be safe. It only matters if you install a switch that only switches one wire to turn the printer off. This could give you the wrong assumption that there is no voltage on the psu anymore even though there still is voltage because N is actually live.
Tobias L. This is how I see it. You don't want to switch earth and neutral, that seems more like the dangerous scenario. I used terminals and solder. I think the polarity matters on a 3 phase system, for example, but no one uses that daily.
Subscribed 👍. Keep up the good work as I really like your RUclips style! You’ve got my curiosity.
Thanks for the feedback and subscription, I really appreciate it!
But what did you change the settings to?
Did they not make a new one that fixed the power thingy from frying its self
Where can I find how to tune a 3D printer?
Wait? Blue = LIVE and Brown = NEUTRAL? That is the opposite to Europe (UK, at least)
Yes, that's the reason I was confused and hesitant. I think the cable I received did not follow the standard colors.
In Czech BROWN = phase, BLUE = 0 and GREAN-YELLOW = ground
I got the same with my A8 … and i just throw that cord to trash can and get one spare from PC where the colors where right… to got it right and not confuse me in later upgrades.
Aus is the same as UK. Brown = ACTIVE/LIVE, Blue = NEUTRAL... Beware... :)
What do you call the white plastic part that holds the pulley and travels up and down on the 2 shafts? Where can I buy this part?
I'm not sure what it's called. It came with the kit.
Zach, it's great that you caught the error in the instructions regarding wiring the line cord, but I'm a bit confused. You started out talking about the LIVE (HOT) and NEUTRAL being reversed, but then at about 9:30, it sounds like you're saying HOT and EARTH were reversed. Please clear it up for me.
Sorry for the confusion. The cable that came with my printer had the live (hot) and neutral wires reversed from the conventional color standard. I used a multimeter to determine which prong went to which wire.
Seems like the wiring instructions for the PSU were for UK mains. We have the live on brown and the neutral on blue.
Better to start with a cheap 3DP so if you do something horrible wrong, and it break, no big deal, you learn.
And if you decide its not for you, you can gift it away and make someone happy.
There is more, technology is evolving, your pricy printer will be obsolete in the blink of an eye.
1 Axis resin epoxy + UV bottom projection, and 5 Axis printers are getting the spotlight.
I think you are mistaken on the AC cord wiring. There is a world-wide standard for power cords, and it is brown = hot, blue = neutral, yellow/green = earth ground. (This supersedes the old standard of black = hot, white = neural, green = earth ground.) It is highly unlikely that the cord was miswired, but if it was, you should terminate that cord with extreme prejudice and replace it with a correctly-made one. If they got the colors wrong, you don't know what else they did wrong, and this is the kind of carelessness that causes house fires.
Looking at the video at 9:10, I see that you are clearly measuring continuity between the hot blade and the blue wire, so yes, that cord is improperly wired.
I bought an Anet A6 about a month ago. I'm checking the cord polarity right now ... wow. Mine's wrong, too! It looks like they got a bad batch.
Wow! That's crazy! That makes me feel a little validation for my questionable wiring. That just goes to show that it's always a good idea to double check things like that. Since filming this video I've gotten rid of that cable and replaced the power supply wiring with a fused IEC connector with a switch. I feel a little better about this now. Thanks for all your great suggestions on this thread by the way. It's super helpful to have people who know what they're talking about chiming in.
I am adding a fused IEC connector switch too. I wanted to double checked my original wiring before installing it. That led me to your great video. I did the continuity test on the cord and and sure enough live and neutral are reversed. But later on in your video (at 10:06) brown and blue are reversed again! Was that an editing error or am I just confused?
Are you going to do another video soon? I received my printer around the same time and I’d be interested in how you are getting on with it compared to how I am.
A video showing my A8 upgrades is in the works. Thanks for watching.
excellent looking forward to it, great work!
It's a great first printer. Build an enclosure and print abs with no problems.
Hello,
I am looking for ur help.
I have bought anet a8 3d Printer. But y and z axis motor fixed plates are missing in the package.
It will be nice if you can share the parts picture with dimensions. I'll be able to manufacture the parts on my own.
Thank u.
Questions 1: can you get a finer tip extruder? Question 2: if you get said finer tip extruder, is the rest of the hardware precise enough for you to use it without stacking tolerances?
Great video. Would love to see follow-up videos on your 3d printing experiences.
Thank you so much! I will definitely be delving deeper into 3D printing now that I have a machine. I'm starting to see so many problems around my house and I say, "oh! I could 3D print something to fix that!"
I'm planning to get this 3D Printer sites.google.com/site/3DPrinterNow
Thank you! for the video I discover it when searching for a solution for my problem: My Display stays blue nothing is showed! Can you please advice or do you think I did something wrong? how can I solve this problem?
Do you do your own calibrations on your equipment? Noticed what looks like a fluke or tectronix cal module in the background.
I'm not sure what you saw, maybe my Rigol oscilloscope?
I have the 3DCStar P802 i3 clone (essentially Tronxy) as my second printer. The first being the M3D micro. The i3 clone was $100 less than the M3D and was bounds better. One of the best upgrades I did that made the largest improvement was buying an actual E3D V6 hot end. I also used a PTFE tube from the direct extruder to a fixed point on the frame so the pull on the spool made no effect on the carriage. Now I am experimenting with a removable flexible build plate (0.02" 1095 spring steel) with blue tape and glue stick and magnetically attaching it to the aluminum hot plate. Should make a world of difference with part removal.
Thanks for the great tips! I will probably look into getting a new hot end at some point. Let me know how your removable flexible build plate experiments go. I know the newest Prusa i3 has one that is supposed to be good.
byte sized I just had a few prints with the new flexible bed. I have to say, it's simply amazing. When you flex it, parts pop right off! And the tape stays intact. I started with glueing small round neo magnets (150°C rated) under the aluminum heat bed and the steel wasn't held firm as much as I liked, so I used a couple of magnets from old hard drives and that did the trick. I highly recommend this build for anyone with an FDM printer.
At 9:10 you are correct that the blue wire is the hot wire, but it's because the cord set that was provided with the printer is wired backwards from the factory. Brown is supposed to be the hot wire, and blue is supposed to be the neutral (European color code). So swapping the blue and the brown was the correct thing to do (if you are going to use this cord).
However, the instructions for the printer are correct, it's just that the manufacturer of the cord got it backwards at the factory.
www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/reference/chpt-2/wiring-color-codes-infographic/
BTW, nice catch! :)
would you recommend adding acrylic glue to the joints for added support?
I've heard of people using the wrong type of glue and it shatters the acrylic. I would do more research and experiment first before using it on my machine.
Good to know, I have some acrylic specific glue; will do some testing.
can you tell me why the nozzle dont stay heated goes up to 184 and remains at 117 so it means its not printing right helpppppppppppppppp please.
The nozzle has two parts to make it work. The heating element that makes it hot, and a thermistor to measure how hot it's getting. The control board uses these two parts in a control loop. The thermistor is the feedback. I would check to make sure both parts are plugged into the control board and check the nozzle end to make sure the thermistor isn't loose. I had mine come loose once and that caused problems with the control loop.
@@bytesizedengineering thanks alot sure enough that little white thing came out the hole on the nozzle
@@glenmccall4571 AND that's.. Exactly.. How and Why Anets earned their title: "Firestarter"
Wrap some tinfoil around the thermistor until it's a tight friction fit into it's little hole. Or buy a heater block with a screw to lock it in ~2$
@@barenekid9695 yes thank you that was the problem kool but you have the setting for a smooth print one where i can use for everything i have cura latest but everyone have diff setting but i confused on which best do you have a good one
I don't get what's the problem with reversing power and neutral, when the ground wire is correct....
If the chassis is connected to the ground wire it will pop the fuse if live touches the chassis.
Great video! I’m excited to see when you reach 100,000 subs
Thanks Conner! I appreciate your support!
Thats not impatience, thats efficiency lol. Did the second benchy float?
I know there are many valid safety concerns in switching the live and neutral wire, but "the live becoming loose and coming in contact with case" seems like a problem regardless of whether the live and neutral are switched. Wouldn't the earth wire function the same either way regardless of which colour wire carries live current....
If current leaks to the metal case, the earth wire takes it out. Why does it matter if the live wire is mislabeled in regards to this reason ?
can you print ABS in this printer?
Ive just recently bought and I3 A8 and within 30 days the motherboard went out and the company refuses to honor their warranty yes I totally agree
You did mount the H bracket for the bed wrong. The middle part goes at the bottom.
Thanks for the tip, I actually fixed this after filming this video.
There is a must do upgrade for these printers and that's a mosfet for the heated bed, and a second for the hot end. The 12v from the PSU is too much for the underrated board connectors, so it's only a matter of time before they fail and become a fire hazard. The $160 price should also come with the caveat that you will also be spending another $80 making the printer safe.
I've heard that from a lot of people. I haven't seen anyone actually quote numbers and reference any datasheets to back up that claim. I am going to look up the part numbers and read the datasheets to determine if there is any base to these claims.
some electronics connects a resistor from the metal parts to the neutral wire of the cord.
wiring it backwards can liven up the body of the device at a very low current since the resistor limits the current too.
lamp sockets if you reverse the wires you liven up the threaded part of the light socket and that is very bad because there you have no resistor to limit the current so you can get zapped very bad.
since the 3d printer is a computer device reversing the wires can send line voltages back through to the computer if the device connects to the computer directly via like usb or ethernet
I love my anet a8, however it is not for everyone. And they have better printers now for cheap. Lot of work lot of mods and 100% awesomeness once all done and tuned perfect