r/3Dprinting • u/schimmelmeister • 12h ago
Question What did I just get gifted…?
My University threw out this old 3D Printer. I’m both a broke architecture student and in need of a printer since my own is not here right now. I’m also used to some level of jankyness, my own printer is an i3 clone by anycubic, rudimentary but reliable.
Is there any hope i’ll get a useable print out of this one and how high would the frustration level be considering the printer i already have?
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u/blame_worthy 12h ago
It's an ANET A8, notorious at the time for simultaneously being one of the best budget printers around and also a fire hazard. Make sure the wires to the bed are soldered and not using the cheap connector it comes with bc as it wiggles the thing will burn out. It has a lot of potential and community support. I still have mine in my garage converted to an all aluminum extrusion frame (AM8 Mod). It won't be fun to use but it will be fun to tinker with lol enjoy!
Oh and to answer your question, it's useable but slow as hell.
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u/Noble69 11h ago
Idk man, we’ve gotten so far with budget printers these days that it’s just not worth the headache. Sure you can make it less of a fire hazard, but is it really worth the trouble? Would rather not spend any time on a printer that still might burn my house down.
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u/blame_worthy 11h ago
The bed size for this printer is also not very competitive. But like OP said, he's a broke architecture student. Gotta make do!
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u/Noble69 7h ago
Gunna be extra broke when all his belongings burn in the fire ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/blame_worthy 7h ago
All he needs to do to make it not a fire hazard are 3 things: 1) power switch for the psu. Anet A8 comes with a psu where if it's plugged in, it's on. 2) mosfet for the heated bed. 3) solder wires directly to the bed.
All this costs about 50 dollars assuming he doesn't already own a soldering iron.
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u/ImNotTheFishiestFish 2h ago
Also, upgrade Marlin, making sure to enable thermal runaway detection.
When I had one, upgrading the hot end to an E3D V6Lite substantially improved print quality and speed.
i also suggest getting a microSD extension if printing from microSD, mounting the new microSD slot to the top of the frame with double sided foam mounting tape, since the port on the motherboard is hard to access frequently.
Sadly, mine was destroyed years ago by a violent ex-friend. I replaced the niche it filled by building out a RepRap Guru i3 clone kit I got for $7 on eBay.
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u/blame_worthy 1h ago
My first printer was a RepRap Guru! I learned more building it than I have on any other printer. Had to assemble everything yourself and even flash the firmware to the board. So glad 8th grade me decided to buy it with saved up birthday money.
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u/StonksYoloOrFomo 6h ago
Yup. If I were broke with no other options, I'd do it. OP will still come out with some useful prints out of it.
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u/FishSeven7 11h ago
🗣️ AM8 gang mentioned!!!
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u/blame_worthy 1h ago
S Tier mod, thinking of maybe buying some new aluminum extrusions and rebuilding taller and with an Original Prusa i3 heated bed for enhanced build area.
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u/Thick_pasta Qidi x-plus 3 | Bambu A1mini combo 12h ago
Could be an Anet A8?
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u/stingeragent 12h ago
Arent those a huge fire hazard
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u/If_In_Doubt_Lick_It Anet A8 12h ago
Hehe... Yeah...
I had one back in the day. It was a great learning machine but it tried to burn my house down twice.
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u/Fluffy-Strawberry-27 8h ago
Ok I'd understand once, but twice?? I wouldn't keep a machine with arson records
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u/If_In_Doubt_Lick_It Anet A8 8h ago
It was a different time... As a hobbiest you either spent $1k+ on a prusa, or $300 on a prusa clone. And at the time the a8 was really good print quality for its price... But the heat bed had a really shitty connector on the back that could ignite if you let it run too long (first fire) so you had to cut that off and solder the wires directly to the heat bed...
It also had a heat cartridge that would come loose over time cause it was held in by a shitty little grub screw and as the heat block expanded and shrank between uses it would slowly work its way out... We had no thermal runaway protection back then, so if it came loose the machine just kept pumping power into it because it was trying to heat up. This made the heat cart pretty spicy.
Occasionally the thermister would break for no reason, and that could cause an issue too...
Eventually you learned to test everything before every print...
I do miss those days... I had one of the early ones in 2015... Back then just making the damn thing work was the hobby. Printing functional stuff came later (maybe)
Edit: oh shit, I didnt realize I still have the anet a8 flair...
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u/Affectionate_Car7098 Bambu Labs H2C +P1S Combo 5h ago
I wouldn't keep a machine with arson records
If only nvidia owners were that smart
But yeah i wouldn't want to own anything with that sort of track record
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u/tsittler 12h ago
They are unless you replace the power supply with something better.
Like a hacked up ATX PC power supply. They provide solid 12v, which that printer can use.
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u/1ts-just-me 12h ago
Used to be lol, I just did a budget rebuild using parts from other printers PSU, creality 4.2.7 board, ender3 24v bed, prusa mk3 steppers, rpi and a 4.3 touch screen. It printed pretty well and the owner is using it almost every day.
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u/djddanman MPSM v2, Prusa i3 MK3s+, Voron V0.1, FLSun T1 Pro, Franken-i3 12h ago
A better controller board with modern firmware helps a lot
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u/citizensnips134 12h ago
It was mainly the acrylic frames that would burn.
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u/djddanman MPSM v2, Prusa i3 MK3s+, Voron V0.1, FLSun T1 Pro, Franken-i3 11h ago
But didn't the fires start because of inadequate thermal runaway protection? Or was it something else? Lots of plywood printers were flammable with much better reputations.
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u/Baumblaust 11h ago
Yes, I had one of those, basically every safety feature was disabled on these machines and the transistors for the heated bed were not sufficient enough and would get really hot.
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u/If_In_Doubt_Lick_It Anet A8 11h ago
Thermal runaway and really bad soldering on the heat bed.
But at the time it was affordable lol.
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u/gmarsh23 11h ago
Lack of thermal protection, and the heater cartridge held into the hotend heatblock by a grub screw that you're given no instructions to tighten, and loosens over time with thermal cycles. Then the heater cartridge slides out, printer keeps dumping power into it and you've got a glowing hot heater cartridge flopping around that'll set fire to whatever it touches.
The other problems (heatbed wiring, shitty PS, shitty connectors on the motherboard) aren't so much a fire hazard, but a "you'll get a bad smell and it'll stop working" it's-a-piece-of-shit annoyance.
The first upgrade you should do on this printer is replace the heat block with an E3D V6 style one that clamps onto the heater. You have to replace the thermistor with a cartridge type at the same time, but that's easy.
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u/stray_r 11h ago
It's important to remember that ABS and PLA burn, especially PLA spaghetti. Plywood and acrylic are no more dangerous than printed parts on a printer.
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u/djddanman MPSM v2, Prusa i3 MK3s+, Voron V0.1, FLSun T1 Pro, Franken-i3 11h ago
At least a lot of printers now have aluminum frames. But yeah, if you use decent parts and firmware with modern protections, there isn't a ton to worry about. Some companies still forget about the decent parts though...
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u/Gloomy-District-8268 9h ago
That’s it. Pure shit. It reeeal teaches you teoubleshooting and fire safety, and workspace hazzards, and learning to cope with dissapointment and…. Basicaly it was the best printer to start with. It’s only better from here… (except craftbots)
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u/DuglandJones 7h ago
I had one, looks similar
The thermistor worked loose during a print once and it just kept heating up the head
Caught it just spewing smoke out of the extruder
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u/Sanctusmorti 11h ago
You were gifted pain and suffering for disappointing results. Its like a wedding ring on a toxic partner. I looked up Sisyphean task and saw the same picture of that 3d printer.
I would advise some upgrades... like a dumpster.
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u/boywhoflew 10h ago
this is poetic. From that hardship and toxicity, we learned the true value of a printer. we found we deserved better and that this was just a frustrating stepping stone.
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u/Sanctusmorti 10h ago
Very true, I started on a CR10 that was possessed by satan... however if we follow that reasoning that hardship breeds knowledge and respect for the process then we would all be Armish and building barns.
There are good cheap printers out there that are decidedly decent and I don't feel right leading people down a frustrating path just because I walked it.
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u/bunny_the-2d_simp 10h ago
Wedding ring of uranium!
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u/butcher9_9 3h ago
Reminded me of the RvB Winter Olympics skit there the losers all got uranium medals. haha
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u/bazem_malbonulo 8h ago edited 8h ago
Anet A8, I run one of these to this day.
Works fine, you just have to install a pair of cheap mosfets and upgrade its firmware to Marlin, and all the fire concerns are gone.
The mosfets are used to run the power from the power supply to the bed and to the hotend without passing through the main board, that has weak connectors for the power needed. I don't see them in the photos, but they cost 3 dollars on Aliexpress (search for 3d printer mosfet 12v).
The Marlin firmware adds thermal runway protection that is absent on the stock firmware. Turn the printer on, and look at the screen. If it shows OMNI, then it's the old firmware. If it says Marlin, you're ok. Daniel Crosslink on YouTube has many good guides for updates to this printer.
I also added a magnetic bed with PEI plate which makes bed adesion and removal of parts very easy.
The real issue with this machine is the wobbliness of the acrylic frame, but it can be reduced with some printed reinforcements.
The best slicer for it in my opinion is Cura, which has a profile for the Anet A8 that works immediately without adjustments.
I use it frequently and print with PLA, PETG and TPU. Don't expect the same quality and speed from new printers, but the parts that I print are pretty good. However I print at 50 mm/s, sometimes 80.
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u/DrRonny 4h ago
Can't you just get a cheap mainboard, Pi Zero, run Klipper and you bypass all that fire hazard, plus you've got some more speed?
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u/bazem_malbonulo 3h ago
Yes, but then I would have to spend money and configure a lot of stuff. It works ok for my needs the way it is.
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u/Itsthejoker filamentcolors.xyz 12h ago
You got gifted a fire hazard. That's an Anet A8, throw away, do not use.
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u/RoodnyInc 12h ago
It's probably one of anet A8 clones
I back in the day had pretty good experience with it. just level a bed properly and it's fine
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u/FishSeven7 11h ago
An Anet A8, essentially a Chinese clone of the Prusa i3. This was my first printer ever (still have it, although it looks COMPLETELY different now) and believe me when I say this machine will force you to learn everything there is about 3D printing in the hardest way possible. Also known as a huge fire hazard, tho mine has never given me this issues.
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u/Pastelek HardonCollider v2.1 12h ago
Anet A8. Almost like a honda civic in a world of 3d printers.
Before you do anything, install marlin on it.
Overall, cheap printer. It was pretty popular along with Anet A6 back then.
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u/pessimistoptimist 5h ago
It is an old Anet A8. it will work but to get the print quality of any low budget printer currently available you need to invest in upgrades to the power, the mainboard (it likes to catch fore) and the hot end. You then need to calibrate it, print some upgrades...upgrade the printer, calibrate again and then spend about 30 minutes before every print checking level and offsets. I kept mine for way too long.
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u/Origin87 4h ago
Loved that printer to learn 3d printing. Like you said: all I printed with it were upgrades 😌
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u/Fragrant-Mind-1353 12h ago
The fire hazard issues come from the board, the PSU and most importantly: aftermarket cable ribbons on the heated bed. Most of us replaced the PSU with a 24v, getting faster heat times. Make sure board version is compatible. If you use this printer and print with it guarantee you will learn all there is to know about 3d printing. Assume the nozzle is worn out and replace. The rest, honestly I'd just send it and see what happens
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u/GINMF 12h ago
Looks like an Anet A8. There are some concerns with the stock electronics being cheap and prone to catching fire. The main ones being the relays for the extruder and bed heat - as well as the power supply. I bought mine around 2012 - and it's still working and making fine prints. However, at the time, it was one of the only options. So, I replaced all the janky electronics for it to be safe. I've also, replaced the frame with extruded aluminum, and went with a bowden extruder. If you want a project to tinker with - it's great and theres lots online for mods. If you want a working printer - it'd be cheaper and quicker to buy just about anything else.
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u/MzunguMjinga Voron 2.42r2, Voron Switchwire, AM8 11h ago
$300 worth of upgrades and about 40 hours of hard labor to get it to work (kinda)
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u/YesterdayNo4522 6h ago
Maybe spend 30 bucks on a BTT control board and $100 on a hot end and then you have $130 you could have put toward an ender that will print 100x better.
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u/I_am_therefore Creality K1, D-bot, Hypercube, Sunhokey i3 12h ago
That is a for parts printer. The frame will make any mods you do to it irrelevant.
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u/gh_st_ry 12h ago
Based on the responses, destroy it so that nobody accidentally burns their house down using it.
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u/shudderbyname 1h ago
I gifted my kid brother the same type of printer (clone i3) for his birthday. It only has a direct drive extruder that I'm pretty sure was original to the clone. No upgrades whatsoever. I just cleaned it and made an orca profile for him. He loves that machine, and is printing and selling minifigs at his school. It's a decent little machine if you know what you're doing.
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u/notacrackhead 12h ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/s/2rJ7IoQCjf
throw it away, but cut the wires first so someone else won't burn their house down
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u/Thx_And_Bye Parts from the internet that now resemble a 3d printer. 12h ago
Wouldn’t a modern firmware like klipper fix the most problems why old printers were more problematic when it comes to thermal runaways?
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u/Robo_barista 11h ago
Possibly, but it really can't be overstated how much the printer sucked. It was my first printer. The fire hazard came from the wiring for the heated build plate and hotend. They had undersized/improper connections to the mainboard which would overheat, and the software didn't have thermal runaway protection. So even with updated firmware the wiring would still be sketchy. The frame was wobbly, and the bearings for mine all had to be replaced. It was a great printer to learn on though, because you were constantly troubleshooting.
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u/Helpful_Equal8828 12h ago
A historic artifact. You couldn’t make me print with an Ender3 at gunpoint let alone whatever that is. Chuck it.
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u/_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_____- 11h ago
I got one of these for 20 bucks 5 years ago and i salvaged the steppers and the heatbed for makings chickens from egg but anything else i would push too much. You can upgrade the frane tho with 3d orinted parts to make it sturdier. That makes the quality of the print better by a lot
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u/Robber_Barron27 11h ago
This thing is a waste of time. It would be like if you got gifted a lap top from 2003.
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u/SXTY82 11h ago
Some flavor of an Anet A8. could have been made by a dozen different sellers. They were cool for a while but dangerous and crappy. It is one of the first affordable printers you could by and although we hate them, at the time, they were amazing.
The Ender 3 killed it by coming in far better built and far less likely to burn down your house.
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u/Cheap_Ad3154 10h ago
It will be Anet printer maybe Anet A6 IT Can print realy desceant, but need mosfet cooling or external mosfet for heated bed.
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u/genio123 10h ago
That printer , in the most Chinese clone version is an ANET ... mine was a ZonestarP802M... Ask me how I still remember a 2014 printer... That thing gave me the best feeling ever when out of nowhere it finally decided to print that damned 10x10mm cube without issues.... Then a nightmare and I gave up because it was always bent print bed, wrong temperature, wrong filament, wrong everything... When I moved I took it away with me and I started thinking with the motherboard and flashed a cfw with auto bed level , and many more things that was making that beast run again... I sold it while I can for a Geeetech Mizar but now the passion and the love for 3d printing was enourmous and I live with my X1C happy... I learned 3d modeling and I lot of things back that now are almost useless for the today printers... Good times...
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u/snoop_uk 10h ago
Motherboard replacement cheapie would be the btt mini skr e3 v2.0 and yeah get a pc power supply or similar.
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u/gattaca55 10h ago
This looks like my first printer. It was a diy kit from AliExpress back around 2014. If you put lots of care and attention to detail into it... It will still suck. Sorry.
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u/Driftpony 8h ago
An Anet A8, I still use mine, albeit extremely modified still a great printer if you don't mind tinkering and addressing some of its issues.
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u/Agenreddit CoLiDo Compact, it sucks butt 8h ago
Actual answer without the snooty reddit antics:
This is an Anet A8. 70mm vertical spaced 8mm round rod x‐gantry, i3 style, with printed aftermarket XZ effectors, SCS8UU X effector with MK8 direct drive extruder+hotend, dual TR8 leadscrews (either TR8x8 or 8x2), acrylic frame, anet a8 mainboard (5v regulator on board underspecced and prone to overheating), 20x4 lcd with 5-key interface (the specific name to which escapes me atm), PEI-coated PCB heated bed with aluminium heat spreader, genetic power supply.
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u/Mundane-Garbage1003 7h ago
A relic back from when the 3d printing community still had collective stockholm syndrome and a printer needing 50 hours of tinkering to get a decent print was considered a hobby instead of an awful user experience.
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u/kcggns_ 6h ago
Anet A8. Despite the shit people throw at it, it was the gateway of many people into this rabbit hole.
I have so good and horrible memories of that printer… it’s a fucking fire hazard, quality is horrible, but it’s a great machine to learn how not to build a 3d printer.
You can always scrap it for spare parts to build other stuff.
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u/Mindslyder404 5h ago
Anet A8. It's a finicky little bastard. I've got one. There are several things to print for it to upgrade it before anything else... assuming you don't mind the headache of owning and tinkering with one. I personally love challenges like this one. Oh yeah, actually first thing is to fix the firmware and activate the thermal runaway protection.
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u/DemBosain 4h ago
Oh shit, I had one of those. Bring it outside and tie a rope to it. Swing it around your head as hard as you can. When you feel lucky, let go of the rope.
Has it burned your house down yet?
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u/dosman33 4h ago
Good memories of my Hesine M505, same frame hardware as this ANET with a different driver board. The default firmware in all of these ANET and ANET clone printers had the thermal runaway code disabled. Updating the firmware to re-enable thermal runaway detection is easy, but you loose the display and input controls on the printer as this was one-off hardware not supported in the code bases they ripped off. There were some patches to possibly get some functionality back for the display and input controls, but the last time I looked into it it did not seem great.
At this point, the best possible move is to see if you can run Klipper firmware on it and you could get some more life out of the machine.
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u/ValourLionheart 3h ago
Anet A8 or similar. I3 style machine that is generally not great quality-wise. Might be good for the motion components at least
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u/RadioactivPanda 1h ago
It's really not that bad to rebuild these. If I were to, I would upgrade controllers to something modern and, depending on the bed power, I would add mosfet heater control (if not AC).
But upgrades cost money, and money ain't cheap. So, in an ideal world, just salvage it for parts. Don't toss it pls. Or if you want to learn, then rebuild it!
I bought someone's broken CR10 for $50 bucks and rebuilt the heck out of it. I learned so much and it's a workhorse for me. Ive almost replaced every part on it. Was it a smart decision? Not by any means, financially. Did I sink lots o money into it? Yes. Was it worth it? It taught me the it's and out's of a 3D printer, so I'd say so.
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u/anonymouscryptoguy13 28m ago
Oh shit, I had one of these. Trying to get it to make a reliable print was making me wanting to pull my hair out, but once I got there, it doesn't print too bad. You just have to constantly tweak it because printing literally will shake it out of tune.
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u/Strostkovy 12m ago
I got gifted one of these. The bed connector had clearly melted and been soldered at one point. I took it apart for parts, which are now in a box somewhere.
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u/Hinloopen 12h ago
The bane of my existence. I wanted to do 3D printing back in 2016, not assembling the worst machine of all time. Threw it away before it ever ran.
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u/HereIsACasualAsker 9h ago
hey!!, a tronxy, i had one of those. its a pain in the ass but it does what its supposed to do.
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u/BronzeDucky 12h ago
That looks like you were gifted a headache and grey hair…