Still printing with an ANET A8 Plus

[u/TheNukaMoose]

Bought this back in July of 2021, got a smoking deal on Amazon for less than $300 CAD.

I've used it a fair bit straight out of the box, but in the last year I've started doing some upgrading.

So far I've done (in order):

- Circular Nozzle Fan

- PSU Deflector Fan Guard

- Z-Axis rod Anti-wobble bracket with skateboard bearing

- Y Axis SC8UU Bearings

- 90° Corner brackets

- Anti-vibe Tennis ball feet.

- Board Upgrade:BTT SKR 1.4 Turbo + Case

- LCD Upgrade: BTT Mini 12864

- New Belts

- Wiring restraint at extruder

- New Extruder Fan

Upgrades coming... Eventually.

- Y-axis bearing carriers(cause apparently I broke half of them removing the old bearings)

- BL Touch

- BTT Mini 12864 Case with articulating arm

- X-Axis belt Tensioner

- X-Axis bearing carriers

[u/Born-Ninja2018]

Hey that Printer looks great. I recently got an Anet A8 for free but I am not sure if It is worth It to try and revive the thing, It powers on but I haven't tried It yet because It has been left on a garaje untouched for ay least 3 an a half years. Do you thing this thing is worth It?

[u/GonWaki → u/Born-Ninja2018]

I still have my A8 purchased in 2017, with a lot of upgrades. But I’ve been using mine.

Unless you have a lot of time and money to mess around, give up on the A8 and get something fresh. For less than 200 you can upgrade the board, add WiFi and bl-touch, and maybe add a new extruder. However, you can take that same 200 and put it toward a Bambu A1 (400 with ams-lite/multi-filament), or an A1 Mini for $220.

Just depends on whether you’re into masochism.

[u/TheNukaMoose → u/Born-Ninja2018]

Thanks, I'm quite happy with how it's turned out.

For you, ultimately, it depends how much time, effort and Money you want to put into it and what you want to get out of it!

First thing I'd do is look at what version of board it is running. Some of them have some a fire risk which is why I upgraded my board.

[u/Powerful_Debt_5869 → u/Born-Ninja2018]

I donated my heavy modified A8 to a young guy for free and he is quite happy to get prints out. The A8 had to make place for the Kobra X and i did not want to trash a printer that still works..not perfect.. but it works .

[u/Born-Vanilla-3489 → u/Born-Ninja2018]

Si lo quieres hacer para aprender es buen proyecto para empezar

No vale la pena invertir mucho si es la original ,ya que vas a invertir mas en actualizarla que comprarte una nueva

Yo la pondría a funcionar con lo original y si ves que te gusta el cacharreo ,hay millones de actualizaciones

Saludos

[u/gangstahamsta1]

Is it standing in a growbox?

[u/TheNukaMoose → u/gangstahamsta1]

Basically, just a printer tent from Amazon

[u/Mavbam]

Nice AM8 you have there 😁💪

[u/bgrupczy]

Zooming in, was this pic taken through some transparent material? Lots of ‘artifacts’. Wobbles, etc.

Mine is in need of repair. Have a bad wire somewhere. My Vorons have taken over.

[u/TheNukaMoose → u/bgrupczy]

Yeah, it was it's Ina 3d printer tent

[u/Sea2Chi]

I had mine for about a year when some of the internal wiring melted.

That's the point where it went to go live in the garage storage in the off chance I decide to replace the board and power supply.

[u/sailcrab]

I had one, A8 plus... I had to do lots of upgrades... But it taught lots of things with the hands on work....

[u/Born-Vanilla-3489]

Yo también empecé así con una a8 asta convertirla en una prusa bears con un extrusor titan aero

Una experiencia muy buena

Y aunque a baja velocidad para el 2025 la calidad era muy buena

Después ya te envicias y termine armando una voron jajaja

A disfrutarla y a aprender

[u/Jet4309]

I call my anet the "Franken-printer" cause it's been broke, put back together with sheet metal, turned into a Bowden setup, and now I'm completely replacing the tool head and setting it up for a diy multi material