For Christmas this year I bought myself a 3D printer. Learning how to design my own parts has taken a lot of effort so I’ve been so busy I haven’t written anything in a while.
Simply Amazing
I’ve been printing pretty much every day and with the challenge of learning a new software to go along with the new hardware. I have spent the last four weeks fighting with the software which has trained me to do things in very specific ways.
I’ve upgraded my printer, printed camera holders for my drones and the Raspberry Pi Camera that is part of ‘OctoPi’ and runs the 3D printer. So I’m seeing that the printer can be useful, and getting much quicker at design in FreeCAD. So that is what has been keeping me busy lately.
Potential
I’ve developed my first product! OK, potential product. Being able create a prototype quickly made it clear I needed to take a different approach. Darn! However… now I am working on a solution that is actually much better. My increased skills in CAD design make it easy to try again. Quick feedback, that is what I’m talking about. I may not have actually created my first product (yet), but I like that I can try, and try again;)
3D Printing – The Hardware
I will write a complete review of the ANet A8 printer kit and my experiences with it.
I decided to buy the A8 after looking at the Prusa MK3 which is what I would have purchased but it was not available until February. I knew nothing about 3D printing but all my research on Prusa made me aware of the cheap clones. I decided that instead of pre-ordering I’d start with the cheapest Prusa clone I could find.
The ANet A8 is considered a Prusa MK2 clone and as cheap as they come. Mine was $139 USD. The ANet A8 doesn’t even have an On/Off switch. Because of my research I purchased upgrades before the printer kit arrived. The most important one was MOSFETs for safety. This is not a printer for everyon! Cheap parts require you have some experience and are good at trouble shooting. In that the ANet A8 didn’t disappoint me, having many parts with problems. I got what I was looking for, some great first hand experience troubleshooting.
Final Take
Despite my complaining the the end-results are impressive. The ANet A8 isn’t a bad printer for the price. With a 3D printer you can print your own upgrades so as long as it can print at all you are good to start. The A8 embraces that concept! I’ve replaced, fixed, or upgraded several components and it has become a reliable printer for less than a $300 total investment.
My warning with the A8 is that to get there took some effort and a lot of upgrades. I’m excited about 3D printing and have pre-ordered a Prusa MK3 and the Multi-Material kit. Unlike the ANet, where I was too involved in trying to understand what I was looking at to document the effort, I will do a complete video-log of my building that kit. From everything I’ve read I will be impressed in the details provided with an ‘Original Prusa’ kit as well as the printer itself. My Prusa MK3 will be arriving early March if all stays on schedule, so more on that then.
