When I saw the opener of a thing making a noise and you just hitting it, and then the little "yay" I knew that you were making the videos I needed. After some searching for the safety video, I watched both, and am now going to go on to upgrade my printer. Thank you for being so organized, helpful and thorough.
@punishedprops
6 жыл бұрын
You are so welcome!
@phoenixrising4573
2 жыл бұрын
It's crazy to come back and look at these videos years later.... a friend bought a pair of them right after they came out, they're both still printing well, almost daily, with a few mods. The biggest thing he's done is a couple of bearing replacements, and changed them a few years ago to a slightly better board.
@pinkflamingo8806
7 жыл бұрын
Correct belt tension has made the biggest improvement on my A8. I'll be upgrading to a bowden soon. Print quality right now is outstanding.
@socks5proxy
6 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much for the tutorial, and links. I'm a beginner maker, and while I don't have your printer, learning how people fix things has been absolutely invaluable. THANK YOU!
@punishedprops
6 жыл бұрын
You're welcome!
@anothervoyager9654
4 жыл бұрын
A lot of upgrades are not really a game changer, but belt tensioners are, they will make the printer a lot more precise and will solve the most common problems related to inaccuracies.
@punishedprops
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks for sharing!
@hinkepank1239
2 ай бұрын
I got my A8 more than 5 years ago and just found this video. I have 4 important remarks: 1. If you put too much strenght on the belts, you damage the bearings of your steppermotors. This results in stopped movements on the damaged axis and causes shifts in the layers. 2. To improve quality, I installed 2 tread-rods from the top Z-axis to the front X-axis. The stiffness reduces vibrations dramaticly and helped a lot. 3. Flash Marlin - it's worth the effort. 4. Best ( luxory ) decision was to get a raspi and use octoprint. Highly reccommend this ! The A8 isn't as bad as shown in the fist minutes of the video, Z-axis were not correctly installed. With a few $ you can step up the quality of the A8 up to a point where you can even print rc-planes with great accuracy. ( Like I do )
@zebragrrl
7 жыл бұрын
Of all the things you added, I think the axis reinforcements and the tensioners combined, really were mostly responsible for the changes in your print quality. Some good ideas here! Definitely saving this video for when I build my CNC
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
It would seem that the belt tension is a big one on most people's lists. I think I could tighten up the X-Axis on mine even more than it is now.
@IevgenBaziak
7 жыл бұрын
Hands down, you guys were THE most helpful one stop source for assembly and essential upgrades for my Anet A8. I am not a props* but I am a *maker :) . You have my gratitude. And may the force be with you.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
You're welcome. =)
@MegaRetroRocket
7 жыл бұрын
Love your videos, I've had my A8 for almost a month now. Strangely, after assembly, my prints looked like your "after" Benchy. I've added only a circular fan nozzle, T-corner brackets and Z-Axis stabilizers. I started out pretty conservative with printing speed and gradually increased it. Very impressed that it can sit quite happily at 70mm/s. Hope your prints continue to improve!
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
70mm/s is definitely faster than I've been printing. That's pretty fantastic. I suspect that these printers are shipped with a wide range of quality. Perhaps you won the A8 lottery and got the best parts possible. =)
@MegaRetroRocket
7 жыл бұрын
Haha, maybe! Putting it on a vibration-dampening surface also helps a lot with little glitches. Good luck and cheers from a fellow Seattle maker!
@kukulcangod1
6 жыл бұрын
Ho, by the way, I saw your intro your props are fabulous!! and you are so lucky to find a partner making all of that with you, I really wish you eternal success and happiness thank you for sharing!!
@Finchers62
7 жыл бұрын
I feel pretty lucky to have my Anet A8 print awesome right off the bat, and only got better after my upgrades.
@detuneddrum
5 жыл бұрын
Thank you for your understandable English. I'm stupid russian pupil and you're one of few bloggers that i can watch) thank you
@punishedprops
5 жыл бұрын
So glad you're able to enjoy our videos!
@DeanRockne
7 жыл бұрын
I built my first 3D printer and dealt with a lot of these same issues. Exposed mains wiring, sub par parts, hours of adjustments and dialing in settings to get reasonably good results. It was a struggle to get it working well enough to print parts to make it work properly. I enjoyed it and it taught me a lot about 3d printing and that's great if your interest is in 3D printing as a hobby. If your hobby is prop building and the 3d printer is a tool, I'd just find a way to scrounge up the cash to get one that just works. Then you can focus your time and brain power on getting better at designing. My second printer is a PowerSpec Ultra 3D, $700 from Microcenter. I had it working in about 30min and it prints far better quality than my previous printer with dual extrusion to boot. You don't need to spend $2000 to get a decent printer, but it's also not worth saving a few hundred bucks using something that is unsafe. This is by no means a critique on the series, just some advice from someone who's gone down both routes.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
Great advice, thanks for sharing.
@CarlVerdejo-q8r
4 ай бұрын
Love your Hyperion T-shirt bro!! Takes me back to the good ol' Borderlands days.
@punishedprops
4 ай бұрын
Catch a riiiiiide!
@tgyk1568
7 жыл бұрын
Z-Axis decoupler, like those found in thing 1858459 remove the coupling of the X axis to the Z axis and allow the lead screws to move a bit while not moving the X axis side-to-side. Side product is being able to lift the carriage by hand to work on the nozzle to clean or change filaments without needing to do so via the controller. I've also found that toothed idler pulleys remove the "wobble" you find in the X/Y dramatically because they're not constantly changing belt tension during movement due to teeth riding on a smooth surface of the other bearings. Also, with Skynet, a GREAT addition is autoleveling. The developer of skynet sells pre-made sensors on his ebay page for fairly cheap, or if you're not afraid of making a voltage divider and soldering into a connector, you can make one yourself pretty easily as well.
@tgyk1568
7 жыл бұрын
As well, the frame braces found at thing 2099154 made a DRASTIC improvement. Even having just one brace (like I had to move to when I did my dual extruder upgrade) makes a hell of a difference. You can speed up your acceleration and jerk settings a bit and not get wobble or singing in the prints with the braces installed. Added bonus of looking awesome.
@damionlee7658
5 жыл бұрын
I realise this video is now over a year old, but I suspect that people will still stumble across it for picking out upgrade parts. The A8, set up properly, out of the box should not be printing with the poor quality shown in this video. Rule #1 in upgrading - never bother upgrading anything until you have it set up properly. This printer is not set up properly, and that is the cause of the print problems shown. The most obvious example of incorrect set up is shown by the 'need' for Z-Axis stabilisers. The threaded Z-Axis bars and sprung connector to the motor have been set too low (the threaded bars are likely touching the motor drive shafts). When positioned correctly, those threaded bars will be tall enough to sit inside the hole in the top acrylic piece (which stabilises them). Simply getting this right will make a huge difference in print quality as the sprung connectors can then do their job of damping the torque and vibration from the Z-Axis motors. Upgrade parts 'can' help, but no upgrade is ever going to correct a poorly set up printer.
@Jirk4
5 жыл бұрын
I agree, I was gonna write that my bare stock A8 prints way better without any mods done so far. (And as has been said in other comments, some of the mods are counter productive).
@tripalong
5 жыл бұрын
I also agree. I actually made the same mistake myself before I realized it and made an adjustment. It was that improvement alone in this video that led to the improvement of his prints from what they first were.
@SwervingLemon
5 жыл бұрын
Of all the things I've added to my A8 to make it work better, the only one I'd really recommend isn't even present in this video. Spring centering makes the heat bed geometry much more reliable. Whether you do it with collars or inserts, that alone made 90% of my ghosting disappear.
@mazlixek
5 жыл бұрын
Actually the Z rods should be free, not in any hole in the acrylic piece at the top, nor restrained by any printed part. www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/6fdu4y/should_the_z_lead_screw_be_fixed_at_the_top_prusa/
@damionlee7658
5 жыл бұрын
@@mazlixek when adjusted correctly the rod will sit in the guide hole at the top of the A8 ... The hole that is there for that very purpose. (I mean, do you really think the design has holes there for the fun of it?) Being in that guide hole does not restrain the Z-Axis rods, it is there to prevent them wobbling when in motion. Wobble on those rods will negatively affect the print quality by transferring through to the print head. You can choose to run them floating out of the frame and set too low in the motor couplers, that is entirely your prerogative. It is only your prints that are suffering because of it. But before you commit to letting Reddit and your own confirmation bias rule your actions, take a look at high grade and commercial 3D printers. See if you can find a single one with floating Z-Axis rods... Then ask whether the A8 is really supposed to have floating Z-Axis rods, even when the design has the locating holes and equipment to have located rods, or whether the units that have them floating, simply have not been set up correctly.
@AdrianStaicu82
7 жыл бұрын
Strange that my A8 got the same quality as yours after all the upgrades. So far I've been happy with the quality. If it fails it only fails to start the first layer correctly, and I can restart it or just let it be, problem fixes itself by layer 3. I've also found the fine tune eeprom settings and, was able to calibrate it to permit printing the entire hotbed, with the original software. But I can see all the improvements, and so far I've only added an X-axis tensioner (it's a must if you want to relieve tension on Z screws and guides).
@fmhqbattousai
7 жыл бұрын
"and to avoid similar issues *snaps* I assembled it with magic" --- Subscribed.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
+NinjaGamer_S Ha! Thanks. =D
@TinyHardware
7 жыл бұрын
I have had my Anet A8 for about a year now and If you want solid prints just spend the money on an e3dv6 (Original) and plan on replacing that original motherboard as it will fry without warning(even when cooled). I'm currently running a Ramps1.4 setup and can say that i'm very happy with the e3dv6 with BLTOUCH sensor. Thanks for the video.
@user2C47
Жыл бұрын
I'd replace the mainboard just for the extra IO, so I can finally have things like a probe, or the ability to turn off the power supply.
5 жыл бұрын
I realize this video is over a year old, but an upgrade everybody needs to do is printing and installing some guides for the bed adjust springs to stay straight. While you're at it, also add some larger knobs to the butterfly nuts of the springs, so it can be easier to adjust them. Also, and inductive bed auto leveling sensor is a must.
@perkallstrom5316
7 жыл бұрын
how the freakin hell do you manage to get so terrible prints with that machine? my benchis has been almost flawless from day 1 with cheapo filament
@timmontanus4311
6 жыл бұрын
Yeah same without any upgrades it printed better than this thing with upgrades
@jw200
6 жыл бұрын
Tim Montanus i also get very bad printouts. So frustrating and disappointing. Tried the bed leveling, temp increase decrease. Filament tension. Slower speed. Nothing helps. Prints garbage
@chrisbaker2903
6 жыл бұрын
It's probably a matter of quality control at the manufacturer. Loose tolerances make for some items that work perfectly and others that don't work at all. Back in the 60's I met a guy with a 650 Triumph who could rev it farther in second gear than others could in 3rd. He got that one perfect one. Heh, it would almost keep up with a 1969 Honda 750.
@ExcellentEngineering1966
6 жыл бұрын
My a8 worked fine from the start at 100mm/s movement speed and cheep filament
@davemarm
6 жыл бұрын
I've had my Anet A8 for over a year now and it has been printing flawlessly. Not sure how some of you are getting such terrible prints. I've only had those issues the first day before I realized the belts were too loose. After tightening up the X & Y axis belts the quality has been outstanding. The safety issues with the printer... that's another story. Get mosfets and also solder the heated bed connection wires at the very least. Upgrade to Marlin firmware to enable basic thermal runaway protection.
@DeputatKaktus
4 жыл бұрын
I started out on the stock Anet A8 and I was never really happy with it. The creaky and wobbly frame and the ungodly noise it made no matter how I changed the print settings drove me up the wall. In the end it sat unused and half disassembled in a corner for almost a year. I still wanted to get this sucker working, though. So I sat down one day, had a really hard thinking session. Now, a few months later, the only original parts left are the motors, PSU, heat bed and parts of the wiring harness. I did the AM8 mod, with 2040 aluminum profiles and Hiwin style linear rails. The board now is an MKR 1.4 running Marlin 2.0.5. rocking a set of TMC2130 stepper drivers. The addition of Octoprint is on the way. There was a lot of „If I am doing X, then I may as well go all the way and do Y too, while I‘m at it.“ At this point I am not even sure if this is still the original. Feels like I built a new printer. And now I can sit next to it and not hear a peep. No, this is most definitely not budget friendly. But I now have the printer that I didn’t even know I wanted. If any of you readers are curious now: The AM8 is not an easy upgrade path at all. But absolutely worth it for me.
@clarencecherrone7914
7 жыл бұрын
I'm getting excellent results with mine since I've check the squareness of the bed with the x axis rails. Also! Safety tip..check the ground connection of the connector going into the heat bed!
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
Great tips, thanks!
@sauronsrighthandman301
7 жыл бұрын
Man watching this video is making me so excited for my cr 10 that's coming next week!
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
I bet you're SUPER STOKED!
@sauronsrighthandman301
7 жыл бұрын
Punished Props let's put it this way for the next week I'm gonna be watching out my window like a sniper waiting for the FedEx guy.
@misamokuzelpizu
7 жыл бұрын
hey great video, with my a8 the biggest differences in print quality made a bowden tube, good and detailed slicing parameters with cura, adjusting the extruding flow and a good leveling of the bed.
@ryangill9518
7 жыл бұрын
Add that auto bed leveling sensor. It's awesome for getting that solid first layer. Thanks for sharing and happy printing :)
@phaZed9
7 жыл бұрын
I also have an A8, but it prints virtually flawlessly with no additions. Of course I have many of the 'things' for the A8, now. You should remove the top Z axis bearing guides... if they don't line up it is because the motor below is not centered. Fix that and the lead screws will be centered all of the time. Keeping the Z axis bearing guides is just going to cause the lead screws to bend in the middle as it prints and you will get lower quality/offsets/stress. The noise that you heard before applying oil was likely the due to the misalignment of the motor/lead screws..
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
That is a super interesting point. I'll have to tinker with centering the motors. Thanks for the heads up. =D
@adameichler
6 жыл бұрын
My A8 printed very nice too, out of the box. Your piece must be somehow defective. Anyway, I like your X-chain mount piece.
@fastrucking744
6 жыл бұрын
Can you share your pla settings ? My prints on my a8 are always spongy and the demos that came with the printer are beautiful and hard shell that tell me it’s my settings
@adameichler
6 жыл бұрын
RCisco Open your printer config file and change the filament from 3 mm to 1.75 mm.
@TomBonez07
7 жыл бұрын
Thanks for all of these Bill, I've been dealing with an issue where it seems mine extrudes plenty of fill for the raft and then not enough for the main. I'll check the Extruder with a .4mm Thank you so much again for all your and Brit's help over the years.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
You're welcome! You may need to check the "estep calibration". I've never done it myself, but it's been recommended to me several times.
@TomBonez07
7 жыл бұрын
Punished Props yeah, I was trying to futz with that and thespian and the print speed. There is a 3 way Vin diagram there somewhere. Really liking that I'm learning so much, wishing is dint have to learn it.
@PaulWilliams-bo6oh
6 жыл бұрын
Very helpful video. Thanks for the parts list for a beginner. It takes time to find the parts the first time. Again thank you. Job well done.
@PokeyDoggo
7 жыл бұрын
Nice you've done about all of the AnetA8's upgrades for the stock setup. I think you already have the 30A 12V psu, and the on/off socket. I'm still tinkering with mine as well and it has been a journey. I'm printing ABS at 270 degrees with a 85 degrees hotbed and it gives very strong parts. I recommend that you: - update to a newer version of skynet3d, look at their facebook page. (maybe calibrate your extruder e-steps) - buy a polycarbonate print bed sheet, the cheapest 220x220 for cost me around € 3,49. If you ever melt holes in it, it can be fixed with superglue and sanded down.(super glue is also polycarbonate) - use some cardboard and maybe aluminium foil to insulate the bed. - buy an e3d V6 clone bowden setup (€8.09), and extra all metal throats (5pc, € 1,62) so you can print ABS or better. - Some better PTFE tubing for jamming it against the extruder so you could print flexible filament. Maybe a translucent/clear one, it's about € 1,- per meter. - Push fit couplers for the PTFE € 0,29 a piece. If it says it's for 3d printers, it's an 1/8"BSPT / PT (OD:9.5mm). - set of e3d clone nozzles (€ 2,06 for a 8pc, which is a set from 0.2 to 0.5) - Extra thermocouplers 100K ohm NTC 3950 since they can break if you over bend the cables. (€ 0,45 or cheaper) - A better extruder, use MK8 or MK7 gears (€ 0,72 a piece) I recommend a tight extruder - Some bearings for a spoolholder and extruder. Usually 10x 608-2RS or 625-2RS go for € 3,11 or something. - If you want a very sturdy Y axis, buy 1 meter of M6 rod end, and use this thingy ''Y-axis rework for Anet A8by matsekberg'' OR ''Anet A8 Frame Braces w/Y-Axis Belt Tension Rods by LittleMrJ'' optional: - Buy silent fans if you want to. Some set ups use 3x40mm fans. On my own thingyverse I have made a 3x50mm fan one. These fans are € 5,- a piece. - an external micro SD card holder. - A better screen, buy the ''upgraded'' anet screens with the turn button. (€ 11,16) - Print lighter bushing holders to reduce the weight on the X-carriage. Anyway that should be able to give you 60+ mm/s whilst being highly accurate and reaching 270 degrees. Just note that the Anet's hot bed is pretty meh and can reach 100 degrees but it cannot maintain it. 85 degrees was the best it could keep stable for me. I print at 150mm/s to 100mm/s, but it cannot reach that speed with certain shapes. Also my outer wall speed is 60 to compensate for the speed and drooping at 270 degrees with cheap 10 euro per 1kg roll ABS filament from hobbyking. But hey it works and it's pretty fast and stable atm. Maybe you can use what I just typed or anyone else who reads this.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the tips!
@Bakamoichigei
7 жыл бұрын
Awesome, Bill! That little budget printer's lookin' mighty fine! :D One little piece of advice though for anybody looking to do these upgrades; Browse cable chains on Amazon or eBay before you commit to printing them. They're usually around $10 or less for quite a good length... And while the filament usage is no real concern, printing a bunch of cable chain can be _very_ time-consuming. (Basically a "Weigh it against what your/your printer's time is worth." scenario.)
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
Well geez. I should have just bought some! HA! =)
@Bakamoichigei
7 жыл бұрын
Heh. :D That's the conclusion _I_ reached when I was looking to wrangle _my_ wiring harness... ;P Of course, being me, I still haven't installed it, and it'll probably end up in the laser cutter instead...because ヽ(゚∀。)ノ :chaos: ヽ(。∀゚)ノ
@AsiAzzy
3 жыл бұрын
A 3d printer resumes to accurate movement in x y z and this means no skip steps, no loose spring belts, no wobbly axis of movement (the axis itself mounted in the frame and the carriage bearings) and no binding or restricted movement (if axis are sqewed or bent, shot bearings out of lube and with play, or resonance movement with a springy frame and slim axis). After that comes the smoothness of control of the steppers like microsteps, small angle steps, smooth electric control from the driver (something like trinamics, or at least TL smoothers) So the recepie for a good printer is to have a good stiff frame. Extruded aluminum with corner brackets can make a super sturdy frame (some diagonal braces as well). Here you spend a good chunk of money Then you need nice movement on linear bearings like thick round bar axis and good linear bearings. or even linear rails with adjustment gibs to make the fit perfect (you need nice quality to get the straightness level and accurate dimensions and proper hardening) so most cheap china printers have low quality axis (sort of straight, low hardness, crappy bearings that may work but will grind the axis rod in short time and also they use small diameter to make it cheap) Even more important is how the axis is mounted on the frame. Ideally you need angular free play to make the axis self align and not stay in tension, like spherical joints or Heim coupling, or self align bearing blocks. This is to keep the y axis(for example) stay tension free in the frame. Next is critical that you can adjust the position of the ends of the axis to make two axis perfectly parallel and perpendicular to the other axis(for two Y axis or two x axis, or two z axis). So i've made use of some blocks with self align sleeve bearings that are mounted on the frame on slots. I can shim the block to raise or lower and move side to side (even front and back) with the elongated hole mount. The critical part is how to measure the true aligment and have a system of adjusting. For example mount the bed on 3 bearings not 4, make the 3 bearings swivel-able so each can self align on the axis and not put bend stress. Then by moving the bed end to end you can create a set distance between axis so is time to carefuly tighten the axis with the bed mounted and ensuring free movement of the bed. Same for X carriage and Z axis. Then after you have the means to clamp without stressing the axis, to align the axis here you need, and have a bearing that will not force a bend (swivel) in the axis this is the base for a very good printer. After all this hard work you need to mount a way of moving the axis in a tension free fashion. Here there are options with belts (stiff but flexible and does not stress parts much and have minimal backlash),movement screws (like on Z axis on most printers) that have backlash and even antibacklash nuts are not a solution if forces are applied (there ae ways with fixed backlash adjust but the risk is bending the screw if the nuts are nt in perfect aligment), or rack and pinion (it has backlash but with a split gear it can be adjusted to tighten and eliminate backlash), or other fancy recirculating driving nut and screw. After all that care has been taken to have proper axis and frame it would be a shame to skimp on a quality original hotend with precise nozzles and accurate thermistor and good heating, good heat management design (to prevent creep or other issues.. so original E3d or copperhead or other nice hotends). Also good steppers (reliable with no skip steps also torquey and fast with low angle. Also use the appropriate gearbox or pulley diameter to further increase resolution but make sure the steps are not smaller then the minimal play you get on your axis. Also good steppers are a shame to be contolled by cheap choppy drivers so you go trinamics on a good reliable board with lots of functions and easy to implement like duet 3d 32bit, or even 8bit einsy rambo. In the end a good printer has nothing useful from a cheap china printer. If you want minimal equilibrium betwen frame and components quality the you look at Prusa mk3s that has quality original parts in ever regard, a decent AL frame, good control on reliable electronics and steppers, good belts with proper tensioning, good design, and massive comunity. So i got a prusa as my 1st printer. Then i got a cheap A6 Anet that i've improved a lot in the axis and stiffen the frame (from steel.. i'm a decent welder and work with steel.. so i fashined a steel frame and ensured a way to adjust axis positions to account for warps from welding and other stuff.) and got it going sort of ok but still had crappy motors, crappy control, crappy belts, crappy hotend. I'm qeeping my anet a as it is with the limited upgrades and call it a day.. print quality is decent if properly tuned. I will be building a proper diy printers with a steel frame (I can weld and steel is cheap) with overkill axis (at least 20mm round) and true stepper motors and drivers (got some beefy ones from an old CNC.. not great step angle at 3degrees but i can trim it down in a gearbox. They have plenty torque and speed) - sure i will need custom drivers found in CNC machines rather than trinamics drivers. I plan to use a supervolcano e3d (maybe two extruders) and plan to make a mount for a CO2 laser for lasercutting/engraving and why not a CNC 2.5D mill but chips on a 3d printers will be another issue. B the time i'm done i estimate i will go over 2k euro in it.. so i might just find a cheap truce CNC mill and make the adaptations for a 3d printer. it maybe cheaper and sturdy and accurate (as a mill requires) Anyway I'm mechanical engineer by trade and as a sum of the above post is that above all upgrades the major thing is to make sure you have good movement on axis with no tight spots, no bends, no stress in the moving parts to force a bend, no out of parallel axis, tight belts not springy. This will get even the stock cheap printer print rather good.
@shabbee
5 жыл бұрын
Another consideration is the parameters in your slicer software can make a huge difference. With my A8 printing at 30mm/s alone delivered dramatic results. Still working on other areas but an essential check
@punishedprops
5 жыл бұрын
Good to know!
@user2C47
Жыл бұрын
Interesting. When I try to print that slow, quality starts to suffer.
@MrDeepwoodtickles
3 жыл бұрын
I got the even cheaper wooden variant, and replaced the whole frame with a welded steel one.This massively improves rigidity and print quality on its own.Files for the parts required to convert to the steel version are on thingiverse.Also belt tensioners,new cooling nozzle and toothed idlers plus upgraded to all metal extruder drive.
@punishedprops
3 жыл бұрын
Oh neat!
@spudnickuk
5 жыл бұрын
The only thing i replaced is the bearings as they was noisy and got the same as yours, From the looks of it this printer was not built Square/level (correct) even tho you done a good job. Apart from that I print production quality parts. I don't use Cura as it seems to do weird things,like 2 prints were never the same & always getting poor prints. it also has so many settings that just causes complication to other settings. Anyway i use Matter control. its also free and just works perfectly. you can design models inside it, so No cad or tinker stuff needed, also the best thing is you can change quality or other settings as you print, so just say you have a model and the bottom part only needs to be low resolution and the upper parts needs to be Fine quality . so you just change settings when you need to. The best thing that I like is that, at night time as to not loose to much sleep from noise, I change the settings to a lower speed, and so makes it a lot quieter. My Advice would be. Before thinking about spending time and filament on so called upgrade parts to get better print. Is look at the software settings, and in my case Matter Control works fab on my Anet A 8 Just as i wrote this comment i have also designed a MG34 rear gun sight and now printing , all in within 15 mins, just thought to say . Lol The only safety device i had bought was a Remote control RCD plug adaptor, again it is good , as no Mosfet to install and plus it give me direct control to turn on or off without installing an on /off switch.
@Mike-mo5rh
5 жыл бұрын
I watched the entire video and KZitem shows only HALF the red 'watched' bar. How often does KZitem do this to NOT pay the uploaders correctly?!? Give this video it's credit for me watching all 100% of it!
@linorics
7 жыл бұрын
Try working with your print settings more. Do temperature towers and extrution cubes to find the sweet spot. I feel like I have the worst printer and the benchy prints are amazing after a few hours of calibration prints.
@VRietySociety
7 жыл бұрын
proper tension in your belts and bed leveling is key. Those frame supports are necessary because the frame will flex if you tension the belts. another thing is extrusion. make sure your printer is extruding at the correct rate. When you extrude 100mm from the printer console 100mm should have extruded on your printer. messuring and marking the filament should help here then just adjust the flow rate to compensate for the inaccuracy. most pla's come with a recommended print and bed temperature. i recommend printing a bench that changes the temperature during the print to see which temperature the filament prints best at. one more thing the nozzle you are using is unfortunately probably the second worst one (after the stock cooler) and often comes off during prints. The semi-circular seems to preform the best overal and mounts more securely . upgrading to skynet is deffinately a good choice
@23william90
Жыл бұрын
My bench was always makeing amazing prints since day 1. I have a feeling you did not tighten the belts enough when you bought it
@suddskys7482
7 жыл бұрын
This weekend I'm going to start building my printer.
@Swarm509
7 жыл бұрын
Make sure to join the Facebook group for the printer and read up on the process. and ask questions if needed.. the instructions are passable but there are several things you can do while building to improve the machine (such as flipping the print bed tray, ensuring the front acrylic print bed plate is the right way around, and finally installing the Z-threaded rods in right). Also make sure those belts are tight! Biggest improvement to print quality has been making sure they are tight. You will have a lot of fun building it!
@hazonku
7 жыл бұрын
Good advice! I bought one after watching Bill put his together live on stream. Price point seemed good, difficulty seemed low, & I intend to do the same sort of things Bill plans with his. So it was a nice surprise after the purchase to see how huge & supportive the community is for the A8! LOTS of informative & friendly users in the Facebook group, lots of KZitem videos out there on upgrading & repairing things too!
@Toefoo100
7 жыл бұрын
Suddsky s it ended up printing about as good as my monoprice select, for a bit less money with the upgrades. Imo you should just save yourself the time and just buy a better printer
@koaasst
6 жыл бұрын
i dont know where to document my life except for youtube comments i guess. anyway, printing the wire chain stuff, the first 4 banger was 9.1 grams, the second was 9.2 grams, just finished the third and it was 8.9 grams. thx for the link man, just built printer now working on the upgrades in spare time.
@chris15252
6 жыл бұрын
Ok I know this video is super old now and you may have already been told this, but I haven’t seen it in the comments. You need to extend your Z axis couplings! The lead screw end should be flush with the hole in the top of the frame. I’m willing to bet that was causing a bunch of your problems. I have this printer and it took me forever to discover that on my own. It stabilizes the Z axis while also leaving some wobble room for the slop.
@Side85Winder
6 жыл бұрын
belt tensioners by far make the biggest improvement to print quality out of any of the upgrades they should be printed first. I started printing in ABS so i didn't need to upgrade my fan nozzle right away so i was able to get a lot of the frame stiffeners made.
@juanmontiel3293
4 жыл бұрын
You're the best, man! I'm already tuning up my printer! Thanks a lot for this! :D it's all i needed!
@punishedprops
4 жыл бұрын
Fantastic!
@oggerz88
7 жыл бұрын
Iirc you're in the Seattle area, if I'm right, go to Tacoma Screw for nuts and bolts. They have a Seattle location, Tacoma, and some others I believe. You can get whatever you need and at insanely better prices than Lowes. It's also a great store for tools.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
+Joshua Ogden Yeah that place is awesome! It's about 30 mins north of me.
@greasyJFrancis
6 жыл бұрын
I love Tacoma Screw
@Saitekchriss
7 жыл бұрын
Loved the new video! I did a lot of similar upgrades to our TEVO Tarantula. Just finishing up installing my mosfet and power switch :)
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
That's pretty fantastic! =D
@Richter3D
7 жыл бұрын
Oh man. I know what that is. That's either my favorite Star Wars helmet of all time, the Tank Trooper, or my second favorite, the Shore Trooper
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
But which one?! =D
@Richter3D
7 жыл бұрын
Punished Props Oh man I don't know. I guess I'll have to wait and see!
@alphapapa77
7 жыл бұрын
The belts did really great for me as well. The other thing that helped was I printed some clamps and a board for a base. Cut down the flex of the upper frame a bunch
@DancesWithRobots
7 жыл бұрын
There are all sorts of upgrades and modifications, (some of what you did are mods as opposed to upgrades.) for all sorts of printers. OK, so you spent a bit more money and solved some problems. But consider this--The upgrades were already there for the downloading, and I'm pretty sure that you'll find that when you get around to replacing the hot end, or some other critical part--you're going to find the replacement parts you need easily and at fairly low cost. In my case, the "best" mod/upgrades were the ones that let me tighten the belts easily. I've been getting good prints since I added the Y-tensioner and further improvements came from tuning and adjusting heat settings and extrusion speed and such. Tho, even my earliest prints looked better than most of your later prints. (I attribute that to luck.) Finally--The only reason to Skynet firmware is to add the leveling feature. (OK there are a few extra safety features.) And there are various configurations included in the Skynet package for which control panel you're using and whether or not you have a bed sensor. If you use the wrong config.h file, you can make it more difficult to level the bed, or be unable to control your printer. You should be using the version labeled " A8- 5buttonkeypad- no autolevel" Anyway, your Anet vids have been great, and very fair and unbiased.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
+DancesWithRobots Cool! Yeah I wanted Skynet for the thermal runaway safety feature. Belt tension seems to be the best upgrade so far.
@TechyRodsWire
7 жыл бұрын
great video, id say not all the upgrades are needed but good to have and def adding mosfet is a must!
@rosbif6840
7 жыл бұрын
your t shirt capture me. now you have a new follower from italy
@sargfowler9603
7 жыл бұрын
It would appear that you've got a lot of Z axis wobble on your printer. I'd check they are straight, cos I bet they're not. Also, where's your auto levelling? That's a must have upgrade. I agree with others about the Bowden upgrade too. An already heavy X carriage is being weighed down with more stuff like the unnecessary cable arm.
@JasonSimpson1966
6 жыл бұрын
The most significant performance improvement I got out of my Anet A8 was taking all of the core components and turning it into a CoreXY machine. I really don't care that it's "no longer" an A8, I bought the printer for the pricepoint, not the design. You should really measure the diameter of your smooth rods. You were showing the play in the bearings, when I checked my smooth rods they were everything but 8mm, and not actually smooth either. the diameter would vary along the length of the rods by more than 0.1 mm.
@MatthewPautzke
7 жыл бұрын
Out of the box this printer was making very good prints for me compared to what you were showing. A big part of print quality comes from your slicer settings...cheapest upgrade is to fine tune them. I would get rid of the "Anti Wobble Upgrade" It's not an upgrade and goes against the idea of the spring coupler at the bottom, the better "upgrade" is to make sure the rods are aligned properly. The A8 can achieve fantastic prints comparable to $1000+ printers without much put into it other than tinker time.
@djgoku5496
7 жыл бұрын
I can't understand why such poor print quality, even after upgrades. My A8 printed it's first print (PLA and ABS) better than Bill's post-upgrade prints. Must be a physical problem with the nozzle, or possibly something loose somewhere? But I couldn't imagine how, after all the rebuilds. E3D V6 (or clone) would do wonders.
@Adventures_of_Marshmallow
7 жыл бұрын
Yeah, something just doesn't feel right here... I got excellent print results with my A8 straight out of the box with no upgrades. I did use a cordless drill with a very low torque setting to assemble it and make sure the frame did not move. It seems your frame moves A LOT comparatively and I think that might be the primary issue. It does take some force and two hands to bend my frame like that. There are a few small parts that did crack during assembly so take care not to over-torque them. Some people suggest that the z-axis screws have to be perfect, but they don't - mine are 2mm difference and it doesn't affect the quality of the print at all - that's what bed leveling is for! I did end up putting a switch on it because that was just annoying and will have to upgrade the power supply since it has trouble keeping temps when using the heated bed.
@user2C47
Жыл бұрын
The heated bed itself is low powered. Source: use an ATX power supply.
@dodgersfnshepard8673
5 жыл бұрын
I've got 1 in my cart right now, this video has made me extremely rethink that. I don't mind some mods but I'm not trying to buy something I've got to start off by modifying. For 120 it doesn't seem bad but 250 and countless hours of modification seems like a waste. Wish it was a simple answer of worth it or not
@punishedprops
5 жыл бұрын
It's been a while since I made these videos and since then dozens of these machines have caught fire. I would recommend *not* buying one.
@duckrutt
7 жыл бұрын
They're called Jesus clips Bill. Because that's what you say when you launch one across the room never to be seen again. I think they may be sock larva. Also, if anyone didn't think the safety upgrades were important, check out Laura's video on abuzz designs.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
+duckrutt Hahaa!
@darkwinter6028
7 жыл бұрын
duckrutt - likewise, the main nut on the top of a helicopter is called the Jesus Nut, because if it lets go... well, you get the idea... 😮
@duckrutt
7 жыл бұрын
Dark I'll stick to working on cars. You haven't lived until you've pressure washed the underside of a firetruck looking for oil leaks.
@dallasanderson4530
6 жыл бұрын
lol and because only Jesus knows where they went
@DrLuc-lq8ls
6 жыл бұрын
My Mecreator 2, which I got for just 250€ from Geeetech new has a much much better print quality. On amazon you can get it for 350€ and its pre-assembled. The only disadvantage is the smaller printing volume but If your print is to big you can cut it in multiple parts and glue them together. The only upgrades that I printed/bought were a 0.3mm nozzle and TPU feets for less vibrations. A fan that cools down the print is already pre-assembled. It just took me like 10 minutes to set up the whole printer!
@TabLeft
7 жыл бұрын
Not sure if I got lucky or you got a dud but I have a bone stock a8 and it prints beautifully. I do plan on adding the mosfets and a little cable clean up but I couldn't be happier with mine I've put well over a thousand meters through mine will little to no issues. It would be interesting to check a good one and a bad one side by side to see where the differences are.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
I've heard that from several other people. I got the runt of the litter.
@PracticalRenaissance
7 жыл бұрын
Pretty impressive upgrades! I got one of these as my first 3d printer and have attributed many of the issues I've had with it to my own noobishness :D I may have to try some of these, I'm interested to see what all you do with this machine Bill!
@redsindesigns
7 жыл бұрын
The updates look great. I haven't done much to my A8 except the donut exhaust and filament guid. I'm gonna try the oil on the thread bering, frame stabilizer pieces and wire chain next. As for the helmet I'm guessing it might be either iron man or mass effect ✌🤓🤘
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
+RedSin Designs Both good guesses, but nope!
@deeareus9886
5 жыл бұрын
thx for the good start ;), a good upgrade it will be the tmc2100 and a mks gen L, just this will improve the machine noise and the quality
@miniondave6314
6 жыл бұрын
I have my A8 sitting in the shipping box on my table. I've heard about some of the upgrades from the support group on FB. Someone in the group linked to your safety video.
@ranchfever3941
7 жыл бұрын
I have almost all the same printed upgrades on my a8, I set mine on a foam mat to reduce vibrations, Also maybe try printing with different cooling and speeds, this is what improved my quality the most
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
Yay foam! I'll be tinkering with print settings in the next video.
@Side85Winder
7 жыл бұрын
My recommendation is to make the x and y belt tensioner first these have the biggest upgrade on your prints. Then stiffen the frame up with Z Wobble Brackets and T-Brackets. With these upgrades alone my printer is making amazing looking parts as far as chain cable guides they are 95% ascetic 5% upgrade as my cable management has to problems from using the stock cable wrapping and stress reliever clips i would make these last. Fan nozzle is for PLA plastic most of my frame upgrades were made in ABS as its stronger and more durable and does not require part cooling there is a half circle nozzle that's said to be the best part cooler not the full circle one again i recommend to make it out of ABS as its close to the nozzle and subjected to heat.
@adytexas
6 жыл бұрын
here are some more improvement ideas: 1. Change to a E3D V6 hot end with a bowden tube (take that heavy motor off the carriage) 2. Change the couplers from the Z threaded rods that connect them to the motor with solid ones (from thingiverse). these yet made the biggest improvements in my printing experience.
@user2C47
Жыл бұрын
TBH, putting a Bowden system on a bed slinger is pointless. A heavy bed should be matched by a heavy extruder.
@DiabloProcentoPersonal.
Жыл бұрын
1:07 ,,so there´s nowhere to go but up´´ Famous last words of any diy 3d printer owner.....
@alsaceLIBRE
Жыл бұрын
Hello, superb video!!!!BRAVO!! Small question: how to solve the problem of dimension in X and Y? I have 25mm x25mm instead of 20mm.. Thanks in advance
@akolp1977
6 жыл бұрын
Great video!! One thing I might add if you don’t mind is a fan for the power supply it brought the temp down quit a bit and I would imagine prolong the life of the power supply. I would add a picture of mine but I don’t know how
@geobot9k
7 жыл бұрын
Got an A8 but the magic smoke escaped on the first power up. At least gear best support is a'ight and shipping a new board, but it's a super slow carrier. During this downtime I've watched nearly every Anet KZitemr fight against the acrylic frame. This inspired me to just save the time/filament and look up metal frame alternatives. Turns out theres a diy extruded aluminum frame on thingiverse called the Anet AM8, and it's only like $40 for the extrusion frame. Look it up! :D
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
Wow! Burned up on the first try. Bummer! I'll look it up, but for now I think I'll stick to this floppy plastic...
@Matjes22
7 жыл бұрын
there is no Hugh fight with the acryl you just need to know how to stabilze it i will upload my stabilizer to thingiverse which siuts to the corners which are seen here
@Matjes22
7 жыл бұрын
there is no Hugh fight with the x axis wobble i just made some easy parts a this parts are for the T corners in the video my stabilizer pushes it up and gives stability left right the acryl gets 14mm Pla bars to stabilize it www.thingiverse.com/thing:2568271
@renone
7 жыл бұрын
buying simplify 3d and using skynet was the best thing i ever did for my a8
@DisgruntledPigumon
7 жыл бұрын
Wow, you nailed it on the print sound being the laughter from Kung Fu / Spartan X NES game. I loled.
@lonnymoore2622
7 жыл бұрын
for the heat break fan i just used a small i beleve 10 mm fan i had too bolt one side down and use a twist tie on the other but had no problems out of it ever again. it looks like you are using the same upgrades i am for mine .
@andhag
7 жыл бұрын
Great video! Wish the firmware upgrade had been a separate step so you could see if that made any impact on print quality.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
AHhh yeah I did that all in one go because I was getting frustrated. I recommend doing it anyway. Apparently it helps protect the machine from thermal runaway.
@wessonsmithjr.6257
7 жыл бұрын
looks like 2020 will be the year when we start to see useful and user friendly 3d printers on the market. Until then, enjoy your hobby DIY's
@Dishnu
7 жыл бұрын
Hey Bill after watching your videos in jumping in to 3D printing and ordered a anet A6 hopefully my experience is as good as yours
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
That's exciting. Happy printing! =D
@SianaGearz
7 жыл бұрын
I think forcing the lead screw into a bearing on top is a bad idea! It LOOKS better, but these lead screws likely come bent from the factory. They might not clamp down absolutely centrally to the axis of the motor because the motor is displaced, or the quality of the coupler is not perfect. Because of this, it's constrained at the bottom and at the carriage, but floating at the top. Now when you constrain it at the top, it'll try to straighten out the rod, but the motion is translated into a force that's transferred in approximately equal parts onto the motor mount, the constraint at the top, and the carriage; it will work against the compliance of the bearings and the frame and introduce a wave into the print that corresponds to rotation of the Z axis rods. You want to avoid transferring any extra forces to the carriage.
@Spice
7 жыл бұрын
This is actually the exact reason I dropped my rods down so that they don't even touch the top brackets. After doing that. the only Z axis inconsistency I get is from the occasional poor cooling due to my fan wearing down.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
Agreed! I have since taken them off.
@Drunk-Mosquitos
7 жыл бұрын
I used to have an Anet A8 (I did not know about the safety updates until it was to late). If you adjust the coupler on the bottom of the Z-Axis threaded rod, it will line up better. The rod and motor shaft should only be about 5mm into either side of the coupler. I measured mine and put a small piece of tape on the threaded rod and motor shaft to make sure I had it right. This should put the threaded rod nearly flush with the top of the top plate. There is actually a really helpful Facebook group for the Anet 3d printers. the people there helped me out a lot with tuning my printer, and I helped them by showing what a thermal runaway can do. facebook.com/groups/1068531466501015/search/?query=z%20axis
@LarryPitman
7 жыл бұрын
Belt tension was definitely the biggest, most important improvement I did to my cheap Chinese printer ....
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
I'm thinking the same thing. I think my X-Axis is still a little sloppy.
@dragnardrake8633
7 жыл бұрын
The oil will help for long term care. I'm kind of sure it will help print as well, Less sticking and friction to wear down the metal.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
Good to know.
@GnuReligion
7 жыл бұрын
Some of your quality issues may have more to do with the speed you are printing, than frame rigidity. You tried slowing it down below 20mm/s? Nice to have good belt tension too. Those Y-axis braces are a must. Mine started to warp badly, esp after hot-boxing it, trying to reduce shrinkage on ABS. My most recent A8 upgrade, an inductive bed sensor, is the BOMB! Just hair spray on bare (60C) aluminum works well for adhesion, with a level bed. After the bed cools, not so hard to remove the print ... a little water can help.
@robofatcat
7 жыл бұрын
The biggest problem with this printers is one that isn't given much attention. It's the rocking from side to side. You can fix this by adding two pieces of threaded rod and some nuts though the back body of your printer. I did this and it improved my printed pieces dramatically.
@BuzzingGoober
7 жыл бұрын
robofatcat where can I find a more detailed tutorial on that?
@HeyPatch
6 жыл бұрын
Great video Bill 👍 I'm seriously looking at getting an A8. Looks like fun.
@punishedprops
6 жыл бұрын
If you enjoy tinkering with a 3D printer to get it to work properly, than yes, it's super fun. =)
@ThisIsMySig
7 жыл бұрын
Really love your high tech solution to a noisy fan! I thought I was the only one who had to do that. I use a 15 sledge though. Hmm, maybe that's why the fan broke off the mount... I also tried your finger snapping technique. I started snapping my fingers while standing in front of the printer. Nothing happened! What's your secret? Inquiring minds want to know...
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
Ah yeah I had to go to Hogwarts for like 4 years to learn that finger snapping technique.
@geff57730
4 жыл бұрын
Without all this upgrades, my Anet A8 do the same job, i only replaced the Y carriage by an aluminium frame because it was bended and i added a new glass plate from anycubic to cancel warping.
@jw200
7 жыл бұрын
Ive never had a 3D printer but the more i watch these videos and what parts i can make, the more i want one. Do you recommend this for beginner? Its not that expensive also.
@rhad333
7 жыл бұрын
jw200 Sure, I own one and I recommend it for beginners. And once you run into some basic problems and look them up, how to fix them, you'll be more understanding on how it actually works and you will feel more satisfied with your results. Mine, prints excellent, some of my prints turned out better then more of the expensive printers, you just have to fiddle with it a bit but it is worth it!
@LucDesormeaux
7 жыл бұрын
If you want to have better bed adherence, get a sheet on PEI and install it over the heated bed. It sticks like crazy when hot and pops right off when it cools down.
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
Good tip. Gonna stick with blue tape for now, but that would be a good addition in the future.
@LucDesormeaux
7 жыл бұрын
When you run out of blue tape. :) www.amazon.com/Gizmo-Dorks-Printer-Surface-Polyetherimide/dp/B01KBGJU5S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503497811&sr=8-1&keywords=PEI It's really wonderful, I wouldn't go back to tape....ever. :)
@tasmanianerd2558
7 жыл бұрын
Great work on 'Zipper' (lots of captured nuts!)
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
HAH! =D
@theodorebelmont2181
7 жыл бұрын
Good job of responding to comments
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
It's what I do! =D
@systemedmultimedia6526
6 жыл бұрын
Hi. Very nice video. Any chance that you could rebuild the whole from scratch and add all the mods during the assembly (ad filming the whole process) ? That'll be way more practical for newcomers to 3d printing, unless you have better solutions/ideas (like what 3d printers to recommend for serious people that are newcomers to this). Thanks to answer
@FrenkJanse
7 жыл бұрын
Great video. So honest about all your upgrades. Thanks !
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
You're welcome!
@x9x9x9x9x9
7 жыл бұрын
Those Z wobble brackets should only be used if you are 100% sure your rods/screws are straight otherwise you are putting extra strain on the motors and could also hurt print quality. This is highly debated though so do what you want.
@The411
5 жыл бұрын
I spat my coffee at the noisy fan intro. I have to beat the thing every time I turn the printer on. Not just me then eh?
@acynder1
7 ай бұрын
I put a noctua 20x20 just to make that noise go away!
@brgerwzrd54
6 жыл бұрын
I only did 4 upgrades, and I got cr-10 quality prints. And surprisingly, it was none of those. It was problably the settings on the slicer.
@DaedalusProps
7 жыл бұрын
Best goddamn intro ever.
@osmansalieukamara9375
6 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the video its helps lot. But I want to asks something. Is their any 3d printer that can using a cement and sand material? As this can make it easy to print a baluster and roman columns without using a mould I need help please Sir
@destroyerMC101
7 жыл бұрын
i just brought the A8 as my first 3D printer just for small cosplay parts for comic con....wish me luck and fortune in the A8 lottery
@punishedprops
7 жыл бұрын
+TsS_Twisted Ah yes. Good luck!
@Redluster15
7 жыл бұрын
its funny i have not done any upgrades to my anet a8 and the only think I head to do was tighten down the print bed's belt and all my prints have looked really good. But i am thinking of adding some of these upgrades to make the printer look better and to tidy up the cable mess other then that the printed for me has been really good right out of the box.
@DB-dj9sq
7 жыл бұрын
I don't know why your prints come out like that. Mine had way better quality out of the box. Also did you check the lead screw couplers? They are supposed to be loosely coupled to the motors. That really helps
@darkwinter6028
7 жыл бұрын
Suggestion: add some aluminum extrusion (doesn't have to be T-slot extrusion, but it is nice) to the frame to stiffen up the acrylic...
@darkwinter6028
7 жыл бұрын
Oh, and triangulating it to brace the bed frame assembly to the top of the X-Z axis assembly might be a good idea also...
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