UPDATE - Anet A8 Arrived!

Bill Arnold

1974
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Thomasville, GA
After getting the lead from Darren and Brent about the A8 3D printer, I was in contact with Gearbest about availability. The product web page showed 115 available, then 79 available, then 96 available - you get the picture. However, I was unable to get them to give me a projected shipping date, getting the line, "we're temporarily out of stock and don't know when we will receive from our provider - could be 3-5 days." In the meantime, I was checking availability elsewhere and found a merchant on Ebay that had the printer available at a better price anyway. So, now I should be on my way to the 3D printing world.

A curious thing about pricing on Ebay was a tale of two merchants. One lists the price as $174.95 with free shipping. Another lists it at $123.96 with $50.99 shipping (123.96+50.99=174.95). Uh...yeah......

Now, if all the merchants follow through on different pieces and parts, I'll be perking soon!
 
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Congrats, sound like the best way to go, I been procrastinating :rolleyes: as per usual and reading a lot on the user group on FB and from what I can tell you went the best route. Now I need to get off the dime.
Jut got a few things to work out before placing my order.
 
Atta boy! hopefully you'll have as good of luck as we've had.

I see a lot of horror stories on FB, but I wouldn't let that stop you. Remember, Nearly 50% of all people are below average, and I'm quite sure you are in the upper bracket!

But seriously, it's really not a very hard build. Most of it just makes sense, and it's all labeled pretty well.

Just follow the videos online for the latest version and I'm sure you'll do fine. Peeling the protective paper is the biggest issue.

The biggest 'skill' that you have to learn is bed leveling. Most of the folks think they level the bed, but the results suggest otherwise. A strip of printer paper and you'll be in business there.

Looking forward to another member of the club!

I actually kind of feel guilty if I'm sitting at my desk and don't have something printing out.

At first you kind of feel like all you are printing are parts for the printer, but you have to remember, it's a printer kit, and not a prebuilt machine.
 
Oh, If you don't have one already, do yourself a favor and order a Raspberry pi so you can get octoprint running. You may want to order a pi camera as well if you don't have an old web cam laying around.

Octoprint is so much better than using the sdcard to run print jobs or having to have a computer tied to the printer.
 
... At first you kind of feel like all you are printing are parts for the printer, but you have to remember, it's a printer kit, and not a prebuilt machine.

I kinda get that feeling from looking around Thingiverse. I downloaded several STLs already!


Oh, If you don't have one already, do yourself a favor and order a Raspberry pi so you can get octoprint running. You may want to order a pi camera as well if you don't have an old web cam laying around.

Octoprint is so much better than using the sdcard to run print jobs or having to have a computer tied to the printer.

OK, I just took a look at that setup - sounds like a great idea. Where is the best (cheapest) place to get a raspberry pi?


And order up some filament. I've had great luck with Hatch.

I have some Inland filament on the way. It's a couple bucks cheaper than other brands and still got decent reviews. Have you used any of it?
 
I kinda get that feeling from looking around Thingiverse. I downloaded several STLs already!

OK, I just took a look at that setup - sounds like a great idea. Where is the best (cheapest) place to get a raspberry pi?

I have some Inland filament on the way. It's a couple bucks cheaper than other brands and still got decent reviews. Have you used any of it?

If you happen to have a Microcenter store near you, they usually have them for about $29, but most places they run about $35 - $40.

I've been using some of the inland filament, it's been working fine. I'm going to start doing these temperature calibrator sticks ( http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1579403 )for each roll I get as they do seem to work better at different temps.
 
If you happen to have a Microcenter store near you, they usually have them for about $29, but most places they run about $35 - $40.

I've been using some of the inland filament, it's been working fine. I'm going to start doing these temperature calibrator sticks ( http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1579403 )for each roll I get as they do seem to work better at different temps.


The closest Microcenter is Atlanta - 8 hour round trip. There's this RPi3 on Ebay. I have a couple of webcams I can use.

I downloaded the files for the temperature calibrator stick. I'm not familiar with python, so now I have something else to learn! :eek:
 
The closest Microcenter is Atlanta - 8 hour round trip. There's this RPi3 on Ebay. I have a couple of webcams I can use.

I downloaded the files for the temperature calibrator stick. I'm not familiar with python, so now I have something else to learn! :eek:
There are other files for this that dont reqire python to create it, I'll find one and post it or just post mine. ;)

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
 
Yep, got my Anet A8 3D printer kit this afternoon. Opened the box and all appears in order, although with no packing list or instruction book there's no inventory. I'll find out along the way if I need anything else. One thing in my favor is there are a handful of parts common to my CNC. I got through a kinda tedious task - peeling the protective covering off the acrylic parts.

The ordering, shipping and delivery were not without a bit of adventure, though. I had checked with Gearbest, based on others experience with them but couldn't get a commitment about availability, so I ordered from a merchant on Ebay. I placed my order on Jan. 1 and got an immediate response thanking me for my payment and saying the item was shipping. On Jan.3, I got a tracking number, but nothing happened. I cut them some slack, being the holidays, etc., but still no motion on Jan. 5, so I made a complaint to them. They issued a new tracking number on Jan. 6, so I took a "wait and see" attitude and, sure enough, the shipment was picked up and on its way! I was a bit concerned that I wasn't seeing any movement after the initial pickup, so I wrote them again and got the following response:

"We are sorry for the troubles caused to you.
Please do not worry, maybe
1) Sometimes logistics company did not upload the tracking information in time.
2) The website is unstable, and will not registered on website so early.
3) The website is a global website, there are many people used every day, it is too busy.
4) Please try 2-3 days later.
Any further problems please let us know.
Your understanding would be highly appreciated.
Best regards,"



Considering the holidays, people on vacation, weather across a large part of the country, etc., it turned out it took five days from California to south Georgia. I sure can't complain about that!

Oh, by the way, the "logistics company" with the unstable and "too busy" website? FedEx.
:rolleyes:
 
Instructions and inventory are all on the SD card that came with it. But they are probably out of date, so use the videos on youtube for assembly.
 
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