Original ANET A8 In 2024! | Why you don't need a new 3D Printer
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- In this video, I show you the maintenance I carry out to make my 7 year old ANET A8 like new again. The results shocked even myself and saved me from the need of buying a new printer, which would've been expensive, and a huge waste of parts. I'm convinced almost nobody needs a new printer if they already have one, if all they're doing is printing a couple knick knacks every month. The few minutes saved from a new printer will not justify the waste from throwing away a perfectly good printer
Just got one for $10 and I’m about to clean and calibrate it.
Same, waiting for new Y axis
@@PENGBORN mine has been working well, I still didn't get the bed to sit right, but the prints still come out good enough.
I still run my Anet A8. I bought it in 2016 or 2017 I think. I upgraded it with a few frame braces, Skynet/Marlin firmware with auto bed levelling. I also upgraded the heat bed connectors, power supply to a 20A I think. I added a heated bed mosfet, added fuses to the heated bed and heat block lines and made a custom Arduino over temp and smoke sensor for it. It was so fun and informative to learn on. I did videos on all of these upgrades as I leaned. It is still on my main desk. I still use it frequently. It just uses blue painters tape and parts stick like shit to a blanket lol. I put some cork under the heat bed to help insulation. It is is dimensionally accurate and relatively fast. It has printed another 3d printer, a PCB factory and multiple hundreds of things for family and friends and me. I can't even list them all. It has hundreds and hundreds of hours on it. I have 6 3d printers now but still rely on the old Anet A8. It prints PLA, PETG, and TPU. I used the Anet as my go to, dedicated TPU printer for racing drone shells. It is a proper soldier! It has had one nozzle change in all those years and that is pretty much it. The smooth rods are not even scratched! I keep thinking I need to make room but I don't want to get rid of it. It is still one of the quietest 3d printers I own. I love it and I learned a lot from it. Thanks for the video. Ps shout out to the F91-W!. pps, I did make a bracket to help support the hotend cables from falling out. Here www.thingiverse.com/thing:1935965
Even with the ease of Bambu now I still find that with all the tinkering I did with my A8 that I gained invaluable knowledge that most people who are entering this space via Bambu do not have. Plenty of people are struggling on issues that were a pretty common thing back in those days. Either you tinkered or you didn't print. I still have a drawer full of upgrades I never did, or replacement parts.
Honestly I think the most fun I had back then was upgrading the damn thing. Then, when the upgrades were finished, I didn't know what to print.
Now installing klipper in my "slightly" modified Anet A8. Mostly printing ABS and PETG.
Back in 2018 I bought an Anet A8, it is still unopened in the box I received. This video has made me want to get it together and finally get started with 3d printing. Thanks :)
I just purchased my A8 a month ago in non working condition. Someone had installed a new heat block, heater and thermistor but misconnected the thermistor causing the printer to shut down in temp runaway mode. I replaced the 2 pin connector with a 3 pin one like the original and that fixed everything. I am amazed at the print quality and it prints a benchy comparable in print quality to my BBL X1C but takes about 3 times as long :) but I'm retired so speed is not the issue. I do find the 5 button display to be a bit of a pain but I run it using Octopi so it is rarely an issue. According to the display it has printed for 12 hrs 36 mins and used 132.7 meters of filament which I am prepared to believe due to the lack of wear to any part of the printer that I can find. One mod I have done is to turn over the bed leveling screws and lock them in place so that I can use the wingnuts to adjust the bed level and I have installed a new flexible magnetic pei textured surface which I really enjoy. So I agree with Mr Fast, the Anet A8 is a keeper.
Hey , I bought the anet a8 last week , and I'm struggling to find a firmware to print off , what firmware are you using if I may ask ?
GREAT VIDEO .... I've been rocking the A8 for the past 7+ years and it's still going pretty good, I will likely listen to your advice to change the bearings but this printer rocks
Hey bud , I bought the anet a8 last week and I've been struggling ever since to get a firmware that supports the printer. What firmware are you using if I may ask ?
@@andrevanwyngaardt6810 hmmmm marlin for a8, if im correct
@@ulightme Thank you so much , I appreciate it a lot
I have a 7 year old A8 and it's just fine. Never have to re-level. I print on glass and have a 5lb floor tile under it for keeping the axis's steady. I did have to replace the LCD a few years ago. Every year or two I make sure all the screws / nuts are tight.
Same experience but I’d recommend checking the screws every few prints. The vibrations during prints could knock out the heater/mains wires very easily
I miss my anet a8. I sold it 5 years ago. I did so many mods on it including replacing the bearings. It made such a huge improvement. Eventually I ran out of stuff to print and got tired of spending 3 minutes leveling the bed before every print. I just got my new Ender 3 v3 SE today. excited to print again!
3 minutes of leveling is super time. I spend about hour to calibrate Anycubic Kobra 2 pro after bed leveling
I am in the great position of 3d printing upgrades for my 6ish year old A8... with my new bamblu lab A1 mini
Hi! Thanks for the amazing vid and thank you for making me feel good about my Ender 3 clone!
After the Linear advance and input shaping calibration i am printing double the speed without quality loss in my anet A8.
Running klipper?
A8 gang assemble
I am currently finishing restoration of this printer with new bearings, orbiter 2.0 extruder and tz 2.0 hotend (yes, it requires 12v to 24v converter) and it's a lot of fun.
I did the AM8 upgrade and a few other mods like a screen change. Been a good printer. Now its better than ever. I see no reason to change it. The only thing I "wish" for is to be able to make larger prints.
If you want a 3D printer as a hobby, this could be reasonable. If you want a 3D printer as a tool to support other hobbies, just get a P1S
Or better the A1 Mini
i bought an a8 about 5 years ago and then it took me like 8 hours to assemble with poor instructions the screen barely lit up and the screws for the y rods didn't fit in their housing when I turned it on the prints were all low quality and it just kept jamming. i ended up throwing it away as the warranty had apparently expired and the z stops had broken as well as a stepper motor kept malfunctioning. It chased me out of the hobby as it was my first printer however about to get back in with a ender 3 v3 KE (i would get something like a Bambu lab x1 if i could afford one) 💪
My anet a8 failed me again a few months ago..I just gave up fixing it. I received my ender 3v3 a few days ago...accurate, silent and fast..I should have trown out the anet a8 years ago..but it was a learning experience..maybe I will rebuild it as a laser engraver.
nice one
If I'm going to buy a printer (I've never had one before), and want fast prints, what should I get?
Anycubic Cobra 2 pro
Bambulab P1S or an A1 Mini
Elegoo Neptune 4 pro, but do your own research, as I’ve never tried other printers
@@fasttutorials2419 Dont buy this one. Has alot of flaws. The spec sound good on paper but dont work correctly.
Bambu lab or prusa
This review is only useful to people who have the time and patience to upgrade their printer if you don’t go and buy a newer and more futuristic printer. This only applies to tinkerers if you want printers that work out of the box buy the bambu or prusa
The only upgrade on mine is a fan shroud and it works with no issues. What do you mean? The only hassle is manual bed leveling.
I bought this because it's a combination of cheap generic chinese parts that I can easily find replacements for.
Why would you want a printer that may catch fire when you could buy a even newer ender 3 for the same cost just buy a Bambu, ender or prusa
Maybe you didn’t watch the video, as I’m not suggesting you go out to buy an A8, but suggesting those with existing printers to realise that what they have is most likely enough
🌸 Promo`SM