Here it is, unboxing my first 3D printer the Anet a8 3D printer.
With prices dropping for 3D printers I decided to give one a try, the Anet A8
[UPDATE : I ran into a safety issue with the printer see here. I don’t feel safe leaving it plugged in or printing when I am not around to monitor it. I am not sure if this issue has been resolved or not with newer version. Please be aware. I am contemplating buying a different brand 3D printer.]
This is not a detailed step by step assembly of the printer, as you can find the instructions online, or even watch a video of it being assembled (That’s what I did). But I thought I would just post a few pictures as it may help you decide if you are looking into a 3D printer if you would want one pre-assembled ( They tend to cost more) or you want to try to assemble one yourself. I chose to assemble it myself to save a little money and also learn how it all went together. But to be honest, it was a little more time consuming then I expected. That may be due to this being one of the cheaper models. Also I should come clean and mention I thought they forgot the instructions so tried to do it without instructions, then resorted to online videos. But it turns out they do include instructions, they are just soft copies and you can find them on the included micro SD card. I did not find this out until I went to make my first 3D print. The instructions would have saved me some time and frustration in assembly. No one to blame but myself for that 🙂
Here is the unboxing. It was nicely packaged neatly in the box.
The black plastic frame pieces all had brown protective tape on them. This was a time consuming process to remove all this tape. Seriously it was kind of a pain. I put the kids to work on it.
Here it is spread out on the table. ( Luckily we have a large table )
Here is the frame coming together nicely.
Even after the frame was almost done, you can see there are a lot of parts left.
Getting it wired up.
Here you can see I was using the laptop to watch videos to figure out the assembly, As I was not smart enough to find the included instructions. The videos were really good though. Even if I had found the instructions, I might have used the videos to supplement them.
We have power…….
One of the leg pieces was broken. But luckily we found the file online for parts and we just printed a new part to replace it.
Once we go the printer running it was just a matter of printing a new part to replace the broken one. Reminds me of something from a sci-fi movie with the machine fixing itself.
As for finding things to print, there are many websites that just allow you to search and download the files. I use thingiverse a lot. You should check it out if you are thinking of getting into 3D printing. It will give you some ideas of what you can do. I will post some pics soon of things I have printed and programs I am using. It has been a fun experience for me so far.
One thing to note. I do the 3D printing in the garage which is well ventilated, as I am not sure about how the fumes would be in the house. I am also printing with PLA instead of ABS. That may be something you would want to look into first before purchasing if you plan on doing it indoors.
