Are you a hobbyist? Do you like to make your imagination into reality? Then, of course, a 3D printer is your dream machine. But the problem is that good 3D printer is really expensive like the MakerBot Replicator, Ultimaker costing more than $1000. Which becomes impossible for a starter or hobbyist to buy. But, today I will show you a very cheap alternative by which I just started my 3D printing journey.

Yes, it is Anet A8 from Gearbest.com and I am very much impressed by the printing quality of this printer.

You can purchase the printer from here: http://www.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_337314.html?lkid=10938668

You can purchase the filament from here: http://www.gearbest.com/filament-_gear/?lkid=10938670

Why am I recommending this printer for hobbyist among thousands of different model available in the market?

1. It is a DIY Kit and for that, it is very inexpensive (below $200). When jumping into the world of 3D printing, I believe it’s a good idea to assemble a kit yourself as an enthusiast to get a basic idea of how they are built and how 3D printers work. If you buy and assemble this printer yourself you will get details knowledge about 3d printers. I am sure you will enjoy your starting with Anet A8 Kit.

2. Multiple 3D printing filament supportable, support ABS / PLA / Wood / Nylon PVA / PP / Luminescent

3. 220 x 220 x 240mm printing volume with high printing precision enough for a hobbyist

4. The printer has excellent community support, in the form of questions answered, mods provided, and trolls kicked out! Check out the Facebook group.

5. Very easy to assemble and lots of online video and instructions are available.

6. This printer is extremely affordable compared to other printers that are out there and if you are just getting into 3D printing like myself you will be very impressed with the prints that this printer can make. Also, there are a lot of custom parts and different upgrades that you can print off to make this printer even better and that can improve the quality of your prints.

Step 1: Anet A8 3D Printer Specifications:

Print Area: 220 x 220 x 240mm
Print speed – 100 mm/s
Nozzle diameter – 0.4 mm
Layer thickness – 0.1 – 0.3 mm
XY-axis positioning accuracy – 0.012 mm
Z-axis positioning accuracy – 0.004 mm
Supported materials – ABS, PLA, TPU, Luminescent, Nylon PVA, PP
Material diameter – 1.75mm
Frame material – Acrylic plate
Platform board: Aluminum Base2004
LCD screen for configuration
SD card for offline print
Supported file formats – G-code, OBJ, STL
Voltage: 12V
Weight – 8.5 kg
Dimensions – 3D printer: 510 x 400 x 415 mm;
Package: 520x350x220 mm
Operating Temperature Range – 10 to 30 C
Certification – EMC,FCC,LVD,RoHs

Step 2: When Box Is in Your Hand

I received Anet A8 two weeks later after sending it to me from Gearbest. Anet A8 arrives at me in a huge box which weights around 10kg. The box contains 3 layers of smaller rectangular styrofoam boxes. Those smaller boxes are filled with all the parts that you’ll need to assemble your 3D printer. It contains everything to get you started. I was amazed by the number of things these guys included.

Manufacturer added tools such as screwdriver, a diagonal cutter, 4 types of hex wrench, plastic zippers and even a USB reader with a microSD card. They mark every packet, so there is no way to mix something up while unpacking.

All of the parts and tools are neatly packed, my packet arrived safe and sound and no part was even scratched. I did not get any printed manual in the box and slowly I began to panic until I realized that all the instructions are located on a MicroSD memory card which comes in a box. The SD card consists of a couple of folders with written instructions, video even some sample design files. They also provide a list of all materials in the box. Before you start assembling the printer, make sure that all the parts are there. After assembling I found a few extra bolts and screws.

I would like to mention that besides things included in the “List” I also received a 10m white PLA filament, a material used for printing. It was not listed, so I really do not know if it comes in every Anet A8 box or not. Either way, you will also have to buy filament separately, since officially it’s not included.

Step 3: Building the Anet A8 Kit

Anet A8 is a completely DIY 3D printer that you have to assemble yourself. If you are a newbie, you may be wondering how hard it is or how long it takes to assemble this printer. To be honest, when I unboxed the printer I was scared and quite worried seeing tons of parts in the box. I never used a 3D printer before so all the things were completely new to me.

After assembling the Anet A8 myself I can assure you that it is not as complicated as it first looks and very easy to assemble and you will also learn a lot about how a 3D printer works. The printer comes with very well written full instructions including detailed videos on how to assemble the printer so you don’t have to worry about it being too hard it may just take you some time. Moreover, it is said, that the assembly can be done by a total newbie. It’s just time-consuming and requires patience and concentration.

The instructions for building the printer are all available on the supplied micro SD card however they are also easily accessed online through their YouTube channel. An adapter for connecting the Micro SD card to your computer is also supplied. I should also mention that all the tools required to make this printer are supplied (Spanners, Screwdrivers and Alan keys), all you need is a computer.

Videos are easy to follow and it takes about 12 hours for me to complete the printer.

Step 4: Debugging the Anet A8 Kit

After building the Anet A8 you have to calibrate it before your first print. Calibration is very important and according to communities online, when calibrated and upgraded properly it can print like an expensive printer.

This printer does not come with auto bed leveling right out of the box. You will have to make sure your heat bed is leveled before each print. The quality of the print depends on the bed leveling in a great extend. It is a good practice to keep those tools near the printer as you will need a screwdriver to accomplish this. You can upgrade the printer firmware and add an auto leveling sensor to add that feature, though. You may also experience a couple of wonky things with the motors or something, but the answers to all these errors are easily fixable with help from the facebook group for this printer. They will help with any problems or upgrades you may want to do and I suggest you join the group should you get this printer. They are a great resource to keep handy.

The user interface is very simple. There is an easy to read screen and 5 buttons (up, down, left, right, and select). All you need to do to start printing is insert the included micro-SD card into the control board and select Mount SD in the menu. From here you can go into the SD card and select any printable file that is on it. It's not the most responsive interface out there, but it works fine.

The micro-SD card that it comes with is an 8gb card, so there is plenty of space for things to print. On the card is also software to install on your computer for creating the printable files and putting them on the card. It's very easy to use software, so you shouldn't have any issues figuring it out. It also comes with a USB micro-SD card reader to make it easy to access on any computer.

There are some common issues with this printer. The main one being that the main power cable inputs on the control board could melt or burn. This is an issue several people have run into and one guy's house even caught fire. There are fixes for this though. One easy solution is to solder the wires directly to the board instead of using the connectors. Mine didn't melt or have any issues with the connections. Not yet, anyway. If you have any PSU related problem you should know that the PSU is easily replaceable with any ATX PSU that is at least 350w. So it's a pretty cheap fix.

You should keep in mind about the matters:

Make sure thermistor is connected properly
Proper heatbed leveling is essential – this is the cause of most problems.
Tightening the belts is important it reduces wobbly prints
Buying spare parts saves plenty of time and trouble later
Small things, such as tiny ptfe tube are there for a reason, do not try to be a smart-ass and ignore them.
Same type of material from different manufacturers have different points of melting – print this calibration tower to test the optimal temperature of particular filament, it helps.

Details: ANET A8 3D PRINTER KIT (REVIEW)

Anet 3D Printer A8 Debugging Video

Anet A8 how to level your bed

Step 5: First Prints With Anet A8

The process of printing is quite easy. You go to a website which has 3D models. The most popular site I used is Thingyverse . Once you find and download the model, you have to unzip the file and locate your model. Some 3D models can be printed as a whole, in one part, others have parts that have to be printed separately and later glued or assembled, depending on the model. Your next task is to import a model or a part of it into a slicer. Slicer is a 3d modeling software which will adjust the model according to your printer. The recommended beginners software is Cura . Inside the manual, you’ll find how to configure Cura 14.07 with your Anet A8. I highly recommend that you do your first prints with that version of Cura. Mostly because you have the manual and explanation how to configure it with Anet A8.

Inside slicer you can do tons of stuff. Scale your model, switch it’s printing position, printing quality, speed, etc. Good thing about Cura is that it tells you how much filament you’ll need for specific figure, how much the it will weight and how much it will take to print it out. These are all approximate values though. All these settings influence your output one way or another. For instance printing speed influences the quality of the print, but also the printing time. If you need to print something faster with less perfections, you’ll go with higher speed. All of these settings take time to master. You will have to experiment and learn.

Don't expect your prints to complete in just a few minutes. Depending on the size of the object it may take several hours to complete. It's not super fast, but this holds true for most consumer 3D printers. The speed of the print depends on the size of the object, the resolution, and other settings. You'll just have to play with stuff until you find what you like. Another helpful resource is Thingiverse. You can find tons of free things to print and most of them include suggested printer settings to achieve an optimal end product. There are also many different materials you can print with. That is something else you will need to experiment with.

Step 6: Anet A8 Upgrades

I will show you some upgrades that can really improve it's print quality.

The first upgrade that everyone with this printer should do is the center nozzle fan by Thingiverse user "Arjjck". This fan attachment improves the print quality a lot and it fits perfectly into the bottom of the fan so I highly recommend doing this as your first print like me. Instead of just cooling down the plastic from one direction this fan will cool the plastic all around.

You can find the fan attachments here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1620630

The second upgrade that I printed off was this filament guide by thingiverse user "Papinist". This upgrade is quick and easy and it ensures that your filament is always being fed from the same direction it also helps the filament feed into the extruder smoother and can prevent your filament from getting stuck on something and jamming.

You can find the fan attachments here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1764285

Another upgrade you can make with your printer is Anet A8 Extruder Button by thingiverse user "TabLeft". It will help you to release the filament comfortably. It is a large comfortable knob to place over the filament release bolt on the extruder.

You can find the fan attachments here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2182276

You can find more update from here: https://www.thingiverse.com/WarHawk8080/collections/anet-a8-upgrade-mods

Step 7: Print Quality

After using Anet A8 I must say, I am amazed and impressed with the print quality of Anet A8. I printed circular air duct with any update. It is my first print too. Just see the quality from the image.

In a word, Anet managed to create a decent quality printer, which takes a bit of time to assemble and master. Would I recommend this to a person who is on a budget and wants to enter the 3D printing world? Absolutely, and if you give some time you will get very high-quality prints. It requires upgrades and getting to know the material you’re printing with. What guys behind Anet managed to do is to remove the barriers so that you no longer need 700-2000$ for a 3D printer. Perhaps the biggest advantage of A8 besides it’s cheap price is the wonderful and humble community of people behind it. There are tons of good people who like you and me once had problems with their printer and are willing to help you out.

Step 8: Conclusion

This printer is great for anyone who wants to start 3D printing, the kit build design of this printer not only helps keep the cost down but it also gives the builder a very good understanding of all the separate components which in turn will help you truly understand you 3D printer much better! The assembly instructions are simple and very easy to follow and the customer service is fast and reliable.

The quality is amazing! It certainly exceeded my expectations.

You can get more information from the following nice reviews on Anet A8:

1. ANET A8 3D PRINTER FROM GEAR BEST - REVIEW

2. Anet A8 3D Printer Review: The best cheap 3d printer

3. Anet A8 Review – Budget ($200 or less!) 3D Printer Kit

4. Anet A8 Review – Best cheap 3D Printer