ANET products have gone through remarkable transition to be and safe and reliable. Emerging research is making use of affordable 3D printers for multiple uses, including for bio-printing applications. I am am looking for feedback, experiences, suggestions, etc. related to the ANET A8 3D printer.
The Anet A8 is an excellent 3D printer (considering the value for money).
Replacing power supply might be a good idea, the original power supply is of poor quality and is not reliable. The power supply of one of my 4 Anet has "burned" after 1 week of use (nothing serious, just a transistor having overheated).
Any good 220/110v -> 12V 500-600W power supply will work (having one with a switch would be better).
There are many 3D printable upgrade on thingiverse. You should consider to at least print an "Extrudeur button", X/Y "Belt tensioner" and a "Nozzle fan".
This applies to all 3D printers but using OctoPrint will greatly speed up and facilitate the use of the printer.
Since the Anet has no crash detection, a monitorig webcam would be a good idea (almost all webcams are compatible with OctoPrint).
The printer is also easily "hackable".
If you intend to do something else than FDM plastic printing, i can provide you the F3D file of a modular magnetic support to replace the plastic extruder.
There is an accessible serial port on the motherboard. By connecting an ESP32 on the TX / RX / GND you could easily control / automate the machine by sending the GCODE via WiFi or Bluetooth.
These units have come a long way their design is still built around acrylic plastic frames which are flimsy at best. I suggest you evaluate other companies who offer all aluminum extrusion frames in a similar price range. These price range machines require a good deal of modification to tweek them to print materials other than PLA. I'm uncertain about converting them to print bio materials however there are conversion packages for laser printer heads.
The first iteration of the ANET A8 is a solid 3D printer kit for beginners. The chassis is made out of 6 mm acrylic and it is very robust. While the hardware is good enough fro prototyping, I highly recommend to change the board and the power supply. Using a more modern board equipped with the latest version of marlin will improve safety and give you outstanding performances.
Alain Gervasi and Alberto Perro , you both mention board related issues. Should the board be changed? If so why, and what would be most amendable to an automation option (not sure ESP32 is the best?).
Thank you for all answers, including Drew Edell !
Cory Jensen The original motherboard is good enough for 3D printing but the overall design is "old".
In term of features and safety the Anet A8 is basically a DIY reprap kit/clone. You will not have the fancy features of modern printer (crash detection, power loss recovery, thermal runaway protection, microstepping/stealth mode, stall detection, filament sensor, ...). For 3D printing, I will clearly recommend a better device such as a Prusa (it all depends on your budget).
In term of "Hackability" and prototyping the Anet is a great option.
The frame is simple, all electronic components are easily accessible, the lack of safety features allows you to modify any aspect of the printer without being "blocked" by a security test.
You can keep and modify the original motherboard, it is not mandatory to replace it. I successfully transformed an Anet to a Laser engraver and another one to a microplate filling system while keeping the original motherboard and sending GCODE commands by serial communication.
However, using a more modern or flexible motherboard (RAMPS) could simplify your system.
For automation task, i almost only use ESP32 an ESP8266 boards, these two microcontrollers are highly user friendly and efficient while being cheap.
Some GRBL cards work with ESP32. It is also possible to use an ESP32 Uno coupled to a slightly modified CNC shield for Arduino UNO to control steper drivers.
I never fully replaced a 3D printer motherbaord with this system, but i am currently working on a liquid handler that combine a 3D printer (frame and motheboard) and the ESP32 UNO / Shield combo to control pumps and syringe injectors via a NodeRed GUI. This might not be the best approach, but the system is working properly and easily.
Alain Gervasi , do you have the files of the modular magnetic support that you mention? I am trying out different extruders-carriage attachments and making some custom brackets of my own.
I did replace the firmware to start, added a fused power switch, a new power supply, am playing around with the different Thingiverse support brackets that are recommended but opted for the AstroBox touch. Overall print quality is not that bad now. I did also get a Creality Ender 3 Pro and these two are my go two affordable machines. The Anet actually prints flexible material and the Ender won't! I know the Prusa is highly touted and hope I can get one soon.
Sorry for the delay Cory Jensen (i was on vacation).
You can find the file here : https://github.com/botabotlab/AnetA8-Mods
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