I am going to order an A8 from eBay and was wondering if there is any difference in a machine that says in the ad that it is ANET A8 2017 UPGRADED QUALITY HIGH PRECISION and one that is described as just a plain A8?Also is it alright to order an A8 from eBay?
Hi there, can you post the two links and I’ll take a look for you.
I recommend an Anet A6, is newer and a bit better. I got mine from Aliexpress
I hadn’t seen these but they do look very nice, be sure to get a copy of the firmware from the vendor, pre-configured firmware is always very useful for upgrades. I swapped my extruder and hotend to the E3D Titan and V6 hotend which transformed the printer.
As for the A6 its very similar if not the same mechanics, looks like a sturdier frame which is good and an improved LCD and interface system.
I found few sellers selling the “Anet A8” with a Melzi controller board(long board) vs the official version of Anet V1.0 board(like a square board). Sometime they even mixed the pictures of Melzi and v1.0 boards, so I am not sure what you will actually get. All the tutorials on upgrading firmware is referring to the V1.0 board, not Melzi. If you don’t want to guess what you will get, you can order from gearbest for $10 more.
Here is a sample link to a Melzi board.
If I am not mistaken the upgraded ANET A8 has the new firmware that allows auto leveling and the device that does the auto leveling. Other than that it is the same machine.
Stocked Anet auto-leveling firmware is not the same as in the Marlin firmware. You will still need to manually adjust the screws in the process of leveling. Auto-leveling in Marlin(SkyNet3D) will adjust z-axis during printing in the same layer based on auto-leveling result. SkyNet3D firmware is pre-configured Marlin for Anet V1.0 board only, not for Melzi board(at least not tested).
I have a question why need auto-leveling and what you use it.
I use it only sometimes for levelling bed surface.
All other bullshit about auto-laveling is good marketing.
You are absolutely correct. I have been used the proximity sensors(4mm rectangle one, 4mm round one and 8mm round one) for a while, and I still need to manually adjust them from time to time. No one is promoting the auto-leveling, but we all like a good challenge. I found most of proximity sensors in the market is not as accurate as it seems. There might be a 1mm difference between each power cycle. I also owns an expensive Sindoh 3D printer, the auto-leveling does generate the constant results. Next thing for me to try is the BLTouch sensor.
If you can get a constant result from a stocked z-stop sensor and you don’t move the printer at all, there is no reason to get an auto-lelveling sensor.
The stocked firmware do not provide the same auto-leveling as in the Marlin firmware. The auto-leveling in Marlin does move Z-axis during printing in the same layer based on the auto-leveling result.
