Help looking for a budget printer

[wbreslin951]

I’ve been looking at the anet a8 but not sure if I want to pull the trigger yet. I’d like to stay under $200 if possible. Looking for something that is a good base platform to upgrade, even buying parts that I can’t print. If I’m going in the wrong direction let me know! TIA

[djcs]

I would agree, thats why I bought one.

Plus I am patient.

If you want a speed demon or a super accurate printer, dont go there.

But I love the fact that I am able to tinker and learn and adapt and refine.

I cannot stress how much care needs to be given to print safely.

Get a fused power switch for it sooner rather than later.

Keep an eye on it. I personally havent had fires etc, but I still keep an eye on it.

Smoke detector just above it so I feel a bit more confident printing overnight,

and I dont let it print when im not here.

Good luck, read up as much as you can and also check out the great youtube tuts.

DJ

[tkuan]

I owned both Anet A8 and Tevo Tarantula. For all the upgrades I did on Anet A8, I could easily pay for a Tevo Tarantula. Aluminum frame, MKS board, better and safer bed connector, build plate, E3D nozzle. The best thing I like is quiet and faster(max speed 150mm/s compare to 80mm/s).

[djcs]

If you dont mind me asking, how much did you pay? and have you spent much on upgrades etc since?

Is there an xl version? something that prints bigger than the 200 x 280?

I have seen this style of printer before and have had concerns about the single motor for y axis.

How has this been for you?

[tkuan]

$180 for Tevo Tarantula(200x200 bed) when it was on sale early this year. $45 for 200x280 bed. $2 extra cooling fan, $4 2.4mm glass bed and $20 autoleveling 8mm sensor for a glass bed. So far it is very good. Some print I will do it on Anet, because it gets better result when prints slower. I think you are thinking about the single z-axis motor, but I think it is balance enough on y-axis so I won’t even bother to add another z-axis motor. I gradually figured out how to print on Tarantula is higher speed. I am think about getting a CR-10 for bigger print volumes, 300x300x400.

$160 for Anet A8. $30 for E3D, $4 for glass bed, $20 autoleveling 8mm sensor, $30 for new controller board(burnt within a month) and many worries about causing fire by the bed connector. I did learn so much about the 3d printer from Anet, because the cheap design.

[djcs]

I was thinking of the cr-10 as my next printer myself.

In regards to the heatbed.

I found one on ebay with all four power pins soldered up (way better than the original) and cabled and installed that in the original config.

However, I did redo the wires from the actual plug back to the mosfet with something a bit more heavier in gauge.

With a dodgy looking bulldog clip of the top of the frame and some high quality bungee cord, it takes the weight of the cables and stops the pressure being applied to the plug and soldered joints. Its a hack, but it works extremely well.

I have found being in Aus, things are a bit more limited to what you can get due to shippping etc.

As an example…

Without shipping, with auto sensor and hotend and size upgrade, for me the Tevo is $400 Aud.

The cr-10 is about $570. Which im very keen for.

Many Thanks for you input.

[tkuan]

I am glad that I can share the information. Interesting hack! I rotated the bed and added cable chains to secure the bed cables. Tevo bed uses all four power pins which is much safer. Anything is cheaper in US. Stocking parts from China helps too.

[djcs]

I did the whole chains and turned the bed etc as well.

Found it made doing the leveling painful as I didnt want to mess with firmware etc

to get the auto leveling working.

The new bed that I purchased uses all four power pins as well.