Have no idea if that title makes sense, hah.
So I received my A8 from Gearbest yesterday, stayed up (way too late) to start assembling it using the videos Anet has provided. All in all, went together very smoothly, fit nicely, hardware is of decent enough quality that I didn’t strip a single screw. All the holes were drilled correctly. Electronics all tested OK with the exception of the limit switches not actually stopping the motors when doing the “X Position Fast” test as the video outlines, however if I did the "Home All command and pressed X, Y, Z switches they did stop, and the board does recognize all the stop switches.
Got to the point where I insert the “threaded rod” for the Z axis, and the white 3D printed part has some pretty bad warpage. When looking at the front of the printer, it’s the left side. Looks like the top of that part, where the brass insert is screwed onto is the part that sits on the bed, and somebody didn’t have the bed heated enough, or something as it is warped horribly. So much so that the whole carriage is skewed about 15 degrees. If I loosen the nuts that hold that brass part on, so it is allowed to sit level there is about a 1/8" gap on one side. Also the two smooth rods that the extruder carriage rides on, seem to be off every so slightly as when the carriage rides to the left side it starts getting alot of resistance. Right side glides butter smooth. I don’t think it’s enough that the stepper motor couldn’t overcome it, but I also don’t want to burn up a driver FET for the motor.
So I have contacted Anet’s e-mail with pictures asking for a replacement. Can anyone provide their experience on how long it takes Anet to respond and ship out a replacement part? Do they ship on the slow boat unregistered post where I’m going to have a nice acrylic desk ornament for a month?
I’m going to bust out the dremel and see what I can do to get up and running, and hopefully print my own replacement.
Thanks, and looking forward to joining the community,
Jonathan
I know how frustrating it is to have bad parts, i had the same when i got my printer. Let me check when i get home, i might have a spare laying around i can send you free of charge to get you up and running.
Hi, I ended up putting the part in the oven at 170F (probably hotter, oven temp aren’t that accurate) and it softened it enough for me to reform it back to normal. My printer is now up and running and printing flawlessly! Thank you for the offer! I emailed Anet and still have not heard back from them.