My Experience with the Anet A8 3D Printer

I purchased this printer almost on an impulse after seeing how cheap 3D printers got since the last time I checked (it was not too long ago when entry 3D printers started at $500). Anet A8 stood out from the competition for me due to it's low price, good reviews, and big community. My kit, bundled with 1kg of ABS plastic cost me about 170 USD on Ebay.

I don't have any pictures of the original box but here are all the contents laid out. The components are straight forward but it is still impressive that all this can be purchased for as littler as $150. 

The building experience for me was very pleasant. All the parts were present, functioning and well labeled. The building instructions were linked on an included microSD card and were also well filmed. I spread the building over the course of a week with a total of 3-4 hours of assembly. As you can see in the picture it is pretty easy to talk to friends or watch something while building the printer.

Here is the printer completed. The only thing I had to buy additionally was a glue stick. I had problems with ABS adhering to the bed which the $0.77 glue stick solved wonderfully. I was able to print the only other modification to the printer I made. I ended up printing a spool feeder (white, top right of the photo) which I found on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1764285

A big benefit of a strong community is that there were many modifications available for printing online. 

A very quick video of one of my first prints. The calibration process consisted of using a piece of A4 paper to level and zero the bed. It was a little strange but worked well enough. Took me around 30 minutes.

Pros:

• very good instructions
• easy build process
• big community
• good build quality
• straight forward calibration

Cons:

• some of the bearings were of mediocre quality
• there was a minor discrepancy in the build instructions for the x-axis motor mount
• a few of the components (the power supply and MOSFETS) on the control board get very hot

Overall the Anet A8 3D printer offers a fantastic value for the money. The build process was easy and stress free. The print quality is more than sufficient for personal projects. A large community makes it easy to add to the printer or troubleshoot any problems. 

Side-notes, tips warnings:

• many people suggest modifications to deal with wires and components getting too hot. I did not do them, but I highly suggest reading them before buying this printer (some consider them a safety concern). 
• the included test models on the SD card were made for PLA plastic only (ABS would print poorly)
• initially the front blower fan was jammed and required to be manually turned (an issue I am willing to overlook but could have potentially caused bigger problems)
• all the tools necessary were included except for a hammer that's needed for x-axis rods