Anet A8

[Tony Bennett]

well if no one else wants it and you can bring it to the Nats.

I will take it off your hands sir.

Tony B

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Masher on 14/08/2017 11:11:29:

If anyone is about to buy one of these, mine is going up for sale.

Nothing wrong with it (just bought it for a play), very low use, reel of black PLA included. All built & tested. Pick up only from Hereford, £100 no offers

Wish I needed it, that's an offer hard to refuse.

[Pete Collins]

I knew it was too good to last. I haven't done all that much printing - I'm on my second reel of PLA. In the middle of a Major print (estimated at about 20 hours!) the printer stopped! When I checked I found that the voltage trip for my workshop had blown. On investigation, sure enough, it's the printer that's blowing it. It trips out as soon as I plug in. Not had time to investigate further but it doesn't look good.

Anyone else had similar problems?

Pete C

[Mark Stringer]

I have got an A8 and it has been fine but they are prone to melt the hotbed plug ... It may be that

[Simon Chaddock]

Just playing really but I wanted to 'print' an exhaust tube for a 50 mm outrunner EDF.

As with all out runner types the motor creates a 'bluff end' in the thrust tube which to put it mildly is 'poor' aerodynamics.

With an in runner a 'cone' can be added to the motor casing to smooth the airflow.

A static cone is possible with an out runner but it requires at least 3 'vanes' to secure it so there is a real possibility that any benefit from the cone is largely negated by the drag from its supporting vanes.

I wondered if it was possible to make a cone light enough that it could be fixed directly on the end of the out runner without creating significant balance problems.

Using the 'spriralize' option in CURA it is possible to print a fairly complex shape as a single wall item with the added advantage that it is formed in one continuous operation which improves the print quality.

This elliptical cone on a 23 mm diameter out runner bell weighs just 1/2 g!

It has a 6mm hole in the end to allow cooling air to exit.

The matching thrust tube is also a single wall spiralize print and weighs 2g.

It has both a parallel and an elliptical taper portions to keep a constant cross section all the way down the thrust tube.

The tube is 'joggled' to locate on the EDF body.

I really doubt it will give a significant thrust improvement but "every little helps". .

[Mowerman]

And it looks good !

[Pete Collins]

Re my previous post;

On switching on there is a sharp crack and a blue flash from the middle of the power supply somewhere near the transformer. I suspect I'm going to need a replacement power supply - doesn't look good!

Pete C

[Colin Bernard]

A friend of mine had a similar problem with his A8. When I opened up the power supply I found that the soldering was a little suspect to say the least, and there was a short across a regulator leading to a blown fuse on the board.

Replacement of the fuse and regulator, and checking and tidying up all the soldering sorted the issue,

[Simon Chaddock]

For anybody that has not tried it this video shows the CURA "spiralize" feature in action.

It only prints a single skin hollow structure but it does so as one continuous operation which has benefits in surface finish and time to print both useful features if you want to create a light but complex shape exhaust tube.

[Ian Jones]

Great stuff Simon, looking forward to trying it, notied any benefit?

[Tim C]

I have an A8 enroute from China, what sources can be recommended for PLA/ABS filament supplies?

Edited By Tim @ ModelMarkings.com on 23/11/2017 15:19:49

[Tony Bennett]

I get mine from ebay.

**LINK**

i expect some one will say i am paying too much for it.

Tony B

[Simon Chaddock]

I get mine from Ebay too.

**LINK**

[MaL]

Hobbyking - EU warehouse

[Simon Chaddock]

One area where 3D printing excels is in duplication.

These are the 8 individual pieces (2 on the left, 6 on the right) that make up the 2nd nacelle for my Airbus A350. The initial components took quite some trial and error to get right and although this picture represents about 4 hours worth of printing it was all done at the touch of a button (well almost!) and the bits all fit together exactly. Oh joy!

With very thin (0.3 mm) walls and single layer (0.2 mm) bottom surfaces to save weight it is about at the limit of what my A8 can reliably print so it was important to print everything whilst the machine maintained its physical settings. Even changes in the ambient air temperature made a difference!

[Mark Stringer]

I have had all of my filament from Hobby King EU warehouse from their deals / bargain bin offers.

I have only used PLA so far (and mainly the ESUN brand) as i have my printer in the house and ABS would need venting properly.

The CoLiDo ones in cartridges are OK too as they just pop out of the cartridge to use as normal.

They have a lot of Black Friday deals on today and free postage so it will be hard to beat i would have thought!:

Looks like it is selling out quickly though: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/3d-printing-diy/filament/pla.html?p=1&wrh=7%2C1

[MaL]

Had a look for some more pla today to replace the stuff I've been using..... only......there's none to be had from the EU warehouse (at least i couldn't find any).. plenty available from China but a 500g reel of pla weighs over 1500 grams when packaged apparently - that pushes it into the £19.56 postage bracket ......

Found a 1kg reel on ebay.fr for €13.36 delivered express from a french shop!!! (now theres a turn up for the books!!)

[Mark Stringer]

If you do this search https://hobbyking.com/en_us/3d-printing-diy/filament/pla.html?wrh=1%2C7 then scroll down the list there are a few in stock - many of which are in the UK warehouse if that is OK for you?

Many are 500g but there are a few 1kg rolls there too.

These were free shipping for black Friday but that looks to have finished ,..UK postage is usually pretty good for pretty large deliveries though.... just popped 4 x 1kg rolls in my basket and it came to £4.84 by parcel force 48 ... says it is that price up to 30kg so about 25 rolls i would have thought...

Edited By Mark Stringer on 04/12/2017 10:21:10

[MaL]

You are right..... there is ONE roll of PLA 1.75 available from the EU warehouse.. I am in France and getting stuff from the UK warehouse is too expensive at $13...a bit on the steep side for $11 worth of goods, not so bad if you order up to the weight limit of 30kg though

Thanks for looking though.. I hope it is just that there was rush to take advantage of the sale offers and normal service will be resumed at some time. I suspect they are phasing out the esun stuff in favour of their own brand..not that there is anything wrong with their brand.. i have used it for ages....

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I have a roll of ESUN grey which prints well - but I have found that the first couple of inches above the print head go brittle and it tends to snap after a couple of days of non-use and I have to say that feeding in a new piece is my least favourite part of 3D print operation. I have a roll of HK copper which (so far!) has remained intact between uses.

Has anyone else encountered this problem?

[Mark Stringer]

I have had a couple that have done that but i assumed it was due to my printer being in the conservatory and the heat in there affecting it.

I spent my first few days of printing doing extras for it - one of which was the filament loader modification ....although this has flexed a little it still does the job nicely and i have had no issues with it : https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2037833

I also added the self leveling sensor and so use the Skynet firmware, did a filament guide and spool centre pieces to make it roll nicely during its feed..... it working quite nicely at the moment

....and Santa is bringing be a 2500mW A3 laser for Christmas plus Z-Axis adapter and CNC motor ... more to play with

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Thanks Mark - printer fired up and running!

[Tim C]

Well the A8 turned up from China on Xmas eve. It cost £105 from Gearbest, took 4 weeks transit time once it had been packaged and marked as dispatched (10 days!). Interesting to read the transit labels on the box. It looks like it was air freighted to Prague by a Baku based air freight co, DHL to London (somehow!) the package to a London transit Address, then finally appeared in Yodel tracking in the UK and delivered next day, box was also covered in Contain Lipo warning stickers, (it does not contain any battery!), and arrived without any additional duty or charges.

It was parked over the Xmas period, but it is now assembled and now awaiting configuration and tuning. First impressions are good, all the parts are clearly labelled, a full set of tools is also enclosed to aid assembly, and using youtube videos took a couple of evening to screw together.

More updates soon

[Nev]

I got one of these at the end of October, similar story re delivery from gear best, the first one got lost but when I contacted them they sorted it out and another one arrived exactly when they said it would.

I fastened mine down to a solid board using some “printed” clips, I would recommend doing something similar when your up and running. Apart from that and a filament guide, oh and a cover for the cap screw to put the filament in, it’s pretty much as supplied.

I’m very impressed which how it works, the critical thing is the first layer, 1 thickness of A4 type paper used to set the bed height works for me.

Good luck with it.

Nev.

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Nev on 11/01/2018 20:23:07

Snip.....I’m very impressed which how it works, the critical thing is the first layer, 1 thickness of A4 type paper used to set the bed height works for me.

Good luck with it.

Nev.