AlieneilA's Anet A8 - Upgrades, Videos, Guides Lists

thingiverse

A preview of my upgrades to my Anet A8 with links to all of the videos and articles that I followed to perform the upgrades, as well as to all of the parts I am using. Links to purchased parts are affiliate links. These are all parts I've actually purchased myself and am using, I'll gladly add photos of any part if in doubt. I feel I've spent enough time and money and am trying to help others with a list of resources that helped me. I am also putting the part name so you can search Amazon yourself without going through my links. **Update 3/12/2018** Added a section for hotbed wire upgrade suggestion to avoid your hotbed connector from catching fire. **Update 3/2/2018** Added section for Titan Extruder assembly video, calibration video, my calibration settings for use with stock stepper motor, firmware settings, mount and photo. **Update 2/22/2018** * Added information for the E3Dv6 Clone * Added section of upgrades not recommended to do towards the end. **Intro** A few weeks ago I purchased an [Anet A8 for around $140 from Gearbest link](https://goo.gl/KBcWTj). I learned as much as I could before receiving the 3D printer, but as I've learned in the few weeks since I received it... nothing is a good as first hand experience. While the things I learned before the 3D printer arrived helped a lot, I found that there was a lot I still didn't know. So I will try my best to post things I've learned, where I learned them and hopefully help someone else out that stumbles across this post. **Purchased Parts List and Cost including shipping** * Anet A8 - 147.02 * Titan Clone - 26.20 * E3D v6 Clone - 15.98 * Official BLTouch - 48.95 (included 1m cable extension) * Raspberry Pi Kit - 69.99 * AM8 Frame - 54.42 * AM8 Nuts & Bolts - 13.74 * Rubber Feet - 3.20 * Power Cord - 6.74 * Power Switch - 2.44 * Fuse - 0.08 * Spool Bearings - 1.44 * Idler Pulleys - 6.99 * Mosfet - 8.99 * GT2 Upgraded Belts - 8.99 * Fans (2) - 13.96 **Total cost of printer and upgrades:** **$429.13** First thing's first... if you don't like DIY and don't like tinkering and testing and failing and experimenting... then the Anet A8 is probably not for you. It's a DIY project that takes a lot of patience and a lot of finagling to get things running better than stock. There's a lot of upgrades to make the printer better, and a lot of extra money you may need to spend. While the experience building and upgrading the Anet A8 has been fun for me, the amount of extra money I've put in to it, I probably just could have purchased a better printer that works better and is built better right out of the gate. But this has been a journey that I have enjoyed, even if it did make me want to rip my hair out a few times.