ANET A6 / A8 ULTIMATE Upgrade Guide

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<h4>If You enjoyed this guide and You want to say "Thank You" please consider supporting me by sending a tip on thingiverse or my PayPal <p><a href="https://paypal.me/ArturPetrzak">here</a>.</p> </h4> <br/> Over 2 years ago I have got my first 3D Printer - Anet A6. I was upgrading it and when it became almost perfect I have sold it because I got Anycubic I3 Mega for testing. Then I was upgrading I3 mega and I have made upgrade guide. There is a lot of knowledge which may help You get the best 3D printing results. You will find it here: - http://bit.ly/2OVbu5Z After this 2 years of upgrading and testing a lot of 3D printers I have decided to make also Anet upgrade guide for You guys! I'm basing on Anet A6 but because Anet A8 is very similar You can also read this guide - Most of the upgrades should work also for A8. --- ##I - Free must-have upgrades - 3D printed 1. Fan duct One of the most important upgrades - It has huge positive impact on the model finish. - http://bit.ly/2g3w7xG 2. Belt distance Originally the belt is not running in parallel which is not good. This part will fix this issue. - http://bit.ly/2g4OAK4 3. Y - Belt tensioner Another really important upgrade. It will allow You to easily tension the belt which will improve accuracy of Your 3D printer. You can download it here: - http://bit.ly/2g3oibd 4. Bed Level Thumbwheel Upgrade Manual bed leveling the Anet A6 andA8 is a bit awkward and can be made much easier. **ATTENTION:** To do this mod, you will need to drill out the M3 thread in the Y carriage aluminum frame. This can not be reversed, but You really will not even think about it when You will see how easy bed leveling is now. Also in the thing below You will find spacers which are setting spring in the center which also helps. - http://bit.ly/2yAAAST 5. Anet A6 X Axis with belt tension Original Anet A6 X Axis parts are complicated, they have a lot of screws, and they are heavy. It is also not making them robust. To make it simple and reliable You should print new X Axis parts. It's not an easy upgrade because You will probably need to enlarge holes for 8 mm rods. But if You know how to drill in plastic it shouldn't be a problem and this upgrade is really rewarding. You get X Axis belt tensioner, more reliable, simple and prettier parts. You will find it here: - http://bit.ly/2yAmIYS While I was making this guide I have also found a newer one. It has fix for Z wobble and other features. I didn't test this part but it may be worth checking out. You can find it here: - http://bit.ly/39TcAtH 6. M4 Nut Knob - Previous part didn't have a knob to adjust belt tension, so I have designed this one: - http://bit.ly/2z57Li0 7. Adjustable Z Endstop When You are using custom X Axis parts You need to change position of the Z Endstop because now it will not trigger. This mod will change endstop position and it will allow You to easily adjust Z trigger height. - http://bit.ly/2yAAbzP 8. Frame brace - Front Anet A6 frame is made from acrylic which is not stiff enough. It can easily bend, especially while doing fast movements by the printer. This part will make front of Your printer more rigid and it will allow You to fix Your printer to the ground. - http://bit.ly/2yClwUO 9. Frame brace - back Same as above - another part for making Anet more rigid. - http://bit.ly/2yAneWO 10. Z Rod stabilizer This part fixes the rods, so the printer is more stable. (Especially rods) It can be used with bearings, but it's not recommended. (Bearings will cause huge Wobble effect) - http://bit.ly/2yIFMn3 --- ##II - Free additional upgrades - 3D printed 1. Quick Change Universal Spool Holder With this part changing the spool is a breeze as it is essentially a giant nut and bolt with cone-like faces, and the nut threads on very quickly due to the coarse thread pitch. Once the hub is mounted on the spool simply slide in a piece of 5/16" or 8mm rod. I was testing a lot of this type Spool holders and this one worked the best. - http://bit.ly/2yAlltb 2. Top Spool holder It will allow You to put Your spool above the printer. Maybe it's not the best idea but it worked great for me. It is great especially if You don't have too much space on Your desk. - http://bit.ly/2g4jUZo 3. Filament Guide It will help to guide Your filament. It's especially important if You have Your spool above the printer. - http://bit.ly/2yBAGKg 4. Extruder button Pushing extruder leaver with original screw is a bit painful for Your finger. This mod will make this problem go away. - http://bit.ly/2g4jeDk 5. Flexible Filament Guide This mod will make loading filament easier and should help while printing with flex filaments. - http://bit.ly/2yCL4RC 6. Extruder Heatsink Fan Spacer In the Anet A6 kit the 40mm fan is bolted against the cooling rib to keep the filament assembly drive together. This is done without no support for the fan. Area51 made this spacer/standoff design to give proper support for the 40mm cooling fan and make the assembly more rigid. To make assembly easier the two spacers is interconnected with a bridge with correct spacing, just insert it into the cooling rib as shown on the photos. It will also make Your extruder leaver move easier. - http://bit.ly/2yABI9l 7. Dust Cap for Z-Rod This parts will help You protect Z screw from dust. Also it looks cool ;) - http://bit.ly/2g4t08N 8. Reset button and buzzer cover This parts will make Your printer look better. Also the buzzer cover will make it a bit quieter. - http://bit.ly/2g4fMJc 9. Portal fan cover It's lighter than original one. Also it's awesome mod for portal fans. - http://bit.ly/2g39mKf 10. Screen cover This is a cover for the LCD board on the Anet A6. It makes it look much neater and it is more protected than with the single piece of acrylic which comes with the kit. - http://bit.ly/2yAm3ql 11. Longer top spool holder After installing screen cover, original parts from Top Spool holder were not long enough, so I have made my own which is a bit longer. - http://bit.ly/2iuBtpE --- ##III - Paid must-have upgrades 1. PSU Cover **Safety First!** Anet A6 kit has dangerous main power terminals exposed without cover, fuse or on/off switch. This simple power supply cover will make your 3D printer more safe to operate. - http://bit.ly/2yAm2CN You will need to buy this socket to install this mod: - http://bit.ly/2zJEl68 2. Mosfet External mosfet is more efficient than this build in Anet A6's motherboard. It will give You more stable voltage on PSU, especially if You are using PID for heated bed which I do recommend for You. - http://bit.ly/2gZkxnQ To instal Mosfet You will also need to print this part: - http://bit.ly/2yBgsQG 3. Male to micro SD card Flexible Card Extension After installing mosfet above the motherboard putting SD Card in became a bit tricky. With this part You can easily move Your sd slot wherever you want. - http://bit.ly/2yG8XW6 4. Heated bed insulation Most of the heat is just escaping under Your heated bed, so heating is not efficient. You can easily improve it by insulating Your bed. On my Anet A6 I have used cotton insulation, but now I was using different type of insulation on my 3D printers. In my opinion it works the same and it is easier to install. Just clean the surface under Your bed with isopropyl alcohol and put there Your insulation. You should PID tune Your heated bed after this modification. You will find 220 x 220 mm Insulation here: - http://bit.ly/2HFVXIs 5. Printing surface When I was upgrading this 3D printer BuildTak was the best 3d printing surface for me. At the moment I'm using only pure glass. Also Ultrabase types surfaces are great but are easy to break and a bit expensive. Choose for Yourself, but I do recommend pure glass. It's cheap and easy to use if You will learn how to use it right ;) 6. New hotend and carriage Hotend and extruder on Anet A6 are really old school at the moment. Extruder is slow and has low resolution. You have a lot of options to choose. Here I will give an example of one option which will make Your 3D printer use bowden extruder. You will need to print for example this carriage: - http://bit.ly/2w6t6bj In most cases, regardless if You chose bowden or direct extruder You will need a new hotend. The best clones I know are from Triangle lab. They are really high quality and are almost same as E3D's. Of course if You have more money You should consider buying original parts, so You can support original creators. If You have smaller budget You should get this one: - http://bit.ly/2TYpq4v You should also get better extruder. If You have money - Buy Hemera. I'm using it on one of my printers and it's just the best extruder You can get at the moment. But if You want to make it cheap buy BMG clone: - http://bit.ly/2xDSVzB After installing these mods You will be free of jams, printing quality will improve, there will be less stringing, and You will have better results while printing on small layer heights. --- ##IV - Paid additional upgrades 1. BLTouch This one doesn't need to be introduced. If You like automatic bed probing You should buy BLTouch: - http://bit.ly/2UcNkb7 2. SSR & AC heated bed That's one of the most rewarding upgrades which You can make to Your 3d printer. SSR is a Solid State Relay which will allow You to use AC heater for Your heated bed. On my 3D printers with 220 x 220 bed I'm using 500W Keenovo heater. On my second 300 x 300 mm printer I'm using even 750W! That's crazy power but it will allow You to easily reach high bed temperatures in a relly short time when we compare it to DC bed. Especially on ANET A6 which has poor 12V PSU. It will make Your heating faster, You will be able to reach higher temperatures and You will make voltage on stepper motors and motherboard more stable which will give You more stable layer height etc. For this mod You will need: Keenovo heater 220V: - http://bit.ly/2UdHlmi I couldn't find one for 110V, so if in Your country is 110V You will need to find it by Your self. SSR kit (You need AC type): - http://bit.ly/2S6crxx Clean the surface under the heated bed with isopropyl alcohol and glue AC heater there. Using red silicone secure edges of the heater. When it's done You should insulate the bed the same as in point: III - 4 You can see this process for larger heated bed in the photos section. You will find connection schematic in SSR kit link. As You can see connection is as easy as installing mosfet. Be careful because we are dealing with AC voltage which may be dangerous for You if You will not follow the safety rules. Btw. You will not need mosfet while using SSR and AC bed so think about it before installing mosfet for DC bed. 3. Modern motherboard ANET A6 is using old 8 bit motherboard with noisy steppers. You can easily change Your motherboard to 32 bit one with removable steppers which will give Your 3D printer a new life. Here You will find example of a fantastic motherboard with open source system and a lot of possibilities. You can buy it with TMC2209 which I do recommend for You. - http://bit.ly/2IVkpTS 4. Silent fans Cheap Chinese 3D printers are using Cheap Chinese fans. These are really loud and if they are not they will be after some time. I suggest You to upgrade them for noctua ones or other silent fans. 5. Silent steppers - TMC2209 If You have installed silent fans You will realize that the most annoying sound that CNC machines are making - stepper sound is now in the foreground. Solution for getting rid of this is really simple - You need to swap Your cheap A4988 drivers for better ones. I'm using TMC2209 which I bought here: - http://bit.ly/TMC-2209 They are easy to install. You just need to throw out old ones and put new ones in their place. Then You just need to invert your stepper motor spin direction by connecting stepper connectors upside down or by inverting it in firmware. Except that they will make Your printer deadly silent, they will improve print quality (A4988 has 1/16 microstepping, TMC2208 has 1/256) also You are able to make your 3D printer smart with them. If You are more into electronics and marlin configuration You can easily connect these drivers to Your motherboard by SPI. It will allow You to set driver current from the terminal or Marlin menu, change stealthchop settings and much more. You can watch install process, and sound comparison on my video about it here: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efpZR1sLH6o It's in Polish language, but it should be easy to follow even if You don't understand a word. 6. 24V PSU On 24V psu Your stepper motors are just working better than on 12V. They can achieve higher speeds and accelerations without loosing steps. I do recommend this one: - http://bit.ly/2ScxuOL It's a really reliable and powerful PSU for 3D printer with DC bed. **ATTENTION!** Remember that when You are upgrading from 12V to 24V You will have to upgrade Your hotend heater to 24V and Your DC bed to 24V. You don't have to upgrade bed heater if You are using SSR. After this type of changes You will have to PID tune your heaters. --- ##V. Other upgrades 1. Marlin firmware - must-have Everybody in 3D printing hobby knows marlin firmware. If somebody doesn't he will eventually know it. Stock 3D printer firmwares are often basing on Marlin, but the problem is that these are outdated. They are often not properly configured, and they can be dangerous as sometimes security system are disabled. You can install it on stock motherboard and You really should do it. You will find all important information about it here: - http://bit.ly/38ZiRma 2. Making Z rods stable On Anet A6 Z rods are not securely fixed in place. They can wobble around which will definitely make accuracy of this printer worse. At the bottom side You will need to drill two holes, one of each side. Then You should use a screw to thread in acrylic. Now You can use small set screws to hold rods in place. You can see this process in my upgrade video here: - http://bit.ly/2Latt5V To hold rods in place at the top I have designed a part which I have mentioned earlier in point I - 9. 3. Lubricate bearings Mine bearings in ANET A6 from the beginning were almost dry. You should definitely apply some white lithium grease on the balls inside the bearing to make them run smoothly and without problems. 4. Upgrade bearings If even after lubrication Your bearings they are not working as they should, they have a lot of free play etc. You should upgrade them. Buy some high quality bearings for example Misumi, or if Your budget is smaller use these: - http://bit.ly/2whUClU You will need LM8UU bearings 5. Synchronize Z motors Do You know this problem? You just leveled Your bed perfectly and printed something. You come back next day and again right side of the bed is higher than left side! This problem exists because right Z motor does not have endstop and it's desynchronizing with left motor. Now You have 2 options: **First one:** Use two endstops, one for each Z motor. You will need better motherboard and some skills in configuring marlin to set this up. **Second One:** You can connect Your Z motors with belt. Check out this mod for example: - http://bit.ly/2QqKZIK --- #THE END I hope that You found this guide useful and Your ANET A6 or A8 have become a lot better 3D printer. Have a good day and don't forget to leave a comment if it helped You! You can watch my review of Anet A6 here: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxlTGkgWEfU And my video about upgrading it here: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KauVa8hqxtw