Anet A8 Fixed Bed Spacer with Cable Chain Guide

thingiverse

This recreation is likely more than just a remix, and I've made several key adjustments to bring it up to speed. First off, I got the dimensions for the original component by manipulating the imported STL in OpenSCAD, which gave me a solid foundation to work with. Currently, I'm running the original components, but I plan on swapping out the one at the left forward corner with a guide that will prevent the Y-axis cable chain from getting tangled up with the printhead. The chain itself is quite flexible, but the wires inside leave much to be desired - I'd strongly recommend replacing them with silicone-insulated wires. These spacers are designed to replace both the springs and thumbwheels, effectively converting your A8 into a fixed bed. To get the most out of this upgrade, you'll likely want to enable manual bed leveling in Marlin at the very least; however, a bed-leveling sensor and automatic bed leveling would be even more convenient. Update (16 Jan 19): When I had the bed apart to fix a flaky connector, the spacers were looking a bit squished, so I reprinted them with 100% infill. The cable-chain guide is still functioning properly, though, so I'm leaving it in place. The darker green cable-chain guide was printed with Priline green PETG using 40% infill; the lighter green spacers were printed with 3D Solutech transparent-green PETG using 100% infill.