3D Printing thread
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BigJohnny
2500 Club Member
Which one do you have?
Torx
Active Member
That is a loaded question and depends on what you consider good. I love my TEVO Tarantula. It is a DIY build and took a while to tweak it just right. It is a hobby printer. Like any DIY project, you will have ups and downs. But I enjoy it. TEVO has a nice line of cheap printers. The prices easily double and more though.
corey01
Active Member
@BigJohnny
I spent ~ 150 iirc on my Anet A8 as I simply wasn't sure if I would have enough fun with it to warrant the higher price of some models.
its a DIY kit as well. it took a few hours to put together and honestly that alone was worth a good portion of the price. as I will easily spend double that on a set of legos just to assemble them and then they just sit on a shelf. mind you its not perfect there are plenty of nit picks about the machine. you can youtube search the Anet A8 and see a lot of them. the only thing that cannot be "easily" fixed I think is the acrylic frame that allows for a amount of flex in whatever your working on. it can be fixed for about $50 from a kit that sells a metal frame for it. but that takes it out of the space of being incredibly cheap to putting cash that would equal getting a machine that didn't have those issues to begin with.
but for the price and the fun of "playing" with the machine and the ability to create things simply because you can/want to I am very pleased with the machine and it fulfills my needs well.
Edit: although looking at the TEVO tarantula it looks quite nice as well.
I spent ~ 150 iirc on my Anet A8 as I simply wasn't sure if I would have enough fun with it to warrant the higher price of some models.
its a DIY kit as well. it took a few hours to put together and honestly that alone was worth a good portion of the price. as I will easily spend double that on a set of legos just to assemble them and then they just sit on a shelf. mind you its not perfect there are plenty of nit picks about the machine. you can youtube search the Anet A8 and see a lot of them. the only thing that cannot be "easily" fixed I think is the acrylic frame that allows for a amount of flex in whatever your working on. it can be fixed for about $50 from a kit that sells a metal frame for it. but that takes it out of the space of being incredibly cheap to putting cash that would equal getting a machine that didn't have those issues to begin with.
but for the price and the fun of "playing" with the machine and the ability to create things simply because you can/want to I am very pleased with the machine and it fulfills my needs well.
Edit: although looking at the TEVO tarantula it looks quite nice as well.
MaccaPopEye
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I recently posted a review of the Anet A8 budget printer in this thread.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/get-any-part-you-need-right-here.321961/page-4#post-4616898
If it is worth it or not depends entirely if you are willing to put in some time and effort, or if you just want to plug it in and have it work.
If you are ok with building and tweaking a kit, I would seriously look into other printers in the same price range that already come with an aluminium frame from day 1 (and have at least the same build area).
But if you do go with an Anet A8 (and I do consider it to be a great printer for the price), make sure you do the safety upgrades ASAP, no if's or but's
domination2580
Reef-a-nator
Are you able to hook the a8 to a computer to send the files? Say I have a desktop and keep it solely for the printer....
Torx
Active Member
I use a raspberry pi connected to my tarantula. The OS is on the pi is Octopi and I use octoprint to veiw/control my printer from any PC in the house. I can even hook up a cam and view it.
Depending on the printing volume you're going for, a monoprice mp i3 goes for $150 nowadays and you can look around at the reviews... It's plug and play but relatively small printing volume though.
Kyl
And how does it feel like, to wake up in the sun
Whatever printer, do not use your PC as the printing tether. Things like windows updates, any type of system halt or reboot and your print will go poof. One of the best remotes will be a raspberrypi for octoprint.
None of the Chinese (ANet / Tevo / etc) will be plug and play, and without mods to a novice user can actually be a fire hazard. If you're not a tinkerer or like to fiddle with things, going with a kit printer (aka cheap) is not a great idea imo.
None of the Chinese (ANet / Tevo / etc) will be plug and play, and without mods to a novice user can actually be a fire hazard. If you're not a tinkerer or like to fiddle with things, going with a kit printer (aka cheap) is not a great idea imo.
MaccaPopEye
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Nice jobFirst fish tank print.....have some warping I need to deal with.
that's a good idea, keep it east to get to and you are more likely to check often
rcmike
Valuable Member
Awesome! I printed a holder for my digital one. I have several tanks and always sat it down somewhere and had to look for it all the time. Now I have one place to put it and haven't misplaced it since.
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