Auto Levelling Anet A8 with Included Filament - Prusa i3 DIY 3D Printer w/Self Levelling Sensor

So far not so good.Rating is for seller, not printer.The Anet A8 is a builders printer...if you like building things and have patience...so far I'd rate the printer 4 or 5 stars for it's price compared to other printers.PROSShipped quickly and shipped box was ok. Extra PLA roll looks good, but was just taped to the side (at first I thought the main box was torn and taped), but everything came intact (perhaps...keep reading). Assembly was OK...instructions were useless by themselves you'll want a video. There are video links in the docs on the SD and they are good for troubleshooting and getting leveled and started. Look on youtube for assembly videos. All parts are present, plus some extra screws and nuts. etc.CONSTerrible documentation, but that's par for these kits.Where to go for help...? That's also not clear.BAD parts: Yes, understood that these kits are the cheapest parts you can get...hence the low price point. But these items came broken in my kit...or "off"...- one of the acrylic frame holes was not cut out as it should have been...I got it together but we'll see if the frame holds together as-is. I think it will be OK.- X axis rollers are very rough. In fact, I can't tighten the screws for the extruder holder too tight to them otherwise they won't roll at all. For now I've put light oil on them and only got 2 screws in each of the 3 x-axis rollers, we'll see if it holds (if the holder falls off or the balls/rollers die).WORSE PART:- apparent mobo issues...front FAN2 slot on the motherboard appears to be non-functional...the fan will not blow and no volts at the pins. Not good.May be related may not but prints also do not print at all. The SD card has gcode test files on it but they are not accessible from the control panel in the directory they are in...had to move them to the SD root. Anyway, no matter what print (even my own) once loaded the bed and extruder heat up but printing never progresses past 0%...it just sits.So essentially the printer is non-working.I contacted the seller through Amazon and they had me go to their website (I was told "just Google search for "3Dworkbench" that's us") and use their contact form. They asked me to send them videos of things not-working, twice, which was a pain...but OK I don't mind showing them and troubleshooting. Now they say they "will contact Anet and let me know". Considering they sell the mobos, not sure what this means or why it's necessary...but OK we will see.We will see if their customer service makes up for the so far NOT GOOD purchase. It will come down to how they handle things at this point forward...It would be pretty easy for them to send me a new mobo and make this right. The seller you want to buy this kit from is one that will give you good customer service for these cheap parts that come defective...I'll post back and update my feedback if that happens...UPDATE:Have been working with seller on FAN1 not working...after a week of back-and-forth they agree a bad motherboard. Notified by the seller that Anet is sending me a new motherboard, which leaves me wondering how long that will take (have read others says Anet can take a long time to send from China). We will see...but from a service standpoint, the seller sells the motherboards...but I have to wait for Anet to send one...(?)I will say that with the Anet A8 you will want to print these "tools" first, which will greatly improve quality and usability of the printer:Must haves...install these first:- belt tightener mechanism, mostly my Y belt needed this.- Z axis stop or fine tuning mechanism. This is so you can more easily adjust the Z axis stop sensor.Make it easy on yourself:- a knob for the extruder release bolt.- extruder fan hinge, or easy access mod of some sort (changing filament requires you to take apart the whole assembly)Upping rating to 3 stars...this is mainly for this seller and their service.Update: Received a replacement motherboard within just over a week. Very nice!Now the FAN1 works and after some tweaking I'm getting some good prints!Although not a smooth road, again, these kits can be purchased from many places...this seller in the end did right by me!

I like this printer. it should be noted, this version here includes 1/2 a kilo of average "chinesium" filament, as well as the auto leveling sensor.IMO, save your cash and just get the basic kit and get a full kilo of Hatchbox or other quality filament, and manually level the bed until you get a good QUALITY bed level sensor.This specific A8 is actually the "A8-L". it includes a newer "v1.5" board. this means you may have trouble putting new firmware on it, and it includes firmware that is different from the standard A8. I am unable to flash my board and have ordered a USBASP to put a new bootloader on it. I've tried several other ways, including using the arduino IDE and Marlin setup.now, the main problem I have is with the sensor itself. with the stock bed, the sensor itself has a sensing distance of MAYBE 1mm at best. also, the included sensor mount is crap. it's a 2mm thick piece of acrylic that will EASILY crack on you, even with little more than finger tightening the screws to the mounting point.the firmware also has an issue with not responding the the G29 code, which is the full autobed leveling G-code. it simply does a custom bed leveling. which is why you need to upgrade the firmware... which is why it becomes necessary to get a USBASP (or arduino).one last thing, DO NOT follow the auto leveling procedure on youtube! it is terrible. it WILL crash your nozzle into the bed... IF you get this model and use the crap sensor,then this is how you level it:prior to this, i suggest manually leveling the bed (TRAM it! search for vids first) -- as this machine does not with stock firmware have ability to do real multi point auto bed leveling during print, just center leveling and manual leveling.1. install sensor, and put it in the lower most position (slide it all the way down) gently tighten screws but not too tight, you'll be undoing them later2. press buttons and find setting for "custom leveling" allow it to do its thing, it'll center itself on bed. loosen screws and move sensor up out of way.3. use the buttons and adjust axis down onto paper to get proper resistance just like you would with manual leveling.4. this is where it gets different from the Anet YouTube vid; do NOT use the acrylic to set the sensor height. adjust it down so that the light just barely comes on. then lock it in place.5. return through the menu and again run through the custom level. this time, you will go "next" after getting the nozzle resistance with paper method. it will move through several points of the bed. use the manual method of adjusting screws until proper resistance is achieved in the center and all 4 corners.6. verify by running it through all again without adjusting the sensor this time...7. you should be complete and ready to go.I will attempt to get a video later at some point if possible.