Ok I’ve got another 3D Pinter here… and a knife. This is an Anycube i3 Mega. It’s actually the older version without the sensors for bed levelling assistance. I’ve accepted a handful of 3D printers over the summer so I could learn about how they are made. This is the third one, and by far the simplest to assemble. It’s also the most rigid with a pre-assembled gantry and base section mainly fabricated out of steel.
Ok nice.
Ok dear customer, thank you very for choosing Anycube i3 Mega 3D printer. The user manual has been copied in the gifted SD card. Ok. Please just follow the assembly steps and the user guide to level and operate the printer. It is suggested to refer to the open box guide video via this link. Dump. Please contact us on support@anycube3d.com or james@anycube3d.com. .That’s personal there. If you have any questions about the product. Have a nice day. Thanks for your support. Ok thanks for the 3D printer.
It’s interesting what other parts as supplied with the machine. So you get some kinky surgeon gloves. Some snips and other things. USB cable. Another heating element here, which is nice. The Tevo came with an extra mechanism to extrude filament, while this one came with a spare heating element. Hopefully they are indicating what might break first?
What is this thing here. Oh this must be for the spool.
Flip this over. I’m going to open this and have a look, and make sure that none of the wires have popped out. Ok there’s some hot glue there to keep the stepper wire motors on. There’s a fan under here as well. It’s held onto a bracket. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – there’s five stepper motor drivers. SD card reader there, USB. All the power cables look ok. They all seem to be in. They’ve got crimps. It’s actually quite neat. Lets just check these are tight.
Having all the electronics under the 3d printer is a great way to save space around the machine. The Tarantula and A8 had an exposed power supply unit without an on/off switch which doesn’t feel particularly safe.
Alright, I’m happy with that. I’ll just put that back.
Ok I’ve just noticed something weird. The grill doesn’t carry on onto this section here, which blocks the fan. And it’s actually really close to there as well. That way around – well it doesn’t go this way around, it definitely goes that way around coz the holes line up. I’m not sure. I’m going to put it back together coz it’s not going to touch onto the metal, although it’s not going to be drawings any air from anywhere. Really that needs to be drilled out.
I should have really checked if the case is connected to earth – but I can do that later with a volt-meter.
‘m going to turn this on. I’ve plugged it in. I’ve made sure that it’s switched to the right voltage for the area that I’m in. So that is 230v-240v.
(Annoying beeping)
Hello.
The wire to the limit switch pulled out as the bed moved backwards so I had to put that back in making sure it was out of the way. I have to make sure this (wire) is outside the cables going into the terminals. Like that.
Bum-ba-da-bum-baam.
I built in physical pause, abort and emergency stop buttons into the controller for my CNC machines, but none of the 3d printers I received have such things on them.
Ok this has to be the coolest thing. The pattern on the spool.
When you cut your PLA, cut it with a really sharp angle and it will help it get into the bowden extruder.
I tired to install bed levelling on the A8 and Tarantula with varying success. To be honest levelling by hand was simpler and in retrospect – because I am recording this voiceover some time after having received the printer – I’ve been getting some really good prints.
There’s definitely a bend in this. Actually the thing that’s really disapointing and the reason why there is a bend is, coz there’s two linear bearings on this side, but only one on this side here. So when I’m tightening the knurl knob on the left hand side I’m actually bending this piece of mental. That’s 2mm – actually more like 1.7mm. Shut-up.
Ok so this on is the Anet A8, and that’s 3mm. So you’ve got 2mm, 3mm and this one is the Tevo Tarantula. That’s 3mm as well. Those two have 3mm aluminium head beds. This one has 2mm with a very thick piece of glass on top.
The bend is on the metal plate under the glass. The glass seems to be ok to be fair.
Ok I’ve played around with it a bit more and I think I’ve got it about as level as I can possibly get it. I’m going to try print one of the STL files that was pre-saved on the SD card that came with this machine. I have to admit, it does look like a nice machine but I feel like with all three of these – especially, I guess it’s because of the price range – you always seems to notice where the cost saving features are. You know like, missing one of this or using lesser quality of that.
I am printing a sample STL file which came with the 3D printer. It is either a model of Godzillas feet or two owls… it’s actually two owls.
Here comes the bride, 60 inches wide.
Ok so that is the Anycube i3 Mega – that is the third prusa style 3D printer that I have assembled over the summer. They all have their pros and cons, but this one is by far the best in terms of its rigidity and ease of assembly. This is the older version without the sensor to assist with bed levelling, but I’m pleasantly surprised by the print quality.
Ok I’ve actually pulled one off, it’s down to 42 degrees. That’s really not bad. I’ll just turn this off. A little webbing on the top here, on the ears. The lady owl has a flower on her head, and the man owl has a hat. Top hat. You can tell the machine is really sturdy coz you don’t get any weird artefacts from the vibrations during the print. I’m not sure how fast that was printed because that was from the SD card but I probably could have checked. I think I’m going to send these to the Owl Museum in Larnaca. If you’ve been following me on Instagram you’ll know I went out there with my partner for a couple weeks. Cyprus is where my family are originally from and we did a trek around a few different places. And we found this museum in Larnaca which is a private collection of thousands and thousands of owl effigies. And errr, I think the couple who it belongs too. Well I think it belongs to the wife. We went in the morning and the husband sort of turned us away, he wasn’t interested and told us to come back in the evening when his wife was around. She let us in to have a look. And it was quite an amazing collection. It was really quite odd as well. But I’ve got the address. It’s very difficult to find this place, but they’re going to get a little surprise in the post.
Ok I’m just going to check if the earth is connected to the rest of the enclosure. The power supply is. Doing the USB, the paint is not conductive but if I find a machine screws, they’re fine. The bowden is, so that’s a good sign. I suspect this will pass a PAT test if it had too. The reason you want the enclosure to be connected to earth is if it become live, it would trip the system and prevent you from being electrocuted.