CTC Anet A8? Print not centering on bed. Advice needed.

[Hamish]

Hello all, very new to 3d printing and looking for some help/advice. Warning this may end up being a long post.

Wanted a 3d printer for years and due to everything going on, i have some time on my hands.

I bought this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3D-Printe...72.m2749.l2649

It was nice and cheap and was also a project for me.

I have sucessfully built it, including ordering parts like bolts and threaded rod which they forgot to include. Learned a lot about it thorugh tinkering, and did my first print a couple days ago, it turned out much better than expected. here is pics: https://i.imgur.com/zplnSK8.png https://i.imgur.com/F2WEESe.png https://i.imgur.com/UjjO4Ar.png

Im fairly chuffed with how it turned out, couple things need sorted like there seems to be a bit of wobble on the veritcal cab part, but have a feeling new bearings would fix this as there is a bit of wobble in the extruder carriage.

I also had an issue with the heatbed not working, have since fixed this. Learned it needs to be set before everyprint.

This was sold as a beginner printer, i do not think this is a beginner printer at all.

My main issue and why i am posting here for help is an issue with centering. I have used all the google fu i have on this.

Basically when i go to print a file (using CURA) with custom profile i set for my printer. it shows the object in the centre.

But when i print, its printing in the back left corner of the heatbed.

I have been through every menu on the printer, multiple times.

I found a "set origin" option and manually moved the extruder to centre and tried it and nothing happened. I tried starting a print with the extruder here aswell, but they return to "home" before starting. home seems to be, platter all the way back, vertical all the way down, and extruder all the way to the left.

After some googling last night someone advised me to change the firmware to Sailfish? I believe its currently on marlin. I have the skills to do this, im worried however that if i change the firmware, it will loose settings/parameters that are needed to print and i will not know what to put in to get it working again.

Any help or advice on this is greatly appreciated. Because i am now lost.

Here is a bonus octopus i printed last night. : https://i.imgur.com/aJrWcNc.png

(Im also using the cheap filament that came with the printer as im waiting on a kg spool to arrive, which may also help with print quality a bit)

[Roberts_Clif]

If you have Marlin you can send a command from Cura or a terminal connected to your 3D Printer.

M503 - Report Settings

You can Print these settings to be used when updating your firmware.
Your cartesian style 3d printer has been update to many Marlin firmware's this should make it even easier for you to find a firmware.
That will be near ready to install or even ready to compile and install.

[Hamish]

Hey Roberts_Cliff,

Thanks for your reply.

I originally attached the 3d printer to my laptop via USB but it was not recognised. I went into device manager and it was showing as an unknown device. I have been unable to find a driver for it.

So i have been printing off a MicroSD card i had lying around.

Ill look more into getting a driver and trying to get my laptop to recognise it.

Is there a tutorial or any documentation for what you are advising.

This is all new to me and im completly uncertain.

Thanks again.

[Roberts_Clif]

I Installed a driver that was listed as good for the USB

I watched Where nerdy is cool video

Driver location here

[curious aardvark]

well if you work out how to change the firmware - let me know :-)

I have the exact same machine - and NO it is NOT a beginner machine, not no way no how.

The board does NOT come with a bootloader, neither does it have the requisite connector to add a hardware bootloader type thing.
So good luck with that :-)
They have pared the cost to the bone and that included the atmega 128 (might even be a 64) version of the board itself.

As the screen is also the cheapest on the planet and the version of marlin used is so god-awful you can't even do something as simple as easily loading filament, I eventually gave up and ordered a new board and screen combo.
Around £34 - though for that price you pay in post time.
According to ebay it'll arrive somewhere between the start of june and the end of july :-)
This is what I ordered:

screenbioardcombo.jpg

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IGTREETEC...936e%7Ciid%3A1

Hmm not sure why the picture won't display larger - usually does.

I did think about going for the tmc drivers. But noise is not an issue and they pull a lot more power (heatsinks are twice as large as normal stepper drivers) so went for the a4988s instead. They allow you to use half and quarter steps if you want to. Which is enough fiddling around for me.
The board does have dual z motor sockets too - which saves a lot of mucking about with firmware.
Personally I like repetier for firmware - but this board will take pretty much anything including - probably - smoothieware (well it's 32 bit so it should).

bltouch too much hassle - plus once you swap the bed levelling wingbuts for decent knobs with nylock locking nuts - that's almost a set once and never bother again exercise.
Well once you've bolted the frame to something solid anyway. I used a sheet of 5mm aluminium for a base. But plywood would just as well. I just happen to be able to get free aluminium from a client.

I don't like cura, so can't exactly help there.

But in simplify3d getting a print to start in the centre of the bed took me a while.
You set the origin to 0,0 and tick a box that says to centre designs.

Normally, for all my other printers, you set the origin to the centre of the plate. But not with these.
Origin is where it ends up after homing - bottom left.
And the slicer - which does know where the bed centre is - needs to be told to put the model there.

There are a few modifications to make on these - but the basic machine is actually very capable.

At the end of the day this is still the cheapest 3d printer it's possible to buy - it's designed as a good base to rebuild into a decent machine.

If you ever figure out how to stop the carriage wobble/wave/rocking - let me know.
That's one thing i never cracked.