Ok so I’ve been wanting a new printer for a while now and I’ve gotten it narrowed down to 2 printers. The Anet E10 and A2. They use the same electronics from what I can tell. They both seem pretty similar. Does anyone know of any real pros and cons to these or why the E10 is worth the extra $100 over the A2? I like the compact size of the A2 with the controller on top but it has a smaller build plate and a single offset z axis motors. Any help would be appreciated and feel free to ask questions.
If you don’t need the extra z-height go for the A2. You can always add on a second z-motor if you want that but it’s not entirely necessary.
The A2 is great as a starter printer to get you going and learn about what goes into printing. It can be used to get your foot in the door and then you can always design your own printer and print parts for it once you know what you actually want.
Avoid the E10 quality is really bad. The A2 isn’t bad for an anet. The cr10 is a good option too.
@James_Whittington why do you say the E10 is bad? What part about it makes it worse than the A2? They are almost the same printer.
@James_Coyle well I already own a printer. That’s why I decided between these 2. I wanted one with a stronger frame and like the extruded aluminum idea. I’ve upgraded my current printer quite a bit and am just not happy with the quality as it has some kind of wobble that I’m yet to figure out.
Watch some reviews they tell the story. I have assembled 2 and found missing, and faulty parts. Also some of the cables were to short to reach the controller.
@Kevin_Danger_Powers If you have one already I’d design a custom printer instead. Any of these kits will always need upgrades and won’t do exactly what you wanted so you’d be better just spending some time identifying what you want, looking at what works and what doesn’t, and designing the printer that suits your needs.
+Kevin Danger Powers
Just Check out the reviews of the E10. Its really Bad. You should also have a look on the new cr10s.
Nobody needs that much Z height on a Mendel/i3 style printer. It makes the ZX gantry less rigid, and really tall prints on a moving Y bed often become a problem due to sway.
Unless you have a specific need for the larger size, always pick the smaller printer – you’ll get better results at lower cost.
@Ryan_Carlyle that’s my thoughts really. If you want z-height go Delta.
From the pictures it seems the E10 has a more stable Printbed. The A2 is only guided in the middle
I’ve got the A8. It needs a bit of “help” to make it work really well (but the mods are plentiful on Thingiverse) but I am very pleased the quality of the prints I get from it now.
What about troubleshooting your existing printer and figuring out what to change to get the printer to the quality you want?
If you are looking for a printer which prints beautifully out of the box an Anet probably isn’t the right choice. Most people will mod it until it’s not really an Anet anymore.
Therefore you might want to look at an Original Prusa MK2S.
@Kevin_Danger_Powers If you have the budget I would recommend the original prusa i3 mk2s, the kit is $599 and it’s a great printer. I have the mk2 and it hasn’t let me down yet
I personally own the MK2S its pretty awesome. They also recently released the Prusa i3 MK3 you might be interested in that one.
@James_Coyle well I made a post recently about building my own but I’m not looking to sink a bunch of money into one. If I could build something halfway decent for $200-$250 then I’d probably just do that. Problem is that everyone said that it would be more expensive. I don’t do a ton of printing and I don’t need super high accuracy so I don’t need anything amazing. My current printer just has an issue that I’ve struggled to fix. I think I may need a new z axis rod. I’m pretty sure it just uses threaded rod vs lead screws. If I could fix my current printer I’d just assume do that.
@Kevin_Danger_Powers You can make them pretty cheap if you shop around. If you can find a good supplier for extrusion that tends to be the most expensive part. Could always buy upgrades for your current printer (ramps, new extruder, and psu) and swap them across when you can afford the rest of the parts.
@Alex_Skoruppa do you know of a video or a list of needed parts? My problem is that I don’t know all the parts that are needed, nor do I know what parts are good and bad.
@Kevin_Danger_Powers you could look into the monoprice maker select , if is just a rebranded wanhao duplicator i3 whitch is a relatively consistent and upgradable machine.
@Carter_Schunk I was really wanting to stay AROUND $200. I know that’s a long shot for a halfway decent printer but the A2 is $170 and the E10 is $270. Honestly the E10 is more than I want to spend and I doubt it’s that much better than the A2. Also, I don’t need the height, I just thought the longer build plate would be nice. It’s 220x270. But honestly I should probably just fix whatever the issue is with my current printer. I may try replacing the Z axis threaded rods with actual lead screws. That may actually fix my issue.