Have you been a fan of DIY kits? Or are you hating it? 3D Printers are interesting units to have, since you can turn your creativity in mind, into actual touchable 3D objects. Seeing it for the first time, you might look at it as a complex unit. Companies that produce printers know about this, and offer the pre-assembled kits in most of their products. That basically means you can get the 3D printer that’s ready to use right from the box. No further assembling processes are needed. But let’s be honest, some people also love how DIY kits work, and desire to find the best of them.
The Prusa i3 and Anet A5 are both categorized as DIY kits 3D Printers. There’s some people who prefer pre-assembled kits, since they can go working on it right away. But there’s a market who really prefers the DIY kits because they can build or assemble their printers on their own. Providing a unique feel and satisfying moment once you cleared it.
Both of them are popular 3D printers, and the reason behind that is they are actually really affordable, and open source. So let’s see which is the better one from Prusa i3 and Anet A5.
Anet A6
Continuing the legacy of previously known Anet A8, Anet 6 approached the market with significant enhances and upgrades. Even though it seems to be menacing, this printer is actually an entry-level printer that’s most suitable for beginners and advanced printers who just want to give their personal touch on a printer.
| Anet A6 | Prusa i3 | |
|---|---|---|
  |   |
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| Product Dimensions | 20.2 x 19.3 x 7.1 inches | 21.06 x 20.08 x 18.7 inches |
| Shipping Weight | 21.2 pounds | 28.51 pounds |
| Best offer | Check price | Check price |
Even though it sounded great at first, be ready to make your hands dirty. You’re gonna build it. Assembling a 3D printer could be an interesting experience. You can get a lot of important information on the way, while learning about your printer better. That’s why, it can be said that Anet A6 is certainly not for everyone.
However, inside the box, you’ll get everything you need, from the tools up from the necessary accessories. Along with those, you can also find a free SD Card, information paper, some test prints, and also free slicer software to start printing once you’ve done assembling.
The DIY Kit is one feature that is often neglectable in this industry. With the demands of wanting to have ready-to-use products, most brands often come up with pre-assembled units. Fortunately, Anet 6 developers fully embraced it.
It’s interesting to see Anet A6 as an open-source printer, which basically means you have a more personalized printer. Having able to fully adjust your printer to your likings is a wonderful experience. Users are granted the ability to change softwares, as well as hardwares. So if you feel like changing something in it, please feel free to do so.
Similar to the Anet A8, Anet A6 still uses the acrylic frame, only bigger and better. The materials feel sturdier than before, further providing a more point in stability. You need to remember that this printer is still considered affordable, so extra protection is another generous feature.
Dimension is larger in this A6, given the size of 8.6 x 8.6 x 9.85 inches. Comparing it to its actual price, it seemed too good to be true. Couple extra inches provide big differences in printing.
Prusa i3
Prusa i3 is about balance. Balanced in features, price, and quality altogether. Unlike Anet A6, Prusa i3 offers more varied buying options. You can buy it pre-assembled, or DIY, it’s all up to you. Once you finally got this printer, you’ll realize how precious it is.
Carrying a different name, Prusa i3 actually looks similar to the older products. Only under a closer look, you can get that this machine is definitely a different beast. As the same with the older Prusas, it still has the open-design. The look perfectly matched the older generations, but don’t let that disappoint you. The Prusa i3 MKS is still considered to be one of the best printers out there in terms of quality and performance, even can be versatile if you tinker it a little bit.
Let us see what makes it different from the other Prusa printers. While holding the name of Prusa i3 MKS, this printer simply looks similar to MK2, and its original version, i3 MK. The overall build on i3 MKS is designed based on user reviews and feedback, so they basically gave what the market wanted.
Within this strong-looking printer, you can find so many useful features, one of them being E3D Hotend, which was made by a team in the UK that’s known to be the best in the industry. Bondtech Drive Gears are present in order to give a stronger grip to prevent filament leaks and reduce slip, while increasing the pushing force at the same time. It makes printing with flexible filaments a lot easier.
You can also find the Automatic filament loading, which is a neat way to replace the old-traditional filament loading that could end in troubles. Removing printing results from the platform can be annoying sometimes, and this trouble has been answered in the original i3 where there’s a glass plate and bull clips. Now in this upgraded printer, you can find magnetic HeatBed that’s added with alloy PEI coated spring steel sheet.
Doesn’t want to stop there, Prusa i3 MKS also offers the strong extruded aluminium frame, quiet performance that made possible by its silent motors, power loss recovery feature, avoid skipped layers, and the addition of P.I.N.D.A 2 probe. What this can do is to adjust temperature drift at the print level while ensuring that the first layer is always corrected. Read also: Creality CR 10 V2 VS Ender 3 Pro.
Anet A6 VS Prusa i3
Conclusion
Both printers are clear enough to be the best affordable 3D printers you can buy. They are able to produce high-quality printings with much ease and a fun way to experience. They also offer DIY kits packages for those interested in assembling them. With such low prices, you can still get what you were expecting. But, in terms of value for money, with similar specifications and only a little bit of a drawback in performance, we’d like to say the Anet 6 as the better one.