Slacker3D

Pan here.
Another chapter in my 3d adventures. This time we say goodbye to an old friend.
While getting my CR10 fix I started doing some more PETG prints on my Anet A8. The original, old, acrylic one. It has been a steadfast and dependable little printer. Granted it's never been accurate, but it has done good enough for my needs. It's perfect for project boxes and other things that don't need to look pretty.
But while doing this recent round of prints it stopped keeping it's bed level. For the last couple of years, since I put the heavier springs on the bed I haven't had to level it. But after doing a print I started a new one and the nozzle would drag on the bed. I leveled it and it would still be too low. I went through several rounds of trying to level it and then I finally gave up. I think the frame finally got weak enough that it no longer stayed aligned.
I figured it was time for it to retire. That means get tore down for parts, but I didn't tell it that. Now I had an empty spot, gotta fill it! It's been long enough and the 3d printing scene has advanced to where extruded frame printers were roughly the same price I paid for one with an acrylic frame all those years ago. It's time to replace the old one with an upgrade. I will chronicle that journey here so you can follow along.

Here is a pic of the poor ol' thing.

This is so meta:

3D to 2D? STL to ASCII from Andrew Sink! The STL to ASCII generator from Sink is a work of genius. Is uses the ASCII character set to display a viewing plane of 3d geometry. What is ASCII? H...