Anycubic Photon Mono review: Anycubic holds your hand for resin 3D printing beginners

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Anycubic Photon Mono review: Anycubic holds your paw for resin 3D printing beginners

Anycubic is no stranger to the resin marketplace, but with the Photon Mono and Photon Workspace, they're going further than earlier.

Source: Windows Central

When Anycubic said they would be releasing a slew of new MSLA printers that utilise monochrome LCDs, I had assumed they'd take older models, swap the screen, and then phone call information technology a day, but I was wrong. The Photon Mono is 1 of three new printers from Anycubic, the Mono SE, Mono, and the Mono X. The big changes are the monochrome LCDs, which allow for much faster layer times of under 2 seconds and a longer lifespan than RGB counterparts. Resin 3D printing is most to go through a major change, and Anycubic is embracing it in a big fashion.

Anycubic Photon Mono

Bottom line: Anycubic has released a resin printer which has no serious defects, isn't a pain to use and has a very piece of cake to use slicer with preconfigured profiles for its ain printers, holding your hand all the way.

The Proficient

Neat detail, fifty-fifty at 0.15mm layers
Speedy, >two second layer times
Well-nigh no smell when press
Affect UI is simple to navigate

The Bad

Relatively small build volume coming from FDM
Photon Workshop slicer routinely craps the bed
Touchscreen is tiny with terrible viewing angles

Anycubic Photon Mono: What I similar

Source: Windows Central

The Anycubic Photon was ane of the first consumer-grade LCD based resin printers, coming out in 2022. For an asking cost of $500, it was a fraction of the Peopoly Moai's price, and the Formlabs machines were so much more expensive, information technology was best non to contemplate them. People expected the quality to take a significant driblet from the Laser-based SLA machines, merely nosotros were wrong.

The Photon Mono's blueprint is excellent, and I'm a big fan of the shape and lines.

The Photon Mono's blueprint is excellent, and I'm a large fan of the shape and lines. The large blackness base is injection molded with a geometric blueprint cut in the forepart for the touchscreen to sit down angled up at the user. On the left is a ventilation grille/air intake with a triangle pattern, simply the rear pattern is a more dense hexagon filigree. On the right-mitt side, we become the power switch and the USB port, I would have preferred these closer to the forepart on the right, simply at least they aren't on the rear. Sitting atop this base is the yellow/orange UV protection lid, which is completely removable, unlike the hinged lid of the original Photon. This lid stops the resin from curing when information technology's not meant to, and it likewise protects your eyes from the UV light from the printer.

Mechanically, resin printers are a lot simpler than FDM machines; instead of an X, Y, Z, and Extruder motor, we accept one; the Z motor. The printer lowers the build plate into the resin vat, and subsequently each layer is cured, lifts it to cure the next one. Considering of the fashion LCD based printers work, instead of cartoon the outline with a light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, the screen displays the epitome to cure, and the entire build plate is cured at the same time, meaning if you have i model or v models, as long as they're the aforementioned height they'll take identical print times.

The Photon Mono when printing is pretty quiet and has almost no smell. Yous volition hear the Z motor when the layer changes, but information technology is more of a low-medium frequency hum than anything shrill. And unlike other resin printers, the fans to cool the UV LED and extract fumes aren't annoying or overbearing hither; in fact, I've been in the same room as the printer after it's finished printing, and I forgot information technology was even on, something that can't be said for all MSLA printers.

Then most the prints, they're awesome. Resin press is, for the most office, a lot smaller than FDM press, with a build area of 130x80x165mm I tin fit virtually 2.5 of these full build volumes on my FDM printer with a 235x235x250 build volume, but the trade-off you make for pocket-size build volume is ridiculous item and accuracy. Whereas an FDM with a 0.4mm nozzle will impress a 0.4mm line and have, at best (most times) a 0.1mm layer height, on LCD resin printers, the recommended layer superlative is 0.05mm, and on the Photon Mono'due south LCD, the line width is as well 0.05mm so each line tin exist 8 times effectively, leading to the cool busts, minis, and props you see here.

I also need to requite Anycubic props for their slicer when information technology works. Slicing 3D files for resin printing is however harder than it is for FDM prints, but that is likely considering it is a lot newer consumer procedure, merely Photon Workshop is very piece of cake to use. It has presets for Anycubic printers, but you lot can create profiles for any resin printer you like. Drop the file on the build plate, rotate, scale, and move to your heart's content; and then, you change layer height with the second tab going to support on the right-mitt side. I don't recall Supports are quite as easy as Chitubox, but every bit of writing this, Chitubox doesn't support the Photon Mono's file format.

Anycubic Photon Mono: What I don't like

Source: Windows Fundamental

Outside of resin printing's normal cons, such every bit the olfactory property, the smaller build volume, and the toll of materials, a few things are Photon Mono specific that I don't like. Starting with the touchscreen on the forepart. Whilst the touchscreen is a very dainty addition, and the user interface is amend than some of the other resin printers I've seen, it is a tiny 2.8" TN screen with truly horrible off-axis viewing capabilities. I'm non asking for a Formlabs Form three level screen or even the Prusa SL1 touchscreen, merely something better than this, please.

Source: Windows Key

Some other issue I've come beyond is with Photon Workshop, which routinely fails when there is too much going on on the platter. I initially idea this was my figurer, I tested information technology on 2 laptops and another desktop, but they did the aforementioned. The issues range from supports disappearing, drain holes just deciding they'll go somewhere other than where you lot placed them, and my least favorite, crashing when slicing a heavy model, and you have to commencement from scratch again.

The contest

Source: Elegoo

In the $200-$300 MSLA resin printer infinite, at that place are a off-white few options. The near prominent histrion is Elegoo with their Mars line of printers, recently updated to the Mars 2 Pro Mono, with the same Monochrome screen as the Photon Mono. Still, a slightly smaller footprint, the kicker here is that it'southward as well $40 more expensive, coming in at $300 on Amazon, and you don't have a custom-tailored slicer for the Mars. Withal, it does take a pre-configured slicer contour inside the very pop and very capable ChiTuBox.

Side by side would be the Phrozen Sonic Mini , at $199, information technology's $60 cheaper than the Photon Mono, which still has the Monochrome screen for fast cure times and a longer lifespan. All the same its a smaller 5.5" 1920x1080 screen, and then the build volume shrinks to 120x68x130mm that'due south a fair bit smaller than the 130x80x165 of the Photon Mono and the 130x80x160 of the Mars two Pro, merely too the lower 1080p resolution means the XY pixel size is larger than on the other printers. The Phrozen Sonic Mini also uses ChiTuBox as it'south slicer software.

Lastly would be the older Anycubic Photon South. information technology's a 5.5" 2560x1440 screen, so information technology'd have a 115x65x155mm build volume, like to the Phrozen Sonic Mini. Still, because the resolution is higher, you go a better XY pixel density. Sadly, being an older auto, this is an RGB screen, then instead of the sub-2-2d layer cure times, it'due south now 10-fourteen seconds per layer, significantly increasing print times, but likewise RGB screens have a limited lifespan of 500 hours, roughly, whereas monochrome screens last well over 2000 hours. The Photon S can be had for effectually $289 on Amazon.

Anycubic Photon Mono: Should you buy

Source: Windows Primal

So should you purchase the Photon Mono? I think information technology's a pretty corking deal at $270, and no hardware related dealbreakers are here. In the month I've been testing the Photon Mono, I was press well-nigh every day, I don't have a concrete number, just I've put over 100 hours of printing and 2 liters of Resin through this machine with the only failed prints existence my fault.

If you want a resin printer and are fully aware of what that entails, and so $270 for the Photon Mono and $150 for the Anycubic Wash and Cure station is a great investment. Its pocket-size footprint doesn't take upwards that much room, information technology's tranquillity, it's repeatable and reliable, and Anycubic has been at this long enough to gear up Photon Workshop chop-chop. Hopefully, the touchscreen is the adjacent upgrade.

Anycubic Photon Mono

Bottom line: Anycubic has released a resin printer which has no serious defects, isn't a hurting to apply and has a very piece of cake to employ slicer with preconfigured profiles for its ain printers, holding your hand all the fashion.

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