ANYCUBIC Photon Mono X 4K LCD 3D Printer with Ultra-Violet Technology

JakeJake: This is my first resin for the ANYCUBIC Photon, and I'm very pleased with it. The print quality is top notch, and generally when there's a problem, at least for the first while, it's user error. Not by forcing anything, but more not following the proper steps to set up the printer, software, and the room where you print.

Here's what I learned as the most important things to remember:
- leveling is extremely important and you really do need it to be as close to perfect as possible
- the room should be 20-35 degrees celcius ideally
- 8-10 seconds for exposure time, 6 bottom layers at 60-80 seconds for adhesion to the plate
- the sound of the print sticking to the vat means it's leveled and sticking to the plate which is a GOOD thing
- printing flat surfaces to the plate can get stuck to the plate and it's a pain
- the software that comes with the printer is fine, but I find Chitubox to be better overall
- print models at a 10-45 degree angle to hide the layers when they stand upright
- learn to hollow prints AND dig 2 holes in it to drain the excess resin and prevent captured resin and fractures
- remove supports by dunking print in HOT water (and...

Canada on Sep 03, 2020

Ray G.Ray G.: July 09.2020. Update

I did a review a few months ago and I'd like to double down on how good this printer is.

My Anycubic continues to operate top-notch after literally hundred of hours, and now I know and understand how to use it proficiently, still room to learn but it's coming along so nicely.

I read many critical reviews, and I respect their opinions, but I just can't share that. if you take my experience, for me most of these reviews deals with the Motherboard and the LCD, and I'll tell you why A) The LCD is a precise piece of equipment, you have to treat it for what it is, a less than 1mm thick glass device. Treat it kindly, when you clean it don't apply pressure, ANY! not in the middle, nor on the sides where the connectors are. You broke it? you'll change it? be careful with the connector and follow to the letter the instructions from Anycubic, there are great videos from them in youtube showing how to do it. If you push the connector the wrong way there is a very big chance you'll mess the motherboard and let's try to be honest and not blame the product.

The operation is still so easy, software is getting better (those supports with Chitubox...

Canada on Apr 15, 2020

Jod Cadieux: Picked this up at my friend's suggestion. (He's into modeling) my intent was for prototyping components for work and to learn on a relatively inexpensive printer.

Construction quality is impressive. Anodized aluminium. Setup is where I ran into trouble.

Usb stick was blank on arrival on so I contacted customer support. They sent me links to obtain the software. Above mentioned a using a higher quality flash drive. I agree.

After that I ran into issues with printing. A boy of back and forth. Support would check in if they hadn't heard from me. (Which was great) (I work away from home regularly so this could have been fixed faster if I was home).

The issue was the leveling and setting the initial height. They stress not getting too close to the 2kLCD screen to protect it. So I was being overly cautious. Once I set it right down and basically could no longer slide the paper without a fair bit of effort. Basically without the base going quite low enough the print disconnects from the build plate and turns into a blob on the bottom. So it needs to be tight

There was a comment above about having to wait an hour to see if the print adhered would take an...

Canada on Sep 13, 2019

Parry: I purchased this printer in January of 2019, at the ~$400 price point. I have gone through about 10L of resin, all for personal use. I use this printer primarily for printing miniatures to paint for board and table top games.

Above and beyond the expectation of resin being a consumable, it is important to note that there are two other parts that are considered consumables as well. These two things are known as "FEP" and the LCD screen.

"FEP" is the thin transparent layer of film that makes up the bottom of the resin container. It is this film that allows the light to project up from the bottom of the printer through the LCD screen and harden the resin at the bottom of the vat. Over time this film becomes cloudy, or wears through and needs to be replaced. It is pretty easy to do. There are plenty of videos on how to do this, and the Anycubic Photon comes with the hex tools required to replace the FEP. Since January, i have replaced the"FEP" film about once every 2L of resin.

The second thing that is considered a consumable is the LCD screen. Since this is equivalent to a cell phone screen without the backlight, over time, pixels will burn out and not allow...

United States on Aug 22, 2019

MarkMark: This was my first step into 3D printing. After seeing examples of prints made with extrusion type printers, and finding them rather rough and full of layer artifacts I was put off by the whole process. I had read about SLA printers being extremely good for small models and figures and so maybe jumped a step and went straight to one of these machines.

My only statement/warning to prospective buyers / users is that it is 'easy' to setup and get working, BUT it can kick your butt sometimes. For me it took roughly 5 attempts to get my first successful print, but wow was it worth the effort! The print quality is amazing, the level of detail this machine can put down is extremely good and Iv been over the moon with it in general. So lets just break down into pros and cons

Pros
1) XY resolution of roughly 50microns - Z resolution down to... 10-20microns - It is impressive how much detail you can get down
2) Supports are easy to remove and the material is easy to finish should any blemishes need extra work
3) Material takes paint very easily
4) Bundled Software is easy to use and does a pretty good job of building supports for your models.

Cons
1) Setup...

Canada on Jun 10, 2019

InvictusInvictus: For an idea of where I'm coming from, I've been printing on FDM printers for 3+ years now, home built i3s and a Prusa Mk2. So I'll be using my experience from those as a comparison here.

So right of the bat I'll say if you're into models and figures that are tiny (board game player pieces for instance) you definitely need to look at this thing.

Build quality is good, above average actually. Everything is made out of anodized aluminum, the printer feels solid, the build plate and vat are both nice and sturdy.

Print quality as I said is excellent compared to an FDM.

Print size is OK. The 65mm restriction is a bit limiting (I'd love to see a version of this printer where that is closer to 100mm). But then again if I need to print large objects I have my i3's which do bigger, less detail oriented things well.

Post processing - it's not that bad. Really. Lots of people are turned off by post processing the prints. I'd say it takes me about 20-30mins of clean up time after a print is done to wash the parts in alcohol, UV cure them (I built myself a curing chamber) and clean up the leftover resin out of the printer. It does take some time, but the more...

Canada on Mar 03, 2019

T. Rainman: I debated whether to give this 4 or 5 stars. I settled on 4, not because I don't think this is an amazing device, but because I think the preponderance of 5 star reviews have created too many unreasonable expectations.

I've been wanting a 3D printer for some time to print wargaming miniatures and HO-scale model parts, but have not found the level of detail in a FDM printer (the kind that uses melted plastic filament) to be good enough. Until I found this, I though SLA printers were financially out of reach. Despite some negative reviews about it not working, I looked at reviews here and elsewhere and decided this was a winner. I was not wrong.

However, this is anything but a Plug and Play printer. We set up the printer, zeroed it per the instructions, and immediately printed the test shape (a mesh cube with the words "Anycubic Photon" printed inside). It worked like a charm, completing in just over 3 hours. Then we quickly threw together a bunch of files to print miniatures, and experienced failure after failure after failure, using up the original bottle of resin and part of a second. Time to give up, right? Nope. Time to figure out what you're doing wrong and fix...

United States on Nov 06, 2018