bigseb
Alibre Super User
I recently purchased a DLP printer, the Anycubic Photon. This is my review.
DLP printers, for those that don't know, are closely related to SLA printers. Both use a UV curable resin that builds up a part layer by layer. Both print the part upside down i.e. the platform dips into a vat of resin and slowly rises. Both can achieve incredible accuracy and detail. Where they differ is how they achieve the curing of each layer. SLA is the older of the two technologies and uses a laser that traces out the outline/walls of the part and its supports. DLP is relatively new and has ditched the laser in favour of an LCD screen that essentially emits an image of that entire layer. In many ways DLP is a superior method as there are no moving parts for the X and Y movements which equates to less wear and greater repeatability. More on that later.
The unboxing was pretty straightforward. The printer was packaged extremely well. Included were all the tools required for assembly and maintenance along with safety equipment like several pairs of rubber gloves and a face mask and also some spare screws and nuts, an extra FEP film for the vat, a 250ml bottle of resin and a special scraper for the vat. Importantly there was also an instruction manual that is by far the best instruction manual I have ever seen. Top marks to Anycubic for packaging and delivery. (Side note: it arrived a day late but I believe that was due to Chinese New Years celebrations so... fair enough to them)
Next up, assembly. Here I had to screw the knob into the front door. Thats it. Top marks for assembly too then.
At this point I got round to inspecting the printer inside and out. Its built like a tank! I am blown away by how well this thing is engineered. Metal everywhere. Its an incredibly small printer but just absolute quality everywhere. It just looks and feels (and weighs) like a top shelf product. The people that engineered this baby did not cut corners. Its a Chinese product but blows a lot of western offerings out the water.
FUN FACT: The outer dimensions of the Photon are 220 x 200 x 400 which means the entire printer is smaller than the build volume than my CR-X
Bed levelling was next up. The manual is so detailed you really can't go wrong. Not that different to the FDM process. The touch screen is aces, by the way. A joy to work with.
Software installation is also straightforward, although here too the manual takes you through it step by step. Lots of settings in the software that I haven't the faintest idea what to do with yet. Experience and time will be the teacher.
At this point the only left to do is prepare everything for the first print. Pour some resin into the vat (1/3 of the vat or you'll overflow once the build platform drops in) stick the USB stick in the side, select the test program provided by Anycubic and hit the go button. Five hours and a bit later the print was done... a Makers Muse lattice cube with the Anycubic logo in the centre. Perfect. Detailed. Impressive.
Now the clean up. I've read a lot about this online and saw all the Youtube videos. They says its a ton of work. Much ado about nothing says I. Just put on the gloves, remove the build platform, scrape the part off the build platform, dunk part in isopropyl alcohol to wash off uncured resin, dunk in water to wash off the alcohol and put it in some sunlight to allow it to thoroughly cure. Easy peasy japanesey. Clean off the build platform, return it to printer and continue printing.
There has been much negativity regarding the toxicity of the uncured resin and its fumes. Here's my take on it: as long as you're not an idiot you'll be fine. Just use some common sense. The resin bottle label specifically says it will irritate the skin if you come into direct contact, you mustn't drink it and don't pour it into your fishtank or down the drain. That much should be obvious though. I will add that since I work in an industrial enviroment and come into contact with solvents and oils and fumes maybe I have a better understanding of the hazards. Still it should be obvious. I wear the gloves when working with the uncured parts. The fumes... to be honest its not that bad. Yes, you can smell it but I wouldn't call it bad. Or even unpleasant. Its just a smell. To my nose cigarette smoke is far worse, as are petrol fumes or those nail bars you get in the mall. I have the Photon sitting right next to me on my desk where it has been running nonstop for several days and I feel fine. No metallic taste in the mouth (the first sign of things going Chernobyl), no headache, nothing. I work here, eat here, watch reruns of Becker and feel just fine. I personally think there is a lot of unproven, unscientific fear-mongering going on. Just use your head.
Print quality is amazeballs! Un-freaking-believable. This is where I touch on the difference between SLA and DLP again. Since DLP printers have no moving parts for X and Y it means that there less chance of parts breaking, less maintenance and greater repeatability. If the screen ever breaks a new one is avaliable on Amazon for about sixty quid. And replacing the screen is pretty straightforward as opposed to the laser/mirror setup of SLA printers. The screen allows for a build area of 120mm x 68mm and has a resolution of 2560px x 1440px. This is pretty decent. It should be noted that this is true voxel printing i.e a square pixel that has depth added by curing resin. This is where the DLP process differs from SLA. With SLA you get accuracy using a laser whereas here you are limited by the resolution of the screen. For example if you are printing a nearly vertical wall with a 1 degree draft you will get steps as the wall shifts from one pixel into another. I believe the current 2K screen offers XY resolution of 47 microns. The minimum layer height is 0.01mm. Essentially this means you are printing little cubes that measure 0.047 x 0.047 x 0.01. If you tilt the model by 45 degrees you are now printing at 0.024 x 0.024 x 0.01.
Now the best part: Its costs only £380 on Amazon! I know, I know, take a moment to absorb that. £380 for this level of detail! The next cheapest printer is the Wanhao Duplicator and that costs double. The Peopoly Moai (the cheapest SLA printer) costs £2000. I was fortunate to be offered a lightning deal and got it for £320 but still, £380 for this is bonkers.
Anycubic offer a host of spares and consumables too and they aren't badly priced. A 2K screen costs about £60, a pack of ten filters about £2, a replacement FEP film is about £12, and so on. A one litre bottle of Anycubic resin is about £43 (various colours available).
However there some negative points I want to address. Unlike FDM there is a mess risk. The resin is a liquid that can spill, make a mess, irritate your skin, etc. Same with the IPA, not to mention the fire hazard if incorrectly stored. Prints do require a lot more post processing than with FDM. Prints must be cured after printing (I use this). Prints should be painted/treated after curing or else they won’t crack and fade with time. There will also be a steep learning curve. FDM rules do not apply here and I find myself having to start from scratch as exposure times are critical to print success. Maintenance is also an issue. Also note: this printer (all SLA and DLP printers actually) can't just be left to sit until you want to use them. If it isn't running you need to filter the unused resin back into the bottle or it will set solid in the vat. The vat and all parts that come into contact with resin must be thoroughly cleaned with IPA. The FEP film is a consumable and must be replaced regularly. None of these are major issues but I have stress that due to the nature of the resin this is a lot messier than with FDM printers. You will also need a good supply of IPA and also bowls/jars for the IPA and water baths, a dedicated easy-to-clean work surface and kitchen roll. If you live in the UK where sun is as available as food in Somalia you may want to invest in a UV light to help cure your prints.
Hopefully some will find this useful. I hope to attach photos of prints made on this printer. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being poor and 10 being excellent I would have to give this printer a solid 64.
PROS:
Print quality
Price
Build quality
Manual
Included extras
Overall size
Low noise level
CONS:
Build volume (120 x 68 x 150)
Requires regular and thorough maintenance
Requires quite a bit of support equipment
Smell may bother some.
Extensive post processing of prints
Slicer is slow
Slicer is a massive resource hog
DLP printers, for those that don't know, are closely related to SLA printers. Both use a UV curable resin that builds up a part layer by layer. Both print the part upside down i.e. the platform dips into a vat of resin and slowly rises. Both can achieve incredible accuracy and detail. Where they differ is how they achieve the curing of each layer. SLA is the older of the two technologies and uses a laser that traces out the outline/walls of the part and its supports. DLP is relatively new and has ditched the laser in favour of an LCD screen that essentially emits an image of that entire layer. In many ways DLP is a superior method as there are no moving parts for the X and Y movements which equates to less wear and greater repeatability. More on that later.
The unboxing was pretty straightforward. The printer was packaged extremely well. Included were all the tools required for assembly and maintenance along with safety equipment like several pairs of rubber gloves and a face mask and also some spare screws and nuts, an extra FEP film for the vat, a 250ml bottle of resin and a special scraper for the vat. Importantly there was also an instruction manual that is by far the best instruction manual I have ever seen. Top marks to Anycubic for packaging and delivery. (Side note: it arrived a day late but I believe that was due to Chinese New Years celebrations so... fair enough to them)
Next up, assembly. Here I had to screw the knob into the front door. Thats it. Top marks for assembly too then.
At this point I got round to inspecting the printer inside and out. Its built like a tank! I am blown away by how well this thing is engineered. Metal everywhere. Its an incredibly small printer but just absolute quality everywhere. It just looks and feels (and weighs) like a top shelf product. The people that engineered this baby did not cut corners. Its a Chinese product but blows a lot of western offerings out the water.
FUN FACT: The outer dimensions of the Photon are 220 x 200 x 400 which means the entire printer is smaller than the build volume than my CR-X
Bed levelling was next up. The manual is so detailed you really can't go wrong. Not that different to the FDM process. The touch screen is aces, by the way. A joy to work with.
Software installation is also straightforward, although here too the manual takes you through it step by step. Lots of settings in the software that I haven't the faintest idea what to do with yet. Experience and time will be the teacher.
At this point the only left to do is prepare everything for the first print. Pour some resin into the vat (1/3 of the vat or you'll overflow once the build platform drops in) stick the USB stick in the side, select the test program provided by Anycubic and hit the go button. Five hours and a bit later the print was done... a Makers Muse lattice cube with the Anycubic logo in the centre. Perfect. Detailed. Impressive.
Now the clean up. I've read a lot about this online and saw all the Youtube videos. They says its a ton of work. Much ado about nothing says I. Just put on the gloves, remove the build platform, scrape the part off the build platform, dunk part in isopropyl alcohol to wash off uncured resin, dunk in water to wash off the alcohol and put it in some sunlight to allow it to thoroughly cure. Easy peasy japanesey. Clean off the build platform, return it to printer and continue printing.
There has been much negativity regarding the toxicity of the uncured resin and its fumes. Here's my take on it: as long as you're not an idiot you'll be fine. Just use some common sense. The resin bottle label specifically says it will irritate the skin if you come into direct contact, you mustn't drink it and don't pour it into your fishtank or down the drain. That much should be obvious though. I will add that since I work in an industrial enviroment and come into contact with solvents and oils and fumes maybe I have a better understanding of the hazards. Still it should be obvious. I wear the gloves when working with the uncured parts. The fumes... to be honest its not that bad. Yes, you can smell it but I wouldn't call it bad. Or even unpleasant. Its just a smell. To my nose cigarette smoke is far worse, as are petrol fumes or those nail bars you get in the mall. I have the Photon sitting right next to me on my desk where it has been running nonstop for several days and I feel fine. No metallic taste in the mouth (the first sign of things going Chernobyl), no headache, nothing. I work here, eat here, watch reruns of Becker and feel just fine. I personally think there is a lot of unproven, unscientific fear-mongering going on. Just use your head.
Print quality is amazeballs! Un-freaking-believable. This is where I touch on the difference between SLA and DLP again. Since DLP printers have no moving parts for X and Y it means that there less chance of parts breaking, less maintenance and greater repeatability. If the screen ever breaks a new one is avaliable on Amazon for about sixty quid. And replacing the screen is pretty straightforward as opposed to the laser/mirror setup of SLA printers. The screen allows for a build area of 120mm x 68mm and has a resolution of 2560px x 1440px. This is pretty decent. It should be noted that this is true voxel printing i.e a square pixel that has depth added by curing resin. This is where the DLP process differs from SLA. With SLA you get accuracy using a laser whereas here you are limited by the resolution of the screen. For example if you are printing a nearly vertical wall with a 1 degree draft you will get steps as the wall shifts from one pixel into another. I believe the current 2K screen offers XY resolution of 47 microns. The minimum layer height is 0.01mm. Essentially this means you are printing little cubes that measure 0.047 x 0.047 x 0.01. If you tilt the model by 45 degrees you are now printing at 0.024 x 0.024 x 0.01.
Now the best part: Its costs only £380 on Amazon! I know, I know, take a moment to absorb that. £380 for this level of detail! The next cheapest printer is the Wanhao Duplicator and that costs double. The Peopoly Moai (the cheapest SLA printer) costs £2000. I was fortunate to be offered a lightning deal and got it for £320 but still, £380 for this is bonkers.
Anycubic offer a host of spares and consumables too and they aren't badly priced. A 2K screen costs about £60, a pack of ten filters about £2, a replacement FEP film is about £12, and so on. A one litre bottle of Anycubic resin is about £43 (various colours available).
However there some negative points I want to address. Unlike FDM there is a mess risk. The resin is a liquid that can spill, make a mess, irritate your skin, etc. Same with the IPA, not to mention the fire hazard if incorrectly stored. Prints do require a lot more post processing than with FDM. Prints must be cured after printing (I use this). Prints should be painted/treated after curing or else they won’t crack and fade with time. There will also be a steep learning curve. FDM rules do not apply here and I find myself having to start from scratch as exposure times are critical to print success. Maintenance is also an issue. Also note: this printer (all SLA and DLP printers actually) can't just be left to sit until you want to use them. If it isn't running you need to filter the unused resin back into the bottle or it will set solid in the vat. The vat and all parts that come into contact with resin must be thoroughly cleaned with IPA. The FEP film is a consumable and must be replaced regularly. None of these are major issues but I have stress that due to the nature of the resin this is a lot messier than with FDM printers. You will also need a good supply of IPA and also bowls/jars for the IPA and water baths, a dedicated easy-to-clean work surface and kitchen roll. If you live in the UK where sun is as available as food in Somalia you may want to invest in a UV light to help cure your prints.
Hopefully some will find this useful. I hope to attach photos of prints made on this printer. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being poor and 10 being excellent I would have to give this printer a solid 64.
PROS:
Print quality
Price
Build quality
Manual
Included extras
Overall size
Low noise level
CONS:
Build volume (120 x 68 x 150)
Requires regular and thorough maintenance
Requires quite a bit of support equipment
Smell may bother some.
Extensive post processing of prints
Slicer is slow
Slicer is a massive resource hog
