Anycubic Photon and Mono X 3D DLP Printers

[monkeysarefun]

No worries, I'll be interested to check out your how-to since I've not managed a successful way to create bricks  in Blender yet, other than stretcher bond and thats just because there is a home-design add-on that automatically creates stretcher bond brick walls for you! 

[Tricky]

Hello all,

I've been reading through this thread with great interest. I am considering 2021's major purchase to be a 3D printer to complement my laser cutter. I've been looking at the Mono X as the thought of faster printing appeals. But at over twice the price of a Mono is it worth it? I will be using it on a professional basis so it will get a fair amount of use where time, accuracy, longevity and excellent build quality are important. My thinking is, spend a bit more now and not get lumbered with something I wish I'd not skimped on in the first place. Amazon has them for about £850. Is that the best place to go and what else will I need to purchase to get up and running?

Many thanks,

Richard

[tebee]

If it's your first printer I wouldn't advise buying one with the larger bed size.

 

They are slower and if you make a mistake and crack the screen it's very expensive to replace.

 

learn how  to do supports and the like on one of the smaller printers first - your mistakes will be smaller and cheaper. 

 

My choice would be one of the printers  with a 6 inch mono screen.

 

I prefer Elegoo simply because they come with vanilla Chitubox software which you can easily keep upto date. Anycubic  use their own bastardized version of this which is at least one release behind - it generates much poorer supports in particular.

 

So my choice would be the Mars 2 Pro - about £275 at the moment  

[MikeTrice]

A lot depends on what you are wanting to print. I have an Anycubic Photon (Original Generation) hence this thread. I do find the small size of the print volume can be limiting. I managed to print the 4mm LNER V2 body on the Photon but had to split the model into two halves to print. Likewise a 4mm coach might need splitting. This may, or may not, be a bad thing. By splitting in two I can orientate the two halves so the main supports go to the ends at the join leaving the detailed front and cabs requiring minimal support. If I printed the body in one piece then supports might be more difficult. The machine is quite slow and half a loco body can take 17 hours to print.

 

3D Printers like the Photon and Mars consider 3 things to be consumables, resin, FEP film and LCD screen. The LCD screen will eventually burn out or give you dead pixels partly due to the heat generated. The FEP eventually just wears out. Replacing the non-mono LCD screen and FEP is relatively easy and the parts are fairly easy to get and at reasonable cost.

 

The mono machines as the name suggests use a mono LCD screen that generates far less heat so in theory should need replacing less often. From what I can tell FEP for these machines at the moment seems a thinner specification so may end up being damaged more easily. Mono screens currently do not come with a glass protector so are more easily damaged and the user needs to add further protection before using the machines. LCDs for the monos are currently much harder to find and are more expensive. Hopefully in time they will become easier/cheaper to source. They are capable of printing much faster than the previous generation of machines, requiring less time to expose each layer of resin.

 

I do now have an Anycubic Mono X but have not fired it up yet. There have been teething issues with some supplied components (such as warped build pates) but I do not know if mine has this issue. Both Mars and Anycubic machines have had some form of quality issues at some point. The Mars machines do have a strong following, but then so do the Anycubic ones.

 

I bought my Mono X via Aliexpress shipped to the UK from Spain BEFORE 31st December 2020, so the situation may have changed. It was far cheaper than buying from Amazon although I have used Amazon a lot, including the purchase of my original machine.

 

As mentioned the slicer supplied by Anycubic is really not very good. Fortunately a free version of Chitubox can be downloaded that will support the earlier Anycubic and Mars machines. There is a beta version now available that supports the newer mono machines. There is also a free Lychee slicer that some people favour.

 

If you do go for a non-mono Mars machine a number of 3rd parties are offering replacement Z rails that increase the height the machine is capable of accomodating. I don't recall seeing the same for the Photon.

 

There are a number of facebook owner groups for the various machines and it might be worth visiting them to get a feel for the two machine suppliers. Unfortunately there is a lot of repetition on those groups and you only tend to hear when things go wrong.

 

Hope that helps.

[Paul_sterling]

1 hour ago, Tricky said:

Hello all,

I've been reading through this thread with great interest. I am considering 2021's major purchase to be a 3D printer to complement my laser cutter. I've been looking at the Mono X as the thought of faster printing appeals. But at over twice the price of a Mono is it worth it? I will be using it on a professional basis so it will get a fair amount of use where time, accuracy, longevity and excellent build quality are important. My thinking is, spend a bit more now and not get lumbered with something I wish I'd not skimped on in the first place. Amazon has them for about £850. Is that the best place to go and what else will I need to purchase to get up and running?

Many thanks,

Richard

 

A photon Mono, is quick and robust, but the Mono X is gaining mixed feedback. Its a lot of money, and you can make surprisingly big things on the smaller printers anyway. 

 

I've had a Photon S for almost a year, and its been pretty good, but you have to learn how to position parts, design supports (I make my own interface supports), and gain a feel for exposure times over the lifecycle of a fep sheet. 

 

Paul. 

[Graham R]

I read these responses from @MikeTrice @Paul_sterling and @tebee with interest since I ordered a Photon Mono SE directly from the anycubic.com website in early December, hoping to avoid any customs fees after Brexit. I have never used a 3D printer before and I did think hard about the Mars 2 Pro. i don't do Facebook and so most of my info came from the various RMWeb threads plus some distributor/vendor web sites. I eventually went for the Mono SE because it was said to have better build quality and odour filtering.

 

The printer turned up within a week, but its touch screen was displaced sideways and the resin from the same order did not turn up at all. Repeated requests to the official@anycubic.com sales enquiry e-mail got no response. Eventually I tried Anycubic technical support which was excellent and responded in a few hours: they guided me through disassembling and fixing the touchscreen and they got resin to me in 48 hours. Apart from the touch screen issue, the Mono SE seems well built and i was able to level the platform, test its movement, and check that the UV exposure lamp is working.

 

Yesterday I finally got round to trying a first print using the test file supplied (an open-lattice cube) using Anycubic Basic Skin resin. After close on 5 hours of whirring and smell, I was a bit disappointed to find nothing at all on the build plate, not even slightly hardened resin. The plate was dipping into the resin OK and the printer was going through the layers as expected.

 

Before I contact Anycubic to seek their help, I wondered if anyone could comment from experience on what I may have done wrong? The ambient temperature was 15°C which I realise with hindsight is probably too low for success, but I thought I would have at least got some traces of a print. The printer used longer exposures for the first couple of layers then I think was using 10 seconds thereafter. Perhaps the resin will not polymerise at all at 15°C ?  (the recommended range on the bottle is 25°C-30°C).

 

Even with the heating up full I will not get the room above 18°C (high ceiling, snow on ground outside) so if temperature is the problem I will need to think of making some sort of heated enclosure if I want to print at all, since even in summer temperatures in our house never get anywhere near 25°C.

 

What do you all think?

 

thanks in advance and regards

Graham

[MikeTrice]

Your problem is likely to be the temperature you are printing at. At times like these I preheat my resin, build plate and VAT on a radiator until nice and warm then use a heat gun to warm up the interior of the machine and screen. I also increase the exposure times of the bottom layers.

 

If you are attempting to print the supplied test file, which I assume is already sliced you may need to open it in the Photon File Validator and change the settings before saving it. For Anycubic resin I am currently using 90s bottom exposure.

[Graham R]

Thanks Mike. I’ll try that when I get time, maybe tomorrow, and will report back. What do you use for exposure times after the bottom layers?

 

Graham

[Paul_sterling]

53 minutes ago, Graham R said:

 

Hi Graham, 

 

so taking things a few steps at a time. 

 

- I level/zero the bed on mine using a piece of paper, and lower the plate till it is slightly dragging, dont put it tight, as it stresses the screens and reduces their life. 

 

- The resin they send is useable, but unspectacular. I've got two Photon S's (one for work and one for home), the resin that came with the work one, is rubbish, and we discarded it. the anycubic translucent green that came with my printer on the other hand was pretty good. these days I've settled on Sariya Tech Fast, an excellent all round resin. Point is that the performance of resins does vary enormously from type to type, and it is a learning exercise with each one. 

 

- 15 DegC is chilly, but not insurmountable. the resin will polymerise, but will not flow so well, so you need to reduce the speed the plate advances and retracts (the default settings are a bit quick anyway), that will give it time to flow under the plate as it lifts and lowers.

 

- the mono requires shorter exposures than the Photon S I use, so my times won't be of much use to you unfortunately. 

 

I print at around 18-19 degrees all the time, both at home and at work, generally no problems. 

 

From the hard knocks school of printing that Mike and I have both had to go through, a quick run down of likely issues for printing at first is as follows

 

1. Incorrect plate zero (but unlikely, you can get away with more than you would believe)

 

2. bottom exposure time too short (the skate will be attached to the fep sheet rather than the plate) 

 

3. not enough bottom layers (7 or 8 is typical)

 

4. no skate on the model file. people sometimes don't use skates on models, and put the supports straight to the plate, thats okay, but it doesnt give it much chance to develop suction to the plate. 

 

5. normal exposure time too short. this will show up as the skate will be attached to the plate, as it should be, but the rest of the part will have torn off, or just cured on the fep sheet. as a rule of thumb, start with high exposure, and reduce till you get the detail clarity you are happy with. The Photon S, I use 6.3s exposure, so maybe start at that and work down. 

 

6. not enough supports. this is the common one. if you look at any file on the slicer software, you can scan up and down throuhg the part, and it will show you just how much material is being cured at any one time. bigger areas have a bigger tear off force, so the supports need to be up to the job. I design my own these days to get good support for the loco running plate, and ease of removal, and can put very strong supports underneath. 

 

Hope this helps. 

Paul. 

[njee20]

10 second exposure is far too long on a mono screen (ignore what's on the bottle - the lables pre-date monochrome screens).

 

There are four probable issues that will cause no adhesion whatsoever:

 

- base exposure

- build plate levelling

- resin temperature

- bottom lift speed

 

Given your normal exposure was 10 seconds I would guess your base exposure was 60s+, which should be enough to weld the print to the build plate, so i suspect we can ignore that. FWIW I use 30s base and 3s exposure as my defaults on both my mono screen printers.

 

Bed levelling - I assume you went through a process with bits of paper and 0.1mm increments? It's possible it wasn't low enough (this was my original problem), there needs to be a good amount of resistence in the paper for it to be the right height IME.

 

Temperature - most likely the cause IMO. The resin viscosity increases greatly at 'lower' temperatures. My favoured solution is simply to point a heatgun at the vat for 30 seconds before the print begins. The reaction is exothermic, and the curing reaction will keep the vat warm thereafter. There are intricate mods with people adding heaters, or you can put the resin in hot water or any number of things. Heat gun works for me, I've been printing in my garage down to 5 degrees without issue.

 

Bottom lift speed - in conjunction with the temperature, if it's too fast it'll simply rip the cured item off the build plate. Try reducing this to ~50mm/min if nothing else fixes it. I doubt this is the case as your print area is small with the test print, this is more of an issue with very large layer sizes.

 

Before you try again make sure you drain the vat and very carefully peel the residual cured resin off the FEP. Don't use anything sharp - push up from underneath until the cured bit lifts, and you can peel it off.

 

3 hours ago, Tricky said:

Hello all,

I've been reading through this thread with great interest. I am considering 2021's major purchase to be a 3D printer to complement my laser cutter. I've been looking at the Mono X as the thought of faster printing appeals. But at over twice the price of a Mono is it worth it? I will be using it on a professional basis so it will get a fair amount of use where time, accuracy, longevity and excellent build quality are important. My thinking is, spend a bit more now and not get lumbered with something I wish I'd not skimped on in the first place. Amazon has them for about £850. Is that the best place to go and what else will I need to purchase to get up and running?

Many thanks,

Richard

 

Amazon are always expensive for Anycubic. Much better to buy direct or through AliExpress, although Brexit may have screwed that up. Personally I'd say that's a lot for the Mono X, they've been £520, but seem to be greatly fluctuating. The Elegoo Saturn is £419 by comparison, and is a similar product, albeit very sporadic availability due to demand.

 

I'd personally get the Mars 2 (or 2 Pro, the latter has a smattering of small upgrades for an extra £65), or the Photon Mono, or Mono SE. Anycubic seem to be going a bit more expensive than Elegoo these days, having been very much level pegging on the Photon/Mars series. The Mono SE appears to be equivalent to the Mars 2 Pro; it gains wifi, but by all accounts that's not all that, but otherwise is pretty similar. However it's over £100 more. The Mono is cheaper, but definitely looks a bit cheaper, the build plate attachment looks a little odd. For me I'd have the Mars 2 for £215. In fact I'm really tempted to buy one anyway, even though I have no need whatsoever. 

Edited January 8, 2021 by njee20

[Tricky]

Thanks for all the replies and I hope I'm not hijacking the thread! 

 

Just to clarify I'm predominantly 7mm architectural modelling, so I see the printer being used for relatively small parts like doors, windows, chimneys, corbels etc. Elegoo Mars 2 Pro is on Amazon for £280. Does that sound reasonable?

[njee20]

The standard Mars 2 is £215. It loses 50mm on the Z-axis, doesn't have the charcoal filters (you can't change these, so once they blocked they're useless) and has a plastic vat. I've got a 2 Pro, and I don't think those things are worth £65. YMMV.

Edited January 8, 2021 by njee20

[MikeTrice]

57 minutes ago, Graham R said:

Thanks Mike. I’ll try that when I get time, maybe tomorrow, and will report back. What do you use for exposure times after the bottom layers?

 

Graham

Currently 8 secs with Anycubic Grey.

[Paul_sterling]

6 minutes ago, MikeTrice said:

Currently 8 secs with Anycubic Grey.

 

Ditto on Anycubic Grey and Elegoo ABS-like grey, though sometimes I drop it down to 7.5s on bigger, solid features. 0.03mm slice height. 

 

Paul. 

[njee20]

Again, those are RGB printers - for a mono screen you don't want anything like 7-8 second exposures. Chitubox default is 2 seconds I recall for the Mars 2 FWIW. I found 2.5-3 seconds worked better for 0.05mm layers. Reduce appropriately for smaller layer heights.

[MikeTrice]

1 hour ago, njee20 said:

Again, those are RGB printers - for a mono screen you don't want anything like 7-8 second exposures. Chitubox default is 2 seconds I recall for the Mars 2 FWIW. I found 2.5-3 seconds worked better for 0.05mm layers. Reduce appropriately for smaller layer heights.

Having checked that Graham was talking about a Mono machine, you are correct, my settings do not apply.

[Valentin]

I wonder if this Resin Heater for Photon/S Printers worth the price. I know there are much cheaper DIY alternatives but I couldn't find one suitable for the Photon S.

[njee20]

For my money, no chance. I’ll just use a heat gun for 30 seconds. Looks a neat solution though. 

[69843]

A quick one speaking of exposure times-is anyone out there using an original Anycubic Photon with Phrozen Rock Resin? I seem to keep getting close-but-no-e-cigarette with my exposure times on this resin. 

[Tricky]

I’ve just ordered a Mars 2 Pro from 3DJake. Here we go!

Edited January 9, 2021 by Tricky

[vern]

When I started with the Photon a couple of months ago I had problems with adhesion to the plate, after relevelling I finally tried tweaking the FEP film a little tighter, about 1/8 turn and that did the trick, giving a slightly higher tone when tapped.

I bought a 14w reptile tank heater pad off Ebay, sat the Photon on it in a tray and have room for a bottle of resin also. Keeps the machine reasonably warm. At only 14w I leave it on permanently. My better half has just made me a slip over cover from an old fleece. Only a very occasional problem now which is normally my fault. Don't rely on the auto support  placement.

 

Thanks to everyone who helped me in the past.

[Tricky]

Sorry if this has been asked and answered before, but which resin would be recommended? My Mars 2P has turned up, just need some resin!! 

[Paul_sterling]

39 minutes ago, Tricky said:

Sorry if this has been asked and answered before, but which resin would be recommended? My Mars 2P has turned up, just need some resin!! 

 

My preference of those I’ve tried thus far is Siraya tech fast. 

 

Ive not really found a bad resin yet, elegoo abs like grey takes some tuning to get right, I guess the one I’ve not really got along with as yet is Siraya tech blu, seems to need very long exposure and is quite flexible, which isn't always a good thing. 

 

Anycubic translucent green has been good, but shrinks more than the fast does. I’ve got some elegoo water washable to try next. 

[njee20]

I like plain Anycubic grey. It’s really cheap (although I suspect Brexit has screwed that as it came from Spain), was easy to work with without crazy exposures. I add some Siraya Tenacious to parts I want to flex (3:1 Anycubic:Siraya).

 

ive had a bottle of Fast to try for months, but I don’t want to like it too much as it’s double the price of Anycubic!

[Erixtar1992]

Ive managed to bag an elegoo saturn which will arrive mid next week.

 

Will be my first go at 3d printing so im looking forward to it, looks like its difficult to get right though.

 

ive ordered Elegoo ‘ABS like’ grey resin as im hoping that will be a bit more suitable for things like bodyshells ect?

 

what program are you guys using to design your railway wagons/stock/detailing?