Buy the Anycubic Photon 2 and/or the DLP Craftsman Resin Here Anycubic - geni.us/PhotonMono2 Amazon - amzn.to/3n9gZVd (This and all Amazon links in our video description are affiliate links. Clicking these and making any purchase will earn us a commission from Amazon at no cost to you) This Video is part of our series looking for the Best 3D printer for Miniatures; www.fauxhammer.com/top-10/the-best-3d-printer-for-miniatures-models/ Get any printer working easily with the Photonsters XP Range Finder - www.thingiverse.com/thing:6023738 (watch my video for full instructions ruclips.net/video/Gm0-z971tgY/видео.html) Join this channel to get access to perks: ruclips.net/channel/UC_9Jsf3SP8aMJgn0xv5jHjAjoin Buy WARGAMER - The best Resin for Miniatures yesthats3dprinted.com/pages/wargamer?ref=FauxHammer
Just bought mine as a replacement for the peopoly moai Ive had for years. This is literally the first time I have experienced a resin printer that just works. So far its given me consistent and great results. Not a single failure or issue in the first 10 or so prints. Doesnt sound like a lot, but the previous 3 resin printers I have had would present challenges much sooner. The fact that i bought this printer for such little money ins incredible to me.
It would be cool if you could do a getting your first printer video, I've had a look at getting one of the anycubics a few times but I get a bit overwhelmed with all the packages with the "wash and cure machines" or "extra screen protectors" etc. A starter video showing your recommended package, potential upgrades if people have the budget and an example of what you managed to print with a bottle or 2 of the resin would be great to put things in perspective for beginners
I have a getting started video coming up, but for what you are after I also have this written guide www.fauxhammer.com/top-10/the-best-3d-printer-for-miniatures-models/ the problem with doing this as a video is that it takes approx 3 weeks to make a video and this article is update twice a month!
Rewatching this now that I have the Mono2. It really is good value. They sent me extra 1Kg of tough translucent green, it is tough. Maybe too flexible, but it does not break off the plate. It will snap weeks later after lots of sunlight but it is an effort.
Nice review and finally somebody that understands and explains 3d printer resolution in layman's terms and you are absolutely spot on when it comes to printing minis for the tabletop. 4K is more than sufficient for that purpose. A lower than 35 micron resolution *might* become necessary if you want to print for casting jewellery and the like, or display miniatures for painting competitions (but I doubt it). I have the predecessor of this printer, the Mono 4K for 14 months now, and am totally in love with the cheap but cheerful unit that has not let me down once so far. It can print armies way faster than I can paint them, so I am really glad Anycubic have decided to *upgrade* the unit with a slightly bigger build plate at a very competitive price. For casual hobbyists like me going for more expensive units with an 8k screen only makes sense, if the build plate is at least twice the size of this printer @ 34 microns or below and the price is no more than the double of this one, i.e. in the 460 € mark. Because: with twice the size of the build plate in comparison you get twice the amount of miniatures out of the theoretical life-span of the screen of the printer. Sooo.... keep that in mid when shopping for a printer.
@@vill1an573 Certain parts can be exchanges, if you can find them. Notably screens, but also mainboards and z-rails. Most often though, by the time a 3d printer fails, it might be the more economical solution to buy a new upgraded version.
Hi, I didn't read all the comments , so I'm not sure if someone has already answered the questions you asked in the video. I want to clarify that I'm not a native English speaker, so I apologize if some ideas sound confusing or have poor grammar. Feel free to ask any questions. this experiences comes from designing a couple of resin 3D printer prototypes few years ago. I don't work for any manufacturer; I just wanted to develop a proof of concept to improve resin printing performance as a concept. TL;DR: You are correct. The size of the panel and resolution are irrelevant on their own. They always need to be measured together in a unit called "pixel density" (pixels/area). The higher the density, the greater the printer's theoretical ability to handle small details. And I say "theoretical" because pixel density is not the only factor influencing printer performance. There are 4 key factors (there are more, but these are the most relevant) that together determine printer's performance on small details: Light Engine: the UV light source, this needs to be as collimated and homogeneous as possible. Collimation is important because the light projection should diverge as little as possible from what is drawn in the photomask. Poor collimation results in blurry edges in the printing area, significantly reducing the ability to represent small details. Homogeneity is important because the resin requires a certain amount of energy to start polymerization. Beyond this threshold, the resin reacts and begins to cross-link. Poor homogeneity means that certain areas of the layer drawn in the photomask start their polymerization process earlier, causing "clumping" of cured resin and blurring high-frequency details (e.g., surface noise). A poor light engine performance is most visibly in a problem called "light bleed," where energy from "on" pixels bleeds into "off" pixels, blurring the details. PhotoMask: LCD panels are commonly used for this component. there are also DLP projectors, although their assembly and capabilities are slightly different. Here, I will only discuss LCD panels: Ideally, an LCD panel should have high pixel density to draw the most detailed mask possible. But another factor that influences its final performance is contrast. Contrast is the ratio between the panel's ability to transmit light (allowing light to pass through the system) and block light. This ability is determined by the type of polarizer used. Generally, for cost reasons, LCD panels used in printers are visible light consumer-grade polarizers, which are not the most suitable for UV applications. There are other types of polarizers that are much more efficient in the UV spectrum, but they can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars each (lcd panels use 2), making them prohibitively expensive for 3D printers (at least in the consumer-grade segment). High contrast means that the black areas of the photomask never received enough energy to initiate polymerization, while the illuminated areas quickly reach the required energy peak and start to harden. Another factor influencing the ability to represent detail is whether the panel is an open-cell or grid type. Interestingly, pixels in a grid formation tend to produce better details as they compensate light bleed, while open-cell panels tend to have more bleed since they add energy from neighboring pixels. Z-Stage: This is the simplest and easiest component to improve, but unfortunately, it can also be the most expensive part of the printer. It corresponds to the system of rails and screws that determine the precision in the vertical axis. For panels with high pixel density, let's say a printer with 22-microns pixel size, the Z-stage needs to be capable of moving within that precision to build square voxels. It´s irrelevant to have a printer with a 22-micron pixel size if you slice your models to 50 microns because this produces asymmetric voxels that also decrease the level of detail. Ideally, it is recommended to use a ballscrew with tolerances and repeatability sufficient to move in intervals equal or smaller to the size of the panel's pixel. obviously this need to be matched with the motor resolution. Resin Formulation: You can search for videos on how photosensitive resins work on RUclips; there are plenty of videos on the matter. Regarding how resin formulation affects the ability to represent details, it is necessary to balance the cross-linking within a "safe" threshold relative to the amount of energy passing through the photomask. This is what is done when you "calibrate" the resin with models like shown in the video. What you're doing is finding that safe threshold where the resin polymerizes without significantly altering the uncured resin around it. This feature can be adjusted using pigments, fillers, and UV blockers. For example, if you have a resin that you're probed to performs poorly, try adding red pigment; it will surely improve its ability to represent detail. Another relevant factor is the amount of energy the resin needs to initiate cross-linking. The reason thin posts in your tests don't polymerize is that the energy provided by the small group of pixels is insufficient to initiate polymerization. Try printing chessboard patterns of different sizes, starting with 1x1 pixel, 2x2 pixels, and so on. This way, you can determine the printer's actual capacity to reproduce details. sadly , this capacity is far from what the manufacturers' specifications claim. Even for printers with high pixel density, chessboard patterns begin to show detail (individual filled and empty tiles) at around 100-120 microns. Below this measurement, the patterns are a blob with a "texture feeling" of the pattern rather than clearly visible features. In conclusion, all of these aspects can be improved to get closer to the "nominal" panel resolution, but I believe it is prohibitively expensive to implement them in consumer-grade LCD based printers. In the meantime, if all components are not addressed together 4k, 8k, 12k.... infinite-K are only catchy marketing concepts to sale new models.
One issue with the 50 micron post is that at this point, you're talking about positioning of that post on the screen making a HUGE difference. If that post happens to be centered smack on a pixel of the screen, you're going to have more success printing it than if it's split between two, or four pixels. As for 100 microns, there are definitely printers that will print that successfully. J3D's Tesseract has pillars starting at 100 microns and I've seen people who have managed to print that successfully while at dimensional accuracy. But another issue at that size is the strength of the resin. With bits that tiny you are going to run into issues with the liquid resin itself pushing that post around as the plate retracts, and potentially break it off. There are a LOT of factors influencing things when we get that tiny. Basically everything that can influence print success at the macro level is amplified at the >50 micron size. That being said, you are 100% correct in that for your average, typical user, who is most likely not even going to bother truly calibrating their printer, there isn't much point in going smaller than 35-50 micron pixel resolution.
I think I've watched every single one of your printer videos in the past week. But while watching this one, this printer was on flash sale for $169 USD so I pulled the trigger. Now I'll have to watch all your resin and setup videos.
You raise a really good point, but the difference higher DPI makes is minimum voxel size, not minimum feature size. Apologies for the long explanation, it'd be much easier with diagrams! Take, for instance, a single pixel being exposed. Theoretically on a 35um printer, if all the light was uniformly directed to just that pixel, you could expose a 35*35um column, right? Unfortunately, because of limitations of the technology, that isn't how it works in reality. The light isn't perfectly parallel, nor uniform, and it scatters. And remember, curing is a chemical reaction, which works like a chain reaction until it runs out of energy (in this case, UV light). Because of that, you never actually get a perfect square voxel - it's more of a hemisphere, that gradually fills out into a square with more exposure (if interested, look up 'how a voxel grows'). Printing a hemisphere on top of a hemisphere means it is forming from a smaller point, so it doesn't have the structural integrity to form a single pixel column. If instead, you print a 2x2 square, you have 4 slightly overlapping hemispheres, which will create a much better surface for adhesion for the next layer. The smallest size column you can print (in um) is the 'minimum feature size'. The thing is, that while the model may have 100um and 50um columns, the sliced file is using specific sized pixels to approximate that. A 50um printer would be exposing 1x1 and 2x2 pixel squares for those columns - a 10um printer a 5x5 and 10x10, and both would match the file size precisely. And in both cases, neither column would print, as they are the same real size and below the minimum feature size. But what happens when you have a 35um printer? You literally cannot print a 50um column - the slicer will either approximate to 1x1 (35um) or 2x2 (70um), the the 100um column will actually be 105um (3x3). However, we don't print columns like that for actual printing - so what matters is edges. Because these edges are connected to many other pixels, they form and are stable enough to retain a shape. And as prints are printed in layers, this is where the pixel size actually makes a large impact - the smaller the minimum change between layers, the more accurate the end result is when compared to the original model. That's the big difference - smaller pixels allow you to more accurately represent the STL. But what does that actually mean for print results? At lower resolutions, the minimum change in distance between layers is smaller, so aliasing/stepping is less noticeable (resulting in improved surface quality), and feature edges are more accurately realised. In the context of the hobby, that means better macro photos, a smoother painting experience, and perhaps a higher perceived 'sharpness'. As with all things, it's a case of diminishing returns, and at this size, heavily limited by other aspects of the technology.
All completely understdoo, and there's also the addition of material strength. . Ias you say light scatters, not uniformly lbut i tend to imagine that the lowest levarea of accuracy is nearer the LCD, there the light is more intense. not only does light travel upwards toward the plate but it also travels outwards. On LCD TV you see this as a glow around the edges. but also around your whole room. Turn a TV on in a dark room, it lights up the room. Turn projector(DLP equivalent on) in the same room, it mostly just lights up the image with significantly less bleed to the features of the room. but anyway. I presume that the light coming directly from the screen is pretty acctuare close to the screen bu light moves sharply outward, and then as the resin itself blocks the light passing through, the intensity increases. so per pixel it's kind of a soft diamond shape, with the wider parts closer to the LCD and obviously on a microscopic scale. But a single 34 micron pixel would create an incredibly soft tower shape of 50 microns across max. and if this 50 micron shaope crosses over 2-4 actual pixels on teh LCD. would the printer try to create a 68*68 micron shape or would it just ignore it? even if it did produce it, the created tower would snap from the model and stick to the fep because it's far too fine. However on a model, it is more likely that this 1 voxel is supported by 4 beneath it, 16 beneath that an so on. so yes, it is more likely these finder details are rendered. Totally see your point and agree completely. But this also totally spoils my next video.
Actually the anycubic benchmark is quite good (just not as pre sliced). If u want similar level of information best use the ameralabs town or starship benchmark. I found flat tests to quite useless, because they don't take supports in account.
In question of sufficient detail density I think printing small details on a carrier surface is easier than being able to print a standalone part of a model at the same size. A good example can be printing litophanes on FDM printers. Details can be smaller than the nozzle size while you can't really print a standalone post even with double the diameter the nozzle has. Despite this I don't think there's a point going below ~35 micron as bleeding and diffraction may cause errors on scale comparable to the pixel size, while you have to amintain proportionally smaller layer thickness which gets exponentially difficult. Not to mention print times.
There's a difference between printing an isolated post that sticks out how much without anything supporting it on any side and, say, a smooth slope. The former will have the forces of the build plate pulling up affect it was more
Hi Ross. No, you're not going insane. What you say makes complete sense. It's the same for resolution on computer monitors which I'm equally fussy about. Quality depends entirely on the desired output. I don't print miniatures, but focus on functional tool parts and models. For me, accurate dimensions, corners, and smooth surfaces are important. My Anycubic Mono X is great for that. Although, my Anycubic D2 produces the same parts just that much nicer. But to go much nicer...hmmm, I think that's called injection moulding. There are so many variables...resin type, temperature, anti-aliasing, resolution, screen size etc. But you're right. I don't think the naked eye can perceive much difference between 34 or 28 microns. Perhaps we're confusing that with perceived surface finish, which is actually a qualitative measure.
I have been getting 8k details from my 4k printer for many years. I also use plant based resin from elegoo and anycubic and i find them to be some of the best resins, pliable, not brittle, great details!
Having posts larger than the pixel cross section isn't really the most important factor in whether it can be printed. The models aren't aligned perfectly to the grid of pixels on the screen. For instance, the 50 micron diameter post could be centered right on top of a single pixel, or it could be directly at a corner, between four pixels. This would affect how details are printed, and smaller pixels helps alleviate that model-to-grid alignment mismatch. Of course, there's also resin limitations and light directionality which further complicate the max potential detail of the final print.
I see y’all watching but not tossing my guy a simple like. 1.5k views but only 106 likes is unacceptable. Dude puts effort into these videos to help us all, give him that extra button click so he gets more views and can get paid.
Thanks for the review. I have been enjoying your content a lot recently. I'm not sure if you have a video like this already, but a beginners guide to resin 3D printing would be handy for newcomers, especially for those who are unaware of the dangers of using resin, the washing process, and curing process etc.
the reason the posts at certain sizes don't print is not because the printer and the resin can't reproduce it. It's because the test is specifically designed to fail. if you had a fine texture on a wall or clothes, etc. then the printer would render all that detail just fine, because its not a
Hehe, the aliasing on the "8k" font @7:05 in your comparison is so spot on with the problem of the large surface 8k's that sucker many to think "Bigger is better"
Honestly a 35um printer and a 28um printer will look basically the same to the human eye. Unless you are going to put the model to a magnifying glass there is basically no difference. The jump from 50um to 35um is leaps and bounds more than the jump from 35 to 28. We are almost at the point of diminishing returns in terms of pixel size, the only place to go from here is getting better z layers and changing from mono screens to 8k laser screens.
This printer is an important release for Anycubic, the price makes this printer reach more people. All that is needed is for people to report back any issue specially when that involves functionality and Anycubic will do their part. This is how users and manufacturers can have a win win situation and from personal experience with their support, Anycubic always listen and make improvements. I can easily find fault and solutions in a product, reporting it right away to the manufacturer is a valuable information. It will cost them a lot of money and valuable time to hire someone do this. In return they fix the problem and even send free replacement parts.
I print engineering full plate parts on a Photon mono 4k and men, it's amazing! I've test lots of printers, actually I'm with the Mars DLP and the cheap 4k do the job with accuracy in every print, the other ones have lots of variation in every print. Maybe I'll give a shot to this one just for the scren because those square lines are visible and sometimes it cause troubles.
I got this exact printer about a month ago when it went on sale for almost 50% off. I feel like I stole it now 👀😅. Thanks for the vid! Appreciate the in depth stuff and the honest review.
Thanks for the review! I've been looking into getting a 3D printer and your channel has been godsend. Can I ask you a question, though? At first I didn't mind the small print area of the "beginner's" printers such as this or the photon ultra (my first choice), but ever since I've read a lot of chatter about how they work abysmally when printing bigger models such as tanks (because of warping and whatnot). Would you mind giving you two cents on this? My other option for a bigger printer is the saturn 8k which seems good enough for the price, and has the size to print anything I can imagine I would need for warhammer, but if I could get away with this one or a photon ultra I'd be happy as well. Cheers!
Great content! In another video you asked for print ideas to cover. So, while I am interested in printing models and miniatures I'm also interested in printing working components with the precision these machines are capable of. I'd like to know how well do these printers (any LCD resin printers) and resins print thin walled stuff suitable for something like RC aircraft. Could someone print a thin disc, vertically, one layer thick? What about a water pump or turbine with thin vanes? How impact resistant are the resins? Could I make a throwable flying toy that will survive impacts?
For a minimal cost the manufacturers could install a magnetic flexible spring steel print surface so you can pop off the prints instead of trying to chip them off. FDM manufacturers are generally now including these, so you'd think they would have made the lateral move to include this quality of life feature to the resin printers.
I paid a pretty penny for one to add one to my Anycubic Max. In the end I hate it and just take the whole build plate and scrape like before. I have yet to get a single print to "pop" off. It frankly sucks imo. I have found by far the easiest way for me to scrape off is with a plastic razor blade scraper. I did sand the blade holder so it ramps up evenly instead of having a ridge. It has made print removal really simple. It just slides under and keeps going.
As far as 22 micron vs 30-35 micron. It can make a difference depending on what you're working on. But I have an odd use case compared to most of your viewers. I'm using more expensive castable resins designed for DLP and laser SLA for jewelry and dental industry. I'm doing casting in gold and putting my trademark and quality stamps directly into the prints. The letters in the castings are as small as 0.4mm tall and 0.03mm wide. The higher the resolution the less gold removed during polishing as well.
@@FauxHammer My go to printer for my jewelry casting has been the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8k. I'm happier with the results from that than with the castings from my suppliers with their $15,000 Asiga printers. I have an Anycubic Photon D2 that does well but falls short on the tiny micro pave style prongs and fine lettering for my stamps. I just ordered the Anycubic Photon M3 Premium more for fun stuff and prototyping equipment for the jewelry shop. But still be able to print rings for casting. One thing no one really mentions for this one is the Z axis accuracy of 0.005mm. That might actually help make up for the slightly lower XY accuracy. Maybe not, I guess I'll find out. Good luck to your friend, and I've been enjoying your content. Well done!
@@bensgizmo2960 I have some experience with Anycubic Photon M3 Premium. And I can confirm that it is perform exceptionally well at lower layer thickness. But at 50+ microns for some reasons its became a bit wayaway for some reason. Might be the case of poor lubrication, but wasn't able to fix it completely. Other than that it performs well, with small details it actually the closest to min 8k of all the rest. Just personal recommendation ;) . Put as much resin as you can while printing) it have huge surface of LCD and it heating up quicker than on 6" printers. So more resin you have in your tank more consistent your exposure will be.
this was the printer i was eager to get before i watched your videos. Now i did a price comparison and this printer + wash&cure + air pure costs 400€. If i buy the mars 4 ultra with mercury v2 it cost me just 30€ more but i get a much better printer. And if i take the standard mars 4 i am even cheaper (378€). So i guess anycubic is out.
You are trying to print a single pixel (or tiny islands of a couple of pixels) in that test-print. That means there's very little light exposing those islands of pixels and hence they will not cure as well as a single pixel stuck at the edge of a larger area. So, indeed, you cannot print a single tiny pixel on its own, but that tiny pixel at the edge of a bigger area can add more detail to that edge than a bigger pixel. Then again, my old eyes will probably struggle to detect the difference.
I was five minutes in your video and you were just neat picking the little stuff and you have big fingers than that's your problem not a printer problem I got tiny fingers big plus for me other than that if you don't like the stand, you can have mat protecting under it from falling and the usb not an issue I like it when they hide it but you made the video like sounding your needs
I had two 3D printers: a Crality LD-002H and Elegoo Mars 2 Pro . Both printers had great reviews in RUclips and elsewhere at the time I bought them. Both printers break down after a few months of use and I was unable to fix them even with the help of the manufacturers and the replacement parts they sent me. As you have posted your review about a year ago, can you please tell me if it’s still working? Have you use it a lot? Will that printer last?
The screen protector is oversized to protect the entire top of the machine so that resin doesn't get into the guts of the machine - the holes for the screws that hold the vat down normally go all the way through to the electronics. I think you may have got soapy water in them.
@@FauxHammer the way these screens are installed is fairly half assed in the great scheme of things - you'd think they would be using something other than electrical tape.
Thats the big problem! You can’t calibrate builtplatform because there’s two steps, one from screen and black tape, the second due to protective oversized film! Finally I cut the screen protector to the screensize and put it under black electric tape frame as on my other printers, now i can calibrate platform ideally
Thanks Ross, I found this to be a comprehensive and considered review. I'm looking for a 3D printer for my 10 year old daughter, who would like a Resin printer (presumably to print cute little things). I have this one on my list, are there any others that you might recommend that I get for her first 3D Printer?
Glad it was helpful! But I’d look into the dangers and potential risks of resin printing including fines before exposing children to it. Not telling you how to raise your kids. But just doing my part to ensure you are aware before delving into this.
I got this to replace my old photon mono and nothing would stick to the build plate no matter what I did and I'm not a novice when it comes to 3d printing. To their credit I suspected the build plate was the problem and they sent me a new one without question still didn't work having to send it back and get either another one or a different one
Abut holes and posts! Resolution question is irrelevant but only in this particular scenario. You see, for any layer to form you need not only to expose given pixel but you also need additional heat and aditional exposure from neighbour pixels. So in practice you will never get something at sub 150 microns in width regardless of resolution (yet you will actually find in regular print). You can kinda overcome that issue in DLP. it will not add local heat but you can overexpose it without trouble (only with sacrificing some Z deth precision). BUT the actual resolution of a printer will play on a surface finish and on corner sharpness. And it will play even more with thinner layer like 20 microns. I actually got more holes and columns the lower I go, because it will not have as much space to scatter your light inside resin. So resolution is matters but only when you increasing resolution in Z axis as well. That will be harder to notice because 10-20 microns looks stunning in all machines but at 50 microns layer everything smaller than 30 micron is at the point of diminishing return because of resin precision it self and luck of uniformity in axis.
three weeks later. this thing is a little fucking tank. 8k Resin in it makes it better than my Halot Mage 8k and Pro. Holy shit did Anycubic do a stellar job with this little bastard. Small print size, but phenomenal details.
@@petercallison5765 Its a total different model, hence the different name. Its the predecessor to the M3 Plus, Premium and Max. The Photon Mono and Photon M3 line are not the same printers.
i suspect that increase in resolution, pixel/voxel size is a diminishing return game so at a certain point even if you quadruple the resolution gains in the perceived detail level AND absolute detail level get will barely double additionally resin itself might just stop reacting to light produced by the screen when pixels on the screen get too small so if you really want bacteria sized detail you would need a highly reactive resin and a controlled and specialized printing environment in fact we can get more gains in perceived detail by just improving anti aliasing, packing, support generation algorithms that printer software utilizes and by improving the resin compounds themsevles we really have reached the point where resolution does not matter as much anymore and its all about usability and safety now in this market
My photon mono 2 shipped to me with a broken UV LED board. I'm going to replace it and keep trying, but its been disheartening. I'm also curious about what it's like to try and paint a flexible DLP Crafstman resin miniature? I love the idea of Craftsman DLP for it's lack of brittleness and fragility but trying to paint flexible resin sounds like it could end up being a tad annoying lol.
When you are able to, can you test if AA works on Lychee with this model? The Mono 4k, which this model replaces, is an awesome beginner printer but AA does not work on it. Not a big deal if printing miniatures but for large smooth surfaces, AA can make a significant difference.
I don't use Lychee to slice, i never use Lychee to slice. I've had so many compatibility issues with that program over the years. I use Lychee to support models. I export them supported as STL files, and slice them with whatever native app came with my printer.
with standard resin on a Mars 2 i have done 50um pillars. Measured at my work were an AS900 facility so the measurements are accurate. if you wanna see some images under microscope lets get in contact.
Love the video! I am an N scale, model railroader comfortable in laser design and printing that knows zero about 3-D printers. I’m looking for a printer that can build small windows, doors, rooftop components, trash, cans, dumpsters, propane, containers, people, cars, trucks, machinery, kind of stuff. This is the first video I’ve seen so far that has the liquid vs the spool of plastic. I like this idea much better. do you think this would be a good printer for what I’m trying to do?
I’d love some advice on Laser Ddsign, I have a Creality Falcon 2 and do not have any idea where I can find designs to cut. This is a great technology for detail. Compared to FdM, this will blow you away. But it’s bloody messy.
Another grear video, thank you for all your effort putting it together. Where did you get your test print file from, the one you use with holes and posts? Thank you 😊
Are you supposed to install the resin vat before leveling? The instructions that came with the printer show the leveling being done before the resin vat is placed. But your video shows the leveling being done after the resin vat is placed. I assume this matters a lot. I have never done any 3D printing before and am just getting started setting up the printer, so hopefully someone can answer this. Thanks.
Your're never going to end that print quality argument, people still swear they can see the difference between FPS between rates the human eye isn't able to see as well. I think most of it comes down to cognitive dissonance. they spent the money and are too invested to believe it was anything but a well informed justified expenditure for the "best".
They have no say over my editorial content and general opinions of the product. feel free not to believe me. But i have enough scathing reviews on my channel and near a decade of trust from fauxHammer.com to validate my integrity.
@@FauxHammer A 5 Second banner does not meet most peoples standards for "Open and Honest" Just do like most reputable content creators and verbally and clearly state early in the video its sponsored but all opinions are your own, cause I don't doubt they are but by not doing so your review could be seen as having a conflict of interest. Takes the shine off very well delivered information.
Britain video I'm away to pick one up injust got the mono 4k nothing wrong with it honestly I love it but it's the build plate size I need bigger for the models I build 1.35 scale armour but the mono 4k great for parts but conversion sets I need the mono 2! I was just away to say DLP or anycubic Tough flexible resin there my 2 best!
They have, this would do it and print all 15 because the printers individual pixels (34 microns) are smaller than the 50 microns of the smallest post. the resin is the limitation.
Anycubic have one. photon D2! It can print up to 14 holes and 15 columns but with some qwerks and propper temperature. and because its not MSLA but DLP technology ;)
From this video, I bought one of these printers and it's been nothing but wet ass. It's been terrible terrible terrible. Nothing and I mean NOTHING sticks to the print plate, even when increasing the exposures. It was so bad, that while it did print (in the vat), a little chunk had separated and poked a hole in the FEP. Replaced it and the EXACT SAME THING happened. Covered in resin. Supposed to have a screen protector? Nope. Now that resin is stuck right to the LCD and will not come off.
You're not insane, people just love arguing potential vs reality. I'm sure there's some defensive reasoning of trying to justify them spending the money also. This looks like a very nice starter printer, with a much better plastic case...shield... thing than my M3. I'm glad manufacturers have gotten over the angled design and remembered why boxes are better shapes for that. Why does Anycubic shamble on with their own slicer? Seems an easy way to cut development costs since no one uses it vs. Chitu or Lychee.
Hey, ive probably missed this but what would you recommend of the cleaning liquid to be? im very new to 3D printing and i just want a list of things to get before i get the printer. Thank you for the video, and ill be checking out more to find out.
Its all a balance of Time (Build Plate Size) and Quality (smallest Pixel Size)...they really only need to advertise the minimum printable pixel size and build plate size...that's all you really need to know, the actual resolution is beyond moot.
So I can print to anything idk how 3d printers work but you can print anything or is it only specific things that can work with this I haven’t watched the video but I will later
I often use heat instead, I have a heat gun nearby for my painting, so a blast with that helps soften the connection too. But when I do reviews I show the resin and printers as they come
this is a bit like the megapixel arguments that raged for years about digital cameras "22 megapixels will give you sharper photos than 18 megapixels" in reality it;s not that simple. it all depends on the ratio of megapixels to the sensor size an APS-C crop sensor has a size of 25.1x16.7 mm a full frame sensor has a size of 35 x 24 mm therefore the pixels on a 22MP full frame sensor are larger than those of a 22MP crop frame sensor. so the smaller sensor with the smaller and same amount of pixels will give sharper images ,but the full frame will be able to show more of the scene (akin to more build volume) if a printer had an 8K resolution and the same build volume as this mono 4K then yes the detail would be better but 8k printers tend to have much larger build plate sizes. (so it negates the gains in actual resolution) to get the same sharpness a full frame sensor camera needs to have around 1.5x the pixels as a crop frame sensor per mm so basically what I'm saying is yeah you are 100% correct in your assumption. 8K doesn't mean shit unless you take into account the size of the screen. if an 8K printer can print at 30 microns and a 4k printer can print at 30 microns the output is identical the 4K just has a smaller built volume (sensor in camera terms) i'ts basically just a marketing gimick. people assume that 8K is better than 4K just as they assume 24 megapixels is better than 22 megapixels but it all depends on the size of the sensor/screen that those pixels are put on. it's nothing new Camera manufacturers have been doing it for decades. the most important number when researching any 3d printer is the micron resolution not the screen size , that's the number that will tell you which printer is more detailed than another. 24 microns is better than 30 microns is better than 50 microns etc (but a lot of manufacturers fail to provide this information in their advertising) because 8k sounds better than 4k to the average person who doesn't know any better. think of it in terms of being at a music festival and they have a massive 25 foot screen that is 4k. now compare that to your 42 inch 4k tv at home, your tv at home will look WAY sharper (because the pixels on your tv at home are much smaller and are squeezed into a smaller space) they both have the same resolution but size of screen matters A LOT
I actually bought this printer off the back of this review. Well at least I tried to, but they (Anycubic) literally delivered the air purifiers and then tried to lie and say they'd delivered the entire printer/wash and cure machine when the delivery docket clearly states one single 0.9kg package and I've been playing tennis with their sub par customer services team ever since. Let's hope it get's sorted soon because I really want to give this a go.
@@FauxHammer Honestly it's been a massive pita. It's all sorted now after some email pingpong with their customer services that went on for over a week. The only thing I can compare the experience to so far time and hassle wise is going for a piss in a weatherspoons. That being said, now we've got everything i'm going to be jumping on to your new beginner guide video and getting on with it..
so this is better than the photon mono 4k... barely more expensive. is it a better choice than the mars 3 (standard) at this price point? if i understand correctly the upgrades on this one would make closer the mars 3 pro?
it sucks that yeah, these printers are cheap, but shipping to México, my country are almost the same price as the printer.. I thought free shipping aplied to every country LOL
About your test and pixel precision. This test is usefull for balancing exposure, no doub. BUT, you have to be aware that the intrasec pixel precision in the overall really exist. This test, test just a quasi single pixel on or off (surrounded by enlighted pixels) for the latest finest point, that is a trivial situation. Moreover, in this configuration you have to consider more things, optical diffusion, chemical reaction with UV power 'density' (a single pixel alone in the desert vs a group...) that also tric the test. EDIT : if we consider the analog world, the best balanced will be when you start to see the 14th points, because in the hole point you have a high light 'density' that tence to feel the hole. So a bit over exposed according the test will be more accurate for a better detailed definition ? Because we are not in a digital and linear world (we re more in analog...), chemical, density, optical exposure and resin reaction have a direct influence on the result. So in a global shape (or slice) those pixel talks, and have their words to say.... so YES smaller is better ! Maybe is no viewable, but you can feel them, like a natural picture vs a digital one or music = richiness is made of impercetible details. Sorry for my bad english, but I hope that my point of view is clear enought. 🙂 PS: of course 4K, 8K is pure marketing, REAL pixel size talk... and when people need compare printers, this should be the reference, with layer height... PS2: second thought, we want fine hole and fine pin, the next step for resin printers tech will dynamic area exposure according situations (long for a single pixel, short for a tiny hole), sort of.
Thanks for the review! I'm looking to use a 3D printer to make Lego-style mini-figures that I can use in stop motion productions. I'd like to have moveable arms, legs, heads and hands and also be able to make accessories (capes/hoodies/helmets) for the figures. I'd also like to make parts that I could use in Lego models. I've just begun searching and this printer looks like a very viable option. I'm also a little confused about types of resin. I could probably build my own curing device using UV LEDS and a wash station for alcohol/water but I'm not sure what resin would be better for my application Any suggestions? THANKS!
@@FauxHammer Thank you! I know this is subjective, but how much value would you place on the air filter that the Mars 3 Pro has? I keep hearing a wide range of opinion on how necessary and effective those filters are.
it's funny, for decades we used "PPI" - Pixels Per Inch as measurement for the quality of a 2D printers and monitors. And everybody knew exactly what it ment and what a good value is. But for some reason, they decided to throw that concept away and go for pixel size with resin printers. It's stupid
We we still can use PPI, I used PPI on the website fir ages. But I think pixel size is more relative in 3D modelling tk the dimension of the model being printed. But 2D printers use DPI as it’s made of dots, I think PPI was used for monitors. You’re not wrong though, personals it’s just a way to differentiate it?
Gonna need a lot more info than that. What test print, how did you slice it, what are you actually doing? “The test print” could mean a lot of things. What exactly are you trying to print and how?
Hello, i'm newbie in 3d printing, is this enough to start printing in 1:64 diecast scale? i just know how to design the 3d model, but i really have no clue about the 3d printer it self. My purpose is mainly print 1:64 tires, also maybe the smallest i need to print is 1:64 side mirror. The size of it around 2 mm x 3 mm. Glad if you wanna answer my question, sorry for asking too much
@@FauxHammerThanks for the answer, anyway is resin itself play big role here? so I can keep using that dlp craftman resin and not changing the resin and print settings
My prints are coming out much nicer than my mono 4k and the new screeena nicer and i know these printers arent loud but it's just so much more quiet and smoother alot smoother with its new double sided guide rail instead of the 1 bar slider in the middle like my mono.4k
Buy the Anycubic Photon 2 and/or the DLP Craftsman Resin Here
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This Video is part of our series looking for the Best 3D printer for Miniatures; www.fauxhammer.com/top-10/the-best-3d-printer-for-miniatures-models/
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i just bought the photon mono 2 and its amazing
Just bought mine as a replacement for the peopoly moai Ive had for years. This is literally the first time I have experienced a resin printer that just works. So far its given me consistent and great results. Not a single failure or issue in the first 10 or so prints. Doesnt sound like a lot, but the previous 3 resin printers I have had would present challenges much sooner.
The fact that i bought this printer for such little money ins incredible to me.
It would be cool if you could do a getting your first printer video, I've had a look at getting one of the anycubics a few times but I get a bit overwhelmed with all the packages with the "wash and cure machines" or "extra screen protectors" etc.
A starter video showing your recommended package, potential upgrades if people have the budget and an example of what you managed to print with a bottle or 2 of the resin would be great to put things in perspective for beginners
I have a getting started video coming up, but for what you are after I also have this written guide www.fauxhammer.com/top-10/the-best-3d-printer-for-miniatures-models/
the problem with doing this as a video is that it takes approx 3 weeks to make a video and this article is update twice a month!
Rewatching this now that I have the Mono2. It really is good value. They sent me extra 1Kg of tough translucent green, it is tough. Maybe too flexible, but it does not break off the plate. It will snap weeks later after lots of sunlight but it is an effort.
Nice review and finally somebody that understands and explains 3d printer resolution in layman's terms and you are absolutely spot on when it comes to printing minis for the tabletop. 4K is more than sufficient for that purpose. A lower than 35 micron resolution *might* become necessary if you want to print for casting jewellery and the like, or display miniatures for painting competitions (but I doubt it).
I have the predecessor of this printer, the Mono 4K for 14 months now, and am totally in love with the cheap but cheerful unit that has not let me down once so far. It can print armies way faster than I can paint them, so I am really glad Anycubic have decided to *upgrade* the unit with a slightly bigger build plate at a very competitive price.
For casual hobbyists like me going for more expensive units with an 8k screen only makes sense, if the build plate is at least twice the size of this printer @ 34 microns or below and the price is no more than the double of this one, i.e. in the 460 € mark. Because: with twice the size of the build plate in comparison you get twice the amount of miniatures out of the theoretical life-span of the screen of the printer. Sooo.... keep that in mid when shopping for a printer.
I'm far too dumb to explain things in technical terms
when a 3d printer lifespan reaches its end does it just become unusable? can you just change the few parts it requires when it needs to?
@@vill1an573 Certain parts can be exchanges, if you can find them. Notably screens, but also mainboards and z-rails.
Most often though, by the time a 3d printer fails, it might be the more economical solution to buy a new upgraded version.
Hi, I didn't read all the comments , so I'm not sure if someone has already answered the questions you asked in the video. I want to clarify that I'm not a native English speaker, so I apologize if some ideas sound confusing or have poor grammar. Feel free to ask any questions.
this experiences comes from designing a couple of resin 3D printer prototypes few years ago. I don't work for any manufacturer; I just wanted to develop a proof of concept to improve resin printing performance as a concept.
TL;DR:
You are correct. The size of the panel and resolution are irrelevant on their own. They always need to be measured together in a unit called "pixel density" (pixels/area). The higher the density, the greater the printer's theoretical ability to handle small details. And I say "theoretical" because pixel density is not the only factor influencing printer performance. There are 4 key factors (there are more, but these are the most relevant) that together determine printer's performance on small details:
Light Engine: the UV light source, this needs to be as collimated and homogeneous as possible. Collimation is important because the light projection should diverge as little as possible from what is drawn in the photomask. Poor collimation results in blurry edges in the printing area, significantly reducing the ability to represent small details.
Homogeneity is important because the resin requires a certain amount of energy to start polymerization. Beyond this threshold, the resin reacts and begins to cross-link. Poor homogeneity means that certain areas of the layer drawn in the photomask start their polymerization process earlier, causing "clumping" of cured resin and blurring high-frequency details (e.g., surface noise). A poor light engine performance is most visibly in a problem called "light bleed," where energy from "on" pixels bleeds into "off" pixels, blurring the details.
PhotoMask: LCD panels are commonly used for this component. there are also DLP projectors, although their assembly and capabilities are slightly different. Here, I will only discuss LCD panels:
Ideally, an LCD panel should have high pixel density to draw the most detailed mask possible. But another factor that influences its final performance is contrast. Contrast is the ratio between the panel's ability to transmit light (allowing light to pass through the system) and block light. This ability is determined by the type of polarizer used. Generally, for cost reasons, LCD panels used in printers are visible light consumer-grade polarizers, which are not the most suitable for UV applications. There are other types of polarizers that are much more efficient in the UV spectrum, but they can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars each (lcd panels use 2), making them prohibitively expensive for 3D printers (at least in the consumer-grade segment).
High contrast means that the black areas of the photomask never received enough energy to initiate polymerization, while the illuminated areas quickly reach the required energy peak and start to harden. Another factor influencing the ability to represent detail is whether the panel is an open-cell or grid type. Interestingly, pixels in a grid formation tend to produce better details as they compensate light bleed, while open-cell panels tend to have more bleed since they add energy from neighboring pixels.
Z-Stage: This is the simplest and easiest component to improve, but unfortunately, it can also be the most expensive part of the printer. It corresponds to the system of rails and screws that determine the precision in the vertical axis. For panels with high pixel density, let's say a printer with 22-microns pixel size, the Z-stage needs to be capable of moving within that precision to build square voxels. It´s irrelevant to have a printer with a 22-micron pixel size if you slice your models to 50 microns because this produces asymmetric voxels that also decrease the level of detail.
Ideally, it is recommended to use a ballscrew with tolerances and repeatability sufficient to move in intervals equal or smaller to the size of the panel's pixel. obviously this need to be matched with the motor resolution.
Resin Formulation: You can search for videos on how photosensitive resins work on RUclips; there are plenty of videos on the matter. Regarding how resin formulation affects the ability to represent details, it is necessary to balance the cross-linking within a "safe" threshold relative to the amount of energy passing through the photomask. This is what is done when you "calibrate" the resin with models like shown in the video. What you're doing is finding that safe threshold where the resin polymerizes without significantly altering the uncured resin around it. This feature can be adjusted using pigments, fillers, and UV blockers. For example, if you have a resin that you're probed to performs poorly, try adding red pigment; it will surely improve its ability to represent detail.
Another relevant factor is the amount of energy the resin needs to initiate cross-linking. The reason thin posts in your tests don't polymerize is that the energy provided by the small group of pixels is insufficient to initiate polymerization. Try printing chessboard patterns of different sizes, starting with 1x1 pixel, 2x2 pixels, and so on. This way, you can determine the printer's actual capacity to reproduce details. sadly , this capacity is far from what the manufacturers' specifications claim. Even for printers with high pixel density, chessboard patterns begin to show detail (individual filled and empty tiles) at around 100-120 microns. Below this measurement, the patterns are a blob with a "texture feeling" of the pattern rather than clearly visible features.
In conclusion, all of these aspects can be improved to get closer to the "nominal" panel resolution, but I believe it is prohibitively expensive to implement them in consumer-grade LCD based printers. In the meantime, if all components are not addressed together 4k, 8k, 12k.... infinite-K are only catchy marketing concepts to sale new models.
One issue with the 50 micron post is that at this point, you're talking about positioning of that post on the screen making a HUGE difference. If that post happens to be centered smack on a pixel of the screen, you're going to have more success printing it than if it's split between two, or four pixels.
As for 100 microns, there are definitely printers that will print that successfully. J3D's Tesseract has pillars starting at 100 microns and I've seen people who have managed to print that successfully while at dimensional accuracy.
But another issue at that size is the strength of the resin. With bits that tiny you are going to run into issues with the liquid resin itself pushing that post around as the plate retracts, and potentially break it off. There are a LOT of factors influencing things when we get that tiny. Basically everything that can influence print success at the macro level is amplified at the >50 micron size.
That being said, you are 100% correct in that for your average, typical user, who is most likely not even going to bother truly calibrating their printer, there isn't much point in going smaller than 35-50 micron pixel resolution.
Great way to put it. And yeah a future video will have the other side if this argument and talk about the strength of resin itself.
@@FauxHammer Sweet, I look forward to that video!
I think I've watched every single one of your printer videos in the past week. But while watching this one, this printer was on flash sale for $169 USD so I pulled the trigger. Now I'll have to watch all your resin and setup videos.
good call, good printer
You raise a really good point, but the difference higher DPI makes is minimum voxel size, not minimum feature size. Apologies for the long explanation, it'd be much easier with diagrams!
Take, for instance, a single pixel being exposed. Theoretically on a 35um printer, if all the light was uniformly directed to just that pixel, you could expose a 35*35um column, right? Unfortunately, because of limitations of the technology, that isn't how it works in reality. The light isn't perfectly parallel, nor uniform, and it scatters. And remember, curing is a chemical reaction, which works like a chain reaction until it runs out of energy (in this case, UV light).
Because of that, you never actually get a perfect square voxel - it's more of a hemisphere, that gradually fills out into a square with more exposure (if interested, look up 'how a voxel grows'). Printing a hemisphere on top of a hemisphere means it is forming from a smaller point, so it doesn't have the structural integrity to form a single pixel column. If instead, you print a 2x2 square, you have 4 slightly overlapping hemispheres, which will create a much better surface for adhesion for the next layer. The smallest size column you can print (in um) is the 'minimum feature size'.
The thing is, that while the model may have 100um and 50um columns, the sliced file is using specific sized pixels to approximate that. A 50um printer would be exposing 1x1 and 2x2 pixel squares for those columns - a 10um printer a 5x5 and 10x10, and both would match the file size precisely. And in both cases, neither column would print, as they are the same real size and below the minimum feature size. But what happens when you have a 35um printer? You literally cannot print a 50um column - the slicer will either approximate to 1x1 (35um) or 2x2 (70um), the the 100um column will actually be 105um (3x3).
However, we don't print columns like that for actual printing - so what matters is edges. Because these edges are connected to many other pixels, they form and are stable enough to retain a shape. And as prints are printed in layers, this is where the pixel size actually makes a large impact - the smaller the minimum change between layers, the more accurate the end result is when compared to the original model. That's the big difference - smaller pixels allow you to more accurately represent the STL.
But what does that actually mean for print results? At lower resolutions, the minimum change in distance between layers is smaller, so aliasing/stepping is less noticeable (resulting in improved surface quality), and feature edges are more accurately realised. In the context of the hobby, that means better macro photos, a smoother painting experience, and perhaps a higher perceived 'sharpness'. As with all things, it's a case of diminishing returns, and at this size, heavily limited by other aspects of the technology.
All completely understdoo, and there's also the addition of material strength. . Ias you say light scatters, not uniformly lbut i tend to imagine that the lowest levarea of accuracy is nearer the LCD, there the light is more intense. not only does light travel upwards toward the plate but it also travels outwards. On LCD TV you see this as a glow around the edges. but also around your whole room. Turn a TV on in a dark room, it lights up the room. Turn projector(DLP equivalent on) in the same room, it mostly just lights up the image with significantly less bleed to the features of the room.
but anyway. I presume that the light coming directly from the screen is pretty acctuare close to the screen bu light moves sharply outward, and then as the resin itself blocks the light passing through, the intensity increases.
so per pixel it's kind of a soft diamond shape, with the wider parts closer to the LCD and obviously on a microscopic scale.
But a single 34 micron pixel would create an incredibly soft tower shape of 50 microns across max. and if this 50 micron shaope crosses over 2-4 actual pixels on teh LCD. would the printer try to create a 68*68 micron shape or would it just ignore it? even if it did produce it, the created tower would snap from the model and stick to the fep because it's far too fine.
However on a model, it is more likely that this 1 voxel is supported by 4 beneath it, 16 beneath that an so on. so yes, it is more likely these finder details are rendered.
Totally see your point and agree completely.
But this also totally spoils my next video.
Actually the anycubic benchmark is quite good (just not as pre sliced). If u want similar level of information best use the ameralabs town or starship benchmark. I found flat tests to quite useless, because they don't take supports in account.
depends what you are looking for, I've always tested for balanced exposure, but I have an upcoming video on exposure testing and supports.
In question of sufficient detail density I think printing small details on a carrier surface is easier than being able to print a standalone part of a model at the same size. A good example can be printing litophanes on FDM printers. Details can be smaller than the nozzle size while you can't really print a standalone post even with double the diameter the nozzle has. Despite this I don't think there's a point going below ~35 micron as bleeding and diffraction may cause errors on scale comparable to the pixel size, while you have to amintain proportionally smaller layer thickness which gets exponentially difficult. Not to mention print times.
There's a difference between printing an isolated post that sticks out how much without anything supporting it on any side and, say, a smooth slope. The former will have the forces of the build plate pulling up affect it was more
Yep, 50 microns alone is too small and and will just tear when pulled from the fep
Hi Ross. No, you're not going insane. What you say makes complete sense. It's the same for resolution on computer monitors which I'm equally fussy about. Quality depends entirely on the desired output. I don't print miniatures, but focus on functional tool parts and models. For me, accurate dimensions, corners, and smooth surfaces are important. My Anycubic Mono X is great for that. Although, my Anycubic D2 produces the same parts just that much nicer. But to go much nicer...hmmm, I think that's called injection moulding. There are so many variables...resin type, temperature, anti-aliasing, resolution, screen size etc. But you're right. I don't think the naked eye can perceive much difference between 34 or 28 microns. Perhaps we're confusing that with perceived surface finish, which is actually a qualitative measure.
I have been getting 8k details from my 4k printer for many years. I also use plant based resin from elegoo and anycubic and i find them to be some of the best resins, pliable, not brittle, great details!
Having posts larger than the pixel cross section isn't really the most important factor in whether it can be printed. The models aren't aligned perfectly to the grid of pixels on the screen. For instance, the 50 micron diameter post could be centered right on top of a single pixel, or it could be directly at a corner, between four pixels. This would affect how details are printed, and smaller pixels helps alleviate that model-to-grid alignment mismatch. Of course, there's also resin limitations and light directionality which further complicate the max potential detail of the final print.
What about 100 micron post on a 22 micron printer?
I see y’all watching but not tossing my guy a simple like. 1.5k views but only 106 likes is unacceptable. Dude puts effort into these videos to help us all, give him that extra button click so he gets more views and can get paid.
thanks brother!
Agreed. It’s outrageous 32k people have watched with only 800 bothering to even like the video.
What a simp
@@d3us3xmach1na5everyone just hates life nowadays 😂
Thanks for the review. I have been enjoying your content a lot recently.
I'm not sure if you have a video like this already, but a beginners guide to resin 3D printing would be handy for newcomers, especially for those who are unaware of the dangers of using resin, the washing process, and curing process etc.
Thanks - that means a lot! It is being edited next week.
the reason the posts at certain sizes don't print is not because the printer and the resin can't reproduce it. It's because the test is specifically designed to fail. if you had a fine texture on a wall or clothes, etc. then the printer would render all that detail just fine, because its not a
Thanks so much for this review. I just bought this printer and I’m searching videos on how to get started.
Hehe, the aliasing on the "8k" font @7:05 in your comparison is so spot on with the problem of the large surface 8k's that sucker many to think "Bigger is better"
This was my first printer, really nice printer for beginners and helped me to decide to get into 3d printing.
Glad you enjoyed it
I bought a usb extender for my printers. Affordable and easy to setup. No print errors. Glorious.
Great to hear!
Honestly a 35um printer and a 28um printer will look basically the same to the human eye. Unless you are going to put the model to a magnifying glass there is basically no difference.
The jump from 50um to 35um is leaps and bounds more than the jump from 35 to 28. We are almost at the point of diminishing returns in terms of pixel size, the only place to go from here is getting better z layers and changing from mono screens to 8k laser screens.
well to be fair the leap from 35 -50 is double the leap from 28-35. but i get what you are saying. resin is the detail limit now. not the printers.
This printer is an important release for Anycubic, the price makes this printer reach more people. All that is needed is for people to report back any issue specially when that involves functionality and Anycubic will do their part. This is how users and manufacturers can have a win win situation and from personal experience with their support, Anycubic always listen and make improvements. I can easily find fault and solutions in a product, reporting it right away to the manufacturer is a valuable information. It will cost them a lot of money and valuable time to hire someone do this. In return they fix the problem and even send free replacement parts.
I print engineering full plate parts on a Photon mono 4k and men, it's amazing! I've test lots of printers, actually I'm with the Mars DLP and the cheap 4k do the job with accuracy in every print, the other ones have lots of variation in every print. Maybe I'll give a shot to this one just for the scren because those square lines are visible and sometimes it cause troubles.
This will be my first machine ! Cant beat the price and the quality looks amazing
I got this exact printer about a month ago when it went on sale for almost 50% off. I feel like I stole it now 👀😅.
Thanks for the vid! Appreciate the in depth stuff and the honest review.
Thanks for the very detailed video and all i can say I've decided to get this next month to print headsculpts for figures
Thanks for the review! I've been looking into getting a 3D printer and your channel has been godsend. Can I ask you a question, though? At first I didn't mind the small print area of the "beginner's" printers such as this or the photon ultra (my first choice), but ever since I've read a lot of chatter about how they work abysmally when printing bigger models such as tanks (because of warping and whatnot). Would you mind giving you two cents on this? My other option for a bigger printer is the saturn 8k which seems good enough for the price, and has the size to print anything I can imagine I would need for warhammer, but if I could get away with this one or a photon ultra I'd be happy as well. Cheers!
Great content! In another video you asked for print ideas to cover.
So, while I am interested in printing models and miniatures I'm also interested in printing working components with the precision these machines are capable of. I'd like to know how well do these printers (any LCD resin printers) and resins print thin walled stuff suitable for something like RC aircraft. Could someone print a thin disc, vertically, one layer thick? What about a water pump or turbine with thin vanes? How impact resistant are the resins? Could I make a throwable flying toy that will survive impacts?
For a minimal cost the manufacturers could install a magnetic flexible spring steel print surface so you can pop off the prints instead of trying to chip them off. FDM manufacturers are generally now including these, so you'd think they would have made the lateral move to include this quality of life feature to the resin printers.
i can see that coming to resin printers, but likely will come first on a high-end printer rather than entry level
I paid a pretty penny for one to add one to my Anycubic Max. In the end I hate it and just take the whole build plate and scrape like before. I have yet to get a single print to "pop" off. It frankly sucks imo. I have found by far the easiest way for me to scrape off is with a plastic razor blade scraper. I did sand the blade holder so it ramps up evenly instead of having a ridge. It has made print removal really simple. It just slides under and keeps going.
@@thatvanillagorilla i've never used one either and prefer smooth plates
@@thatvanillagorilla Razor blades used as wedges work wonders for popping off stubborn prints from build plates... Just saying ;)
@@FauxHammer Put that plate in the freezer and the prints will pop off.
As far as 22 micron vs 30-35 micron. It can make a difference depending on what you're working on. But I have an odd use case compared to most of your viewers.
I'm using more expensive castable resins designed for DLP and laser SLA for jewelry and dental industry. I'm doing casting in gold and putting my trademark and quality stamps directly into the prints. The letters in the castings are as small as 0.4mm tall and 0.03mm wide.
The higher the resolution the less gold removed during polishing as well.
That’s a good thing to know, I have a friend who just started casting
@@FauxHammer My go to printer for my jewelry casting has been the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8k. I'm happier with the results from that than with the castings from my suppliers with their $15,000 Asiga printers.
I have an Anycubic Photon D2 that does well but falls short on the tiny micro pave style prongs and fine lettering for my stamps.
I just ordered the Anycubic Photon M3 Premium more for fun stuff and prototyping equipment for the jewelry shop. But still be able to print rings for casting.
One thing no one really mentions for this one is the Z axis accuracy of 0.005mm. That might actually help make up for the slightly lower XY accuracy. Maybe not, I guess I'll find out.
Good luck to your friend, and I've been enjoying your content. Well done!
@@bensgizmo2960 I have some experience with Anycubic Photon M3 Premium. And I can confirm that it is perform exceptionally well at lower layer thickness. But at 50+ microns for some reasons its became a bit wayaway for some reason. Might be the case of poor lubrication, but wasn't able to fix it completely. Other than that it performs well, with small details it actually the closest to min 8k of all the rest.
Just personal recommendation ;) . Put as much resin as you can while printing) it have huge surface of LCD and it heating up quicker than on 6" printers. So more resin you have in your tank more consistent your exposure will be.
@@hohhan1978 That's a good point to keep in mind, thanks.
this was the printer i was eager to get before i watched your videos. Now i did a price comparison and this printer + wash&cure + air pure costs 400€. If i buy the mars 4 ultra with mercury v2 it cost me just 30€ more but i get a much better printer. And if i take the standard mars 4 i am even cheaper (378€). So i guess anycubic is out.
You are trying to print a single pixel (or tiny islands of a couple of pixels) in that test-print. That means there's very little light exposing those islands of pixels and hence they will not cure as well as a single pixel stuck at the edge of a larger area. So, indeed, you cannot print a single tiny pixel on its own, but that tiny pixel at the edge of a bigger area can add more detail to that edge than a bigger pixel. Then again, my old eyes will probably struggle to detect the difference.
Since you have the screen protector, you can now swap for thinner (50u) FEP or an even better membrane, then run your test again.
i took the screen protector off. it was annoying me
don't suppose i could grab the RERP file you set up? just trying to calibrate out of the box 🙏
even a video teaching us how to create custom RERF files would be useful
I was five minutes in your video and you were just neat picking the little stuff and you have big fingers than that's your problem not a printer problem I got tiny fingers big plus for me other than that if you don't like the stand, you can have mat protecting under it from falling and the usb not an issue I like it when they hide it but you made the video like sounding your needs
I had two 3D printers: a Crality LD-002H and Elegoo Mars 2 Pro . Both printers had great reviews in RUclips and elsewhere at the time I bought them. Both printers break down after a few months of use and I was unable to fix them even with the help of the manufacturers and the replacement parts they sent me.
As you have posted your review about a year ago, can you please tell me if it’s still working? Have you use it a lot? Will that printer last?
I'm not in the market for the printer, but it's BANANAS that the feet are hard plastic.
yeah, it was a bit too cheap...
@@thatvanillagorilla agreed
The screen protector is oversized to protect the entire top of the machine so that resin doesn't get into the guts of the machine - the holes for the screws that hold the vat down normally go all the way through to the electronics. I think you may have got soapy water in them.
Oh I get that, but because the screen Is recessed you get an air gap around the edge
@@FauxHammer the way these screens are installed is fairly half assed in the great scheme of things - you'd think they would be using something other than electrical tape.
Thats the big problem! You can’t calibrate builtplatform because there’s two steps, one from screen and black tape, the second due to protective oversized film! Finally I cut the screen protector to the screensize and put it under black electric tape frame as on my other printers, now i can calibrate platform ideally
Thanks Ross, I found this to be a comprehensive and considered review. I'm looking for a 3D printer for my 10 year old daughter, who would like a Resin printer (presumably to print cute little things). I have this one on my list, are there any others that you might recommend that I get for her first 3D Printer?
Glad it was helpful! But I’d look into the dangers and potential risks of resin printing including fines before exposing children to it.
Not telling you how to raise your kids. But just doing my part to ensure you are aware before delving into this.
I got this to replace my old photon mono and nothing would stick to the build plate no matter what I did and I'm not a novice when it comes to 3d printing. To their credit I suspected the build plate was the problem and they sent me a new one without question still didn't work having to send it back and get either another one or a different one
I need something like this for miniatures
you could get this then?
Abut holes and posts! Resolution question is irrelevant but only in this particular scenario. You see, for any layer to form you need not only to expose given pixel but you also need additional heat and aditional exposure from neighbour pixels. So in practice you will never get something at sub 150 microns in width regardless of resolution (yet you will actually find in regular print). You can kinda overcome that issue in DLP. it will not add local heat but you can overexpose it without trouble (only with sacrificing some Z deth precision).
BUT the actual resolution of a printer will play on a surface finish and on corner sharpness. And it will play even more with thinner layer like 20 microns. I actually got more holes and columns the lower I go, because it will not have as much space to scatter your light inside resin. So resolution is matters but only when you increasing resolution in Z axis as well. That will be harder to notice because 10-20 microns looks stunning in all machines but at 50 microns layer everything smaller than 30 micron is at the point of diminishing return because of resin precision it self and luck of uniformity in axis.
Right on
Maybe test light uniformity by printing thin walls across the screen and measure the thickness afterwards
from what i understand the main issue is the gridlines you get.
three weeks later. this thing is a little fucking tank. 8k Resin in it makes it better than my Halot Mage 8k and Pro. Holy shit did Anycubic do a stellar job with this little bastard. Small print size, but phenomenal details.
Great review. But Im pretty sure the Mono 2 is the successor to the Photon Mono 4K. At least that's what Anycubic is advertising it as.
ooops, I never had either. but still, it's an upgrade.
Then what is the M3?
@@petercallison5765 Its a total different model, hence the different name. Its the predecessor to the M3 Plus, Premium and Max. The Photon Mono and Photon M3 line are not the same printers.
i suspect that increase in resolution, pixel/voxel size is a diminishing return game so at a certain point even if you quadruple the resolution gains in the perceived detail level AND absolute detail level get will barely double
additionally resin itself might just stop reacting to light produced by the screen when pixels on the screen get too small so if you really want bacteria sized detail you would need a highly reactive resin and a controlled and specialized printing environment
in fact we can get more gains in perceived detail by just improving anti aliasing, packing, support generation algorithms that printer software utilizes and by improving the resin compounds themsevles
we really have reached the point where resolution does not matter as much anymore and its all about usability and safety now in this market
My photon mono 2 shipped to me with a broken UV LED board. I'm going to replace it and keep trying, but its been disheartening. I'm also curious about what it's like to try and paint a flexible DLP Crafstman resin miniature? I love the idea of Craftsman DLP for it's lack of brittleness and fragility but trying to paint flexible resin sounds like it could end up being a tad annoying lol.
Just ordered this to get into resin from FDM. Amped!
Enjoy! It’s messy fun
Looks like a good starter model.
When you are able to, can you test if AA works on Lychee with this model? The Mono 4k, which this model replaces, is an awesome beginner printer but AA does not work on it. Not a big deal if printing miniatures but for large smooth surfaces, AA can make a significant difference.
I don't use Lychee to slice, i never use Lychee to slice. I've had so many compatibility issues with that program over the years. I use Lychee to support models. I export them supported as STL files, and slice them with whatever native app came with my printer.
with standard resin on a Mars 2 i have done 50um pillars. Measured at my work were an AS900 facility so the measurements are accurate. if you wanna see some images under microscope lets get in contact.
Oh really? I would like to see that. But would also be interested in what the opposite side looks like at the same time
Lets not mention that the D2 is only 2k and easily prints on point with any 8k and in some cases is sharper. But DLP vs LCD is apples and oranges.
yeah agreed but thats a different argument - that probably reults in the same output.
Love the video! I am an N scale, model railroader comfortable in laser design and printing that knows zero about 3-D printers. I’m looking for a printer that can build small windows, doors, rooftop components, trash, cans, dumpsters, propane, containers, people, cars, trucks, machinery, kind of stuff. This is the first video I’ve seen so far that has the liquid vs the spool of plastic. I like this idea much better. do you think this would be a good printer for what I’m trying to do?
I’d love some advice on Laser Ddsign, I have a Creality Falcon 2 and do not have any idea where I can find designs to cut.
This is a great technology for detail. Compared to FdM, this will blow you away.
But it’s bloody messy.
Another grear video, thank you for all your effort putting it together. Where did you get your test print file from, the one you use with holes and posts? Thank you 😊
Are you supposed to install the resin vat before leveling? The instructions that came with the printer show the leveling being done before the resin vat is placed. But your video shows the leveling being done after the resin vat is placed. I assume this matters a lot. I have never done any 3D printing before and am just getting started setting up the printer, so hopefully someone can answer this. Thanks.
Thank you for the video. Question, why do you pour the resin the way you do instead of directly?
Gives it an extra mix and also ability to see debris if any exists
Your're never going to end that print quality argument, people still swear they can see the difference between FPS between rates the human eye isn't able to see as well. I think most of it comes down to cognitive dissonance. they spent the money and are too invested to believe it was anything but a well informed justified expenditure for the "best".
Oh I know, I frequently roll my edges at some video comments
so its a review but ur being sponsored by the company? that ain't a review
They have no say over my editorial content and general opinions of the product. feel free not to believe me. But i have enough scathing reviews on my channel and near a decade of trust from fauxHammer.com to validate my integrity.
@@FauxHammer A 5 Second banner does not meet most peoples standards for "Open and Honest" Just do like most reputable content creators and verbally and clearly state early in the video its sponsored but all opinions are your own, cause I don't doubt they are but by not doing so your review could be seen as having a conflict of interest. Takes the shine off very well delivered information.
Britain video I'm away to pick one up injust got the mono 4k nothing wrong with it honestly I love it but it's the build plate size I need bigger for the models I build 1.35 scale armour but the mono 4k great for parts but conversion sets I need the mono 2! I was just away to say DLP or anycubic Tough flexible resin there my 2 best!
Open challenge to all 3D printer manufacturers: Make an affordable printer that can print BOTH 14 posts AND 14 holes
They have, this would do it and print all 15 because the printers individual pixels (34 microns) are smaller than the 50 microns of the smallest post. the resin is the limitation.
@@FauxHammer resin limitation, is one of the parameter why (cf my little text up)
Anycubic have one. photon D2! It can print up to 14 holes and 15 columns but with some qwerks and propper temperature. and because its not MSLA but DLP technology ;)
@@hohhan1978 I knew there was a reason I’ve been eyeing that D2
From this video, I bought one of these printers and it's been nothing but wet ass. It's been terrible terrible terrible. Nothing and I mean NOTHING sticks to the print plate, even when increasing the exposures. It was so bad, that while it did print (in the vat), a little chunk had separated and poked a hole in the FEP. Replaced it and the EXACT SAME THING happened. Covered in resin. Supposed to have a screen protector? Nope. Now that resin is stuck right to the LCD and will not come off.
Gracias Excelente video!
You're not insane, people just love arguing potential vs reality. I'm sure there's some defensive reasoning of trying to justify them spending the money also.
This looks like a very nice starter printer, with a much better plastic case...shield... thing than my M3. I'm glad manufacturers have gotten over the angled design and remembered why boxes are better shapes for that. Why does Anycubic shamble on with their own slicer? Seems an easy way to cut development costs since no one uses it vs. Chitu or Lychee.
Thanks, appreciated
Did you have a link to the DLP CRAFTSMAN RESIN you had mentioned? The Amazon link is not bringing me to one. Thanks!
Hey, ive probably missed this but what would you recommend of the cleaning liquid to be? im very new to 3D printing and i just want a list of things to get before i get the printer. Thank you for the video, and ill be checking out more to find out.
Another great review! 👏👏
Thanks so much
Its all a balance of Time (Build Plate Size) and Quality (smallest Pixel Size)...they really only need to advertise the minimum printable pixel size and build plate size...that's all you really need to know, the actual resolution is beyond moot.
So I can print to anything idk how 3d printers work but you can print anything or is it only specific things that can work with this I haven’t watched the video but I will later
I place the build plate with the fresh print into the freezer for 10min. Aftert this the print is easier to separate from the plate.
I do that two and for large plates you can put some ice cubes on the back.
I often use heat instead, I have a heat gun nearby for my painting, so a blast with that helps soften the connection too. But when I do reviews I show the resin and printers as they come
this is a bit like the megapixel arguments that raged for years about digital cameras
"22 megapixels will give you sharper photos than 18 megapixels" in reality it;s not that simple. it all depends on the ratio of megapixels to the sensor size
an APS-C crop sensor has a size of 25.1x16.7 mm
a full frame sensor has a size of 35 x 24 mm
therefore the pixels on a 22MP full frame sensor are larger than those of a 22MP crop frame sensor. so the smaller sensor with the smaller and same amount of pixels will give sharper images ,but the full frame will be able to show more of the scene (akin to more build volume) if a printer had an 8K resolution and the same build volume as this mono 4K then yes the detail would be better but 8k printers tend to have much larger build plate sizes. (so it negates the gains in actual resolution)
to get the same sharpness a full frame sensor camera needs to have around 1.5x the pixels as a crop frame sensor per mm
so basically what I'm saying is yeah you are 100% correct in your assumption.
8K doesn't mean shit unless you take into account the size of the screen.
if an 8K printer can print at 30 microns and a 4k printer can print at 30 microns the output is identical the 4K just has a smaller built volume (sensor in camera terms)
i'ts basically just a marketing gimick. people assume that 8K is better than 4K just as they assume 24 megapixels is better than 22 megapixels but it all depends on the size of the sensor/screen that those pixels are put on.
it's nothing new Camera manufacturers have been doing it for decades.
the most important number when researching any 3d printer is the micron resolution not the screen size , that's the number that will tell you which printer is more detailed than another.
24 microns is better than 30 microns is better than 50 microns etc (but a lot of manufacturers fail to provide this information in their advertising) because 8k sounds better than 4k to the average person who doesn't know any better.
think of it in terms of being at a music festival and they have a massive 25 foot screen that is 4k.
now compare that to your 42 inch 4k tv at home, your tv at home will look WAY sharper (because the pixels on your tv at home are much smaller and are squeezed into a smaller space) they both have the same resolution but size of screen matters A LOT
Would the Anycubic activated charcoal filters fans fit inside the enclosure?
I actually bought this printer off the back of this review. Well at least I tried to, but they (Anycubic) literally delivered the air purifiers and then tried to lie and say they'd delivered the entire printer/wash and cure machine when the delivery docket clearly states one single 0.9kg package and I've been playing tennis with their sub par customer services team ever since. Let's hope it get's sorted soon because I really want to give this a go.
Wtf, that's mad
@@FauxHammer Honestly it's been a massive pita.
It's all sorted now after some email pingpong with their customer services that went on for over a week.
The only thing I can compare the experience to so far time and hassle wise is going for a piss in a weatherspoons.
That being said, now we've got everything i'm going to be jumping on to your new beginner guide video and getting on with it..
so this is better than the photon mono 4k... barely more expensive. is it a better choice than the mars 3 (standard) at this price point? if i understand correctly the upgrades on this one would make closer the mars 3 pro?
it sucks that yeah, these printers are cheap, but shipping to México, my country are almost the same price as the printer.. I thought free shipping aplied to every country LOL
About your test and pixel precision. This test is usefull for balancing exposure, no doub.
BUT, you have to be aware that the intrasec pixel precision in the overall really exist.
This test, test just a quasi single pixel on or off (surrounded by enlighted pixels) for the latest finest point, that is a trivial situation.
Moreover, in this configuration you have to consider more things, optical diffusion, chemical reaction with UV power 'density' (a single pixel alone in the desert vs a group...) that also tric the test.
EDIT : if we consider the analog world, the best balanced will be when you start to see the 14th points, because in the hole point you have a high light 'density' that tence to feel the hole.
So a bit over exposed according the test will be more accurate for a better detailed definition ?
Because we are not in a digital and linear world (we re more in analog...), chemical, density, optical exposure and resin reaction have a direct influence on the result.
So in a global shape (or slice) those pixel talks, and have their words to say.... so YES smaller is better !
Maybe is no viewable, but you can feel them, like a natural picture vs a digital one or music = richiness is made of impercetible details.
Sorry for my bad english, but I hope that my point of view is clear enought. 🙂
PS: of course 4K, 8K is pure marketing, REAL pixel size talk... and when people need compare printers, this should be the reference, with layer height...
PS2: second thought, we want fine hole and fine pin, the next step for resin printers tech will dynamic area exposure according situations (long for a single pixel, short for a tiny hole), sort of.
Thanks, really clear and no need to apologise for bad English, this is understood
Thanks for the review! I'm looking to use a 3D printer to make Lego-style mini-figures that I can use in stop motion productions. I'd like to have moveable arms, legs, heads and hands and also be able to make accessories (capes/hoodies/helmets) for the figures. I'd also like to make parts that I could use in Lego models. I've just begun searching and this printer looks like a very viable option. I'm also a little confused about types of resin. I could probably build my own curing device using UV LEDS and a wash station for alcohol/water but I'm not sure what resin would be better for my application Any suggestions? THANKS!
Siraya tech build sonic grey is good for functional parts, mix that with some blu and it's also very durable
i get my models off the plate pretty easily with 20 sec 5 layers at 50micron
I dunno I print game models I get 13 posts and 12 holes on my 9.25" 6k flashforge Foto with Sunlu ABS resin and let it churn out models.
Then your exposure isn’t “balanced”
Can you please make a comparison with elegoo mars 4 8k
literally just did in the video that went live today
What Layer Height do you use?
Could I plug in a 90 degree plug USB extension to the back so I can push the printer back against a wall and run the cable out the front?
Yeah
How does the Fep film change on the Anycubic Photon Mono 2? Where can you buy?
Anycubic sells them with the plastic frame already attached
Would you make this your top pick for an entry-level resin printer?
This or the Mars 3. Both similar in quality and size but the Mars is nit as cheap. This is a very good little printer for the price
@@FauxHammer Thank you!
I know this is subjective, but how much value would you place on the air filter that the Mars 3 Pro has?
I keep hearing a wide range of opinion on how necessary and effective those filters are.
do you think i should buy halot one or photon mono 2 mil
Why do ppl pour resin from atop the bulid plate? Is it for the video or does it serve some sort of purpose?
Just for the video
My wife just called this an easy a baked oven for nerds. She's not wrong.
I'm about to put this printer through its paced so I'll let you know if you're wrong 😜
I’ll not hold my breath 😉😉
Hey do you have a link to your resin
ppi is a big thing, i agree.
Yep, glad people are understanding this
it's funny, for decades we used "PPI" - Pixels Per Inch as measurement for the quality of a 2D printers and monitors. And everybody knew exactly what it ment and what a good value is. But for some reason, they decided to throw that concept away and go for pixel size with resin printers. It's stupid
We we still can use PPI, I used PPI on the website fir ages. But I think pixel size is more relative in 3D modelling tk the dimension of the model being printed. But 2D printers use DPI as it’s made of dots, I think PPI was used for monitors. You’re not wrong though, personals it’s just a way to differentiate it?
Was there supposed to be an overlay at 0:39?
oh yeah!, that was in my earlier draft of this too. missed it on the re-edit!
Great printer in good price with one major drawback: fep still on plastic frame :( .
I just got this printer but when i try the printing test it does not print anything. I dont know what im doing wrong
Gonna need a lot more info than that.
What test print, how did you slice it, what are you actually doing?
“The test print” could mean a lot of things.
What exactly are you trying to print and how?
anyone else had a problem with the mono 2 trying to print without going into the resin?
Hello, i'm newbie in 3d printing, is this enough to start printing in 1:64 diecast scale? i just know how to design the 3d model, but i really have no clue about the 3d printer it self. My purpose is mainly print 1:64 tires, also maybe the smallest i need to print is 1:64 side mirror. The size of it around 2 mm x 3 mm.
Glad if you wanna answer my question, sorry for asking too much
This should be enough for the amount of detail on those size vehicles yeah.
@@FauxHammerThanks for the answer, anyway is resin itself play big role here? so I can keep using that dlp craftman resin and not changing the resin and print settings
pixel bleed has reach it's limit with 4k/8k the bleed is larger than pixel size...
you're probably right.
My prints are coming out much nicer than my mono 4k and the new screeena nicer and i know these printers arent loud but it's just so much more quiet and smoother alot smoother with its new double sided guide rail instead of the 1 bar slider in the middle like my mono.4k
Yeah it is a quiet little thing
Buy a USB right angle dongle with 8 inch extension.