You essentially draw the shape as you go from a pool of liquid. The advantages and disadvantages of these technologies could be compared and contrasted in a doctoral thesis, but SLA printers are criticized for their small build volumes and hazardous chemicals. When it comes to SLA printers, you’re talking about highly volatile fumes from both the resin itself and the significant amounts of isopropyl alcohol required to process the prints, whereas airborne microplastics are an issue with FDM printing. also you will learn our article on Anycubic Photon Mono review.
Anycubic Photon Mono review: Design
The design of the Anycubic Photon Mono is strong and well-considered. It comes fully constructed and needs only a little tuning to be operational. Because of the machine’s bright yellow protective cover, vibrations, noise, and UV light are lessened when it is in use. An LED matrix array and an angled, all-metal, previously sanded build plate are included with this 3D printer to aid with adherence. A sizable bolt that is simple to attach and remove fastens the construction plate in place. Under the build plate, there is a metal vat where you pour the resin that is secured in place by two sizable bolts. Two handles and a small pour spout on the front of the vat make it easier to empty the resin when not in use. On the front of the printer is a touch screen interface that is simple to use and understand. You can use it to move the plate up and down, cycle through the files you want to print, or perform exposure tests. On the sides of the device are the power, USB, and on/off switches.
Features
The new 6K model differs from the original Mono printer in a few additional ways as well. The Photon Mono 6K’s constructed plate has a laser etched surface, which offers better adhesion than the original’s brushed aluminum plate and should assist to lower the likelihood of print failures. It’s difficult to determine whether the increased adhesion claims actually hold any water because we did experience a few prints failing during our tests, but not any more than we had anticipated. Additionally, it appears to have a better light matrix than the Mono , with 40 LED lights producing 90% light uniformity, an apparent 200% improvement. It does speed up printing, but unless you disassemble the printer, it’s unlikely that you’ll see a tangible difference in the lights (which will likely void the warranty). The Mono 6K, like all Anycubic resin printers, is only officially compatible with Anycubic’s own Photon Workshop slicer software. There are some workarounds if you’d rather use Lychee, but we were unable to figure out how to use this printer with other Slicing programmes like Chitubox or Chitubox Pro. Aside from size and resolution, there aren’t many distinctive qualities to highlight. The printer has a yellow acrylic hood that prevents most of the toxic fumes from escaping during printing as well as UV protection to prevent the tank of liquid resin from curing in sunlight. We always advise wearing a mask and some disposable gloves when using a resin-based printer, and thankfully, the Anycubic Photon Mono 6K comes with both of these items in addition to a few other practical tools, like a metal scraper for removing prints from the built plate. If you connect the printer to the same Wi-Fi source, which we recommend you do at least for firmware upgrades, you can also transmit files to the printer via a local network connection. It performs exactly as promised, saving you the trouble of physically loading a USB drive and placing it in the printer.
Anycubic Photon Mono review: Connectivity
A WiFi antenna on this device allows it to connect to a mobile app. The mobile app is passable, but it does create a functional concern. Why isn’t the same functionality available in a desktop app if this machine is capable of showing data to a user about print progress, resin requirements, and remaining print layers, as well as allowing remote controls (stop, go, and pause), as well as on-the-go adjustments of exposure, rising height, and speed? That still appears to be a feature reserved for much more expensive 3D printers. For the time being, printing files from a desktop computer to the printer still needs to be transferred using a USB stick.
Print speed
The Photon Mono is a quick printer; it took 7 hours and 35 minutes to print our 4-inch high Thinker test model, which is much less time than other printers in its class. For instance, the Peopeoly Phenom needed more than 13 hours to print the identical model at the same scale. To be fair to printers that lack enough room on the build plate to print the Thinker lying down horizontally, we often print the Thinker model vertically. We also tested this on the Photon Mono and discovered that it was significantly faster, taking just 3 hours and 56 minutes to print in this direction. The Photon Mono has plenty of print space large enough to handle this. you can read our article on Anycubic Photon Mono review.
Anycubic Photon Mono review: Leveling
The provided 210mm by 150mm sheet of paper had “This paper can be used for levelling” written on it in two languages, so that’s exactly how we utilized it. We lowered the Z to 0 and reset the home after releasing the four bolts holding the build platform against the bracket. We completed this process in about three minutes, and the calibration was perfect. The calibration of the Photon Mono was simple in contrast to our difficulties with the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K, which uses a similar levelling technique but has parts that aren’t quite flush.
Print Quality
We were pleased with the Photon Mono ability to produce high-quality prints. Our prints featured straight, precise edges and rounded, organic surfaces. Three models—a scanned image of Rodin’s Thinker, a set of planetary gears, and a geometric sculpture—that test the printer’s ability to reproduce fine details are used in our testing. In overall, the Thinker statue was faithfully recreated, with precise detailing and natural-looking curves on the head and shoulders. The geometric sculpture has precise interlocking surfaces, beautiful points, and sharp, clean edges. Although the grey resin we tested with this printer produced a lot of dust and residue (the white material) when we screwed the different parts of the gears together, the gears were simple to assemble and operated without any issues. However, we did observe some issues with prints: occasionally, parts of the layers appeared to separate, resulting in resin flaps that were loose. Consider the gap in the Thinker’s horizontal print: a few layers on the inside of his right calf have separated from the layers above them. The layers of the geometric sculpture’s sculpture appear to have been pushed down by the liquid resin during the printing process, flattening one of its points. The loose layers and the squashed point suggest that the print needed a few more supports to keep it in place during printing, or that the object might be better printed at a different angle, but the majority of these problems can be resolved by making adjustments to the print. All of this suggests that most 3D printers still need to be adjusted in order to produce the highest-quality prints, and a lot of this adjusting involves figuring out why a print failed and trying again.
Anycubic Photon Mono review: Software
The slicing programme used by Anycubic is called Photon Workshop. A particular file type known as a.pwmx file is produced by the Anycubic Photon software. The software is simple to use and intuitive. You won’t be overwhelmed with options thanks to its straightforward design, which just offers the basic buttons and settings. With the Photon Workshop, you can manually add your print’s supports and change how deep they go in addition to auto-generating support and manipulating the model. There is still room for improvement, though. Numerous users have complained that the programme occasionally crashes, and outspoken detractors have asked Chitubox to support the Mono X.
Price and availability
Regarding warranties, Anycubic offers a 12-month warranty on all parts, with the exception of the LCD screen, which is only covered for three months. This is somewhat disappointing because the printer’s main component is the screen. Better watch out that you don’t apply the screen protector incorrectly like we did. also you can check our article on Anycubic Photon Mono review.
Conclusion
Anycubic unveiled a few resin 3D printers with the fanfare of a lavish event conducted within an opulent display hall as part of its five-year celebration in September. Three Photon Mono 3D printers that are mostly currently accessible continue the afterparty even if the presenters have long since departed the stage. As of the time of writing, Anycubic sells the printer, making the Photon Mono the least expensive and least feature-rich of the bunch. Its standout feature is a 2K monochromatic LCD, which essentially allows for quick printing.
