Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsSuprisingly great printer
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2021
I've been 3D printing for over 5 years and printing with another companies resin printer for the past 18 months. I was spoiled by its ease of use, but it was also expensive to operate so I didn't use it as often as I would have liked. Curiosity finally got the better of me and I picked up this Anycubic Photon Mono just to see what these little LCD printers are really capable of and I can safely say I'm blown away by the print quality. Once you have a process that works, its very easy to use. Just expect a learning curve.
When I was waiting for the printer to arrive I submersed myself in all the YouTube videos on the subject that I could find. Turns out this was a good thing AND a bad thing. Based on all this new found "knowledge" and thinking I knew better, I forged my own path for my first print and sadly it was an utter failure. Based on the videos I had watched I started ordering resin trays and FEP film but due to my inexperience, I ordered all the wrong things. Long story short after a comedy of errors and a half dozen failed prints I finally hit upon a winning formula that I've been able to readily duplicate across half a dozen successful prints now.
The printer gives you most everything you'll need to start printing right away. Everything except the resin, and depending on the type you get you may also need isopropyl alcohol to clean the print which for some reason is still hard to come by. I bought the Anycubic Craftsman resin and have been super happy with the quality.
Some of the things I learned during my first couple weeks--
--When you have a failed print, make sure to clean out the resin tray otherwise the next print will be adversely affected
--Some of the resins are extremely bad smelling, some protection is recommended
--You will eventually have to replace the FEP film, however the most popular videos on YouTube show a product and process that is out of date.
--There is definitely a learning curve you can only get past by experience. All the video watching in the world can't prepare you for every little hiccup, especially when so many videos contradict those of other channels.
So like everything there are pros and cons, so from my perspective, here are mine--
PROS
--Printer is super easy to use and setup once you know the process
--Very inexpensive to operate relative to high end solutions
--High quality print results that surpasses expectation
--Comparatively fast, prints an entire layer in one go, taking just a couple seconds of exposure
CONS
--Initial learning curve, you need to understand burn-in layers, exposure times and lift speed and half a dozen other settings, yet none of these options are really clearly explained, nor is it covered how they affect the final result.
--It can take a couple hours before you can see if there's anything on the build plate, I wish there was a way to know earlier if a print failed.
--There are so many options for resins available, yet there is very little data on what settings you need for a particular printer/resin combo so some educated/guessing will be necessary.
All in all, I'm super happy I took the chance on this printer, as I've done so much printing, trying different things now that I would never have considered with my other printer mostly due to speed and cost. I'm sure next I'll be looking to upgrade to its big brother.