Anycubic Photon review

Today I’m very happy to review this amazing printer. I’ve been looking for this print quality for a long time! I mainly print miniatures and models, so my FDM printers were pretty good, but not good enough. I made impressive miniatures, but they all needed rework like epoxy resin finish and smoothing with soldering iron. I was dreaming about resin printers for years until the Anycubic Photon was released. The first models had blue windows, not good to protect the UV sensitive resin. The latest models have proper orange windows. I bought one from the official Australian importer on Ebay for $465 AUD including a 500g resin bottle which is $50 alone. It’s usually around $550-600 AUD without resin but I was lucky at the auction.

The kit with all the accessories

The test print

SPECS

DLP (digital light processing) is a pretty new technology similar to SLA, but instead of moving lasers it uses a fixed UV led projector and a masking LCD screen. The LCD stands between the UV light and the resin tub to create a shadow, letting light pass only where it’s needed. The UV light that hits the bottom of the resin tub hardens the resin. The only moving part is the Z axis and it’s very precise (1.25um or 0.00125mm steps). The layer height can be set between 0.01 and 0.05 mm (10 to 50 microns). I always use 25 microns, it’s good enough for my miniatures, once painted you can’t see layers. But it’s good to know that I can get an even better definition if needed. The horizontal resolution is good too (47um against 400um of a standard FDM 0.4mm nozzle). The horizontal resolution is due to the masking LCD screen resolution (2560x1440 pixels).

One of the best “side effect” of this technology is that every layer takes the same time to print (set by you), no matter how big it is. It’s the time the resin takes to cure. Curing a dot or a large area takes the same time. So the best efficiency is achieved when printing multiple models. I usually print about 6 miniatures at the same time. And I rotate them to be as low as possible on the Z axis to reduce the number of layers and print time. This way I print 6 28mm miniatures in 4 to 5 hours.

THE KIT

The printer comes with all the tools you will ever need plus a spare resin vat film and a 250g resin bottle. There are clear instructions and the packaging is very secure. Straight out of the box, you need to align the platform, zero the Z axis and you are ready to print. Make sure the LCD screen and the bottom of the tub are always clean. You can leave the resin in the tub when not in use but it’s recommended that you pour it back in the bottle. You might want to filter it when you do that, there are filters in the kit.

SOFTWARE

The printer comes with a slicing software, very easy to use. You can scale, rotate, move multiple models and adjust the print settings like layer thickness, curing time per layer, first layer (to make sure it sticks on the platform). Like FDM printers it needs supports for overhang parts. You should rotate the models to minimize the parts that need support. Then you can add supports automatically or manually.

One of the downside of the software it’s that it doesn’t save your project. You can only save the sliced file or the stl file. But I know there are other software you can use to create the model with support and save your project, then use the Photon software just for the final slicing of the stl file.

After you slice the model, you can see the preview. Make sure the raft is printed from the first layer or it won’t stick on the platform. I failed a print because of that. Then I moved the model down 0.1 mm so the raft was actually lower than the platform and it started printing the raft from the first layer.

It’s pretty easy to use, you’ll figure it out in two or three prints.

PRINTING

The printer has a touch screen with a simple menu to test screen, adjust basic settings and print from USB (even the USB memory is provided!). During the print you won’t be able to see the first 20mm of the printed part because it’s still in the vat, so for 2-3 hours you won’t know how your print is going.

Finished print of two models

Finished print of six models (it takes the same time as printing two)

AFTER PRINTING

After the print finished, you remove the platform, then remove the printed part from the platform using a spatula. If you use a metal one, try not to scratch the platform as I did.

The model will be wet of resin, so it needs to be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol for few seconds by immersion or with a brush. It’s also soft, so it needs to be hardened with UV. After removing supports I leave them in the sun for an hour or two. Australian sun is rich of UV. But you can use a UV nail dryer or something like that.

Then you clean the platform. I use a lot of paper towel and alcohol after every print.

CONCLUSIONS

I was really impressed by this printer since unboxing it. It looks very professional, user friendly, it comes with tools, instructions and spare parts. It prints straight out of the box with amazing definition. The details on the printed models exceeded my expectations. Like all resin printers it requires lots of cleaning after print and you can’t use it in a normal room of your house due to the toxic nature of resin and bad smell. I use it in the garage. I highly recommend this printer if you print miniatures or small object that requires high precision in details and you are not scared of a bit of cleaning after every print.