ANYCUBIC Photon Mono 2 Resin 3D Printer with 6.6'' 4K + Monochrome Screen, Upgraded LighTurbo Matrix, Enlarge Print Volume 6.49'' x 5.62'' x 3.5''

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The Anycubic Photon Mono 4K features a powerful 15 LED light matric with over 90% light uniformity, as well as a high contrast monochrome grid that enhances accuracy, able to more sensitively cure resin for smooth yet sharp surface finishes. The solid z-axis rail structure is hugely important for a precise and accurate final print, with a stable stepper motor able to handle the precisions required in such small layer heights and fine resolutions. Printed on the 2K LCD Elegoo Mars 2 Pro. 4K is better quality, but you can still get good results with less. The best layer height for resin printing usually ranges between 0.01-0.05mm (10 to 50 microns), where you would use 0.05mm for faster speeds while still maintaining great quality. It’s more of a “soft curing” to build up the layers successfully, but to properly harden the plastic resin model, we use a strong UV light for many minutes. This same principle applies in terms of making the bottom layers stronger. What is Bottom Layer Count in Resin 3D Printing? The original Elegoo Mars and Anycubic Photon printers aren’t competitive anymore, and newer releases have improved them greatly. Here are the printers we’ll cover from Anycubic and Elegoo.

Small things such as the larger 3.5″ inch touch screen on the Elegoo Mars vs 2.8” on Photon Mono 4K might make a difference to you – but for us they’re fairly minimal. Z-Lift Height is the distance set between your model and the build plate. It stops your models from being built directly on the build plate, allowing it to be fully supported by supports and a raft. How to Get the Perfect Resin Settings Prints generally felt like they took less time to print, and usually wrapped up around the 3-hour mark. However, upon comparing the specifications, the Photon Mono 4K has a print speed of 1.97 in./hr, whereas the Photon Mono performs at a MAX of 50mm/hour (1.97in./hour). So, it seems like they technically operate at the same speed. With that being said, the specifications of the Photon Mono state that it can print at 50mm MAX, which leads me to believe that it isn’t always consistent or might be slightly slower. The Photon Mono 4K is also delivering much higher detail, which is worth the upgrade in my opinion. If you’re going to have to wait the same amount of time (maybe slightly shorter), then I would rather get more detail out of the unit. Final Thoughts Resin 3D printers will differ in what settings work best. Some of the resin settings change with the change in resin brand and color as well, but most of the settings are ideal for almost all types of resin and application. For models like a sphere that have those “water ripple” effects, anti-aliasing + gray level 0 is ideal for surface quality. You can 3D print spheres and round shapes a lot more accurately when you dial in your anti-aliasing settings properly.There are other more advanced resin settings that most people won’t really put to use, but I’ll include them below so you are aware of them. The heat distribution makes finished resin prints easier to remove without affecting surface finish when scraping them, as well as improving adhesion to the build plate. This reduces errors – we all know the frustration of having a resin model adhere to the resin rather than the build plate causing it to fail. The Photon Mono 4K has both high power for fast printing and low power for longer printer life. The resin printer supports 30-100% UV power settings and can be adapted to resin printing with different UV energy requirements to meet your personalised printing needs. The Anycubic Photon Mono 2 is a money-saving resin printer with excellent 4K print quality. Its smaller size makes it easy to find space for, and its light weight makes it easy to move in and out of storage. The printer could use feet with more grip to prevent it from sliding around, so I would suggest putting it on a non-skid mat. Both feature a monochrome panel screen, rather than older versions that feature an RGB screen. This is a major improvement: not only are they more durable – with lifespans of several thousand hours – they’re also much faster.

The following processing reference parameters are suitable for the factory default energy state of the Resin 3D However, you may prefer Anycubic’s software, and adjustable power for special resin printing, in which case go for the Anycubic Photon Mono 4K. Elegoo Mars vs Anycubic Photon – Best Value The FDM 3D printers (the ones that use filament) are not easy to put together and even those that do come with most parts pre-attached, still require that you carefully follow the instructions and dedicate at least a couple of hours for the assembly. And then there’s the lengthy calibration. The SLA 3D printers are already pretty much fully assembled and everything is underneath a case, so you don’t have to deal with wires or rods. In the case of the Anycubic Photon Mono 4K, the installation process is incredibly simple and the first step is to power it on: attach the cord to the rear port and press the Power switch. The display should light up and show the Print, System, Tools options. You also want to give some space for the supports to build up a good enough foundation before getting to the print itself.

The LighTurbo matrix has been optimised to make the parallel light source even more stable and uniform. This effectively reduces layer lines on the one hand and completely eliminates grid lines on the other. Nothing stands in the way of vivid details and fine, smooth surfaces! Honestly, there is not an ideal value of anti-aliasing when it comes to resin 3D printing. The settings come with different levels such as 2, 4, and 8. You can set any of these anti-aliasing levels for your resin 3D print according to the corners’ aliasing effect. Light off delay is how long the printer keeps the light off before curing the next layer, though the true light off delay time includes the total time for the up and down movements of the build plate. For the Anycubic Photon, I saw ranges between 4 – 10x the normal exposure time for the bottom exposure times, so you can take a rough average of 7x the normal exposure time. The Anycubic Photon Mono 2 requires the same safety precautions as other resin printers. Uncured resin is dangerous, and the solvents used to clean your prints can be irritating to the skin. Use gloves and safety glasses when pouring resin and handling uncured prints.

Your lifting distance should be high enough that it gives your models clearance to nicely come off the FEP film, and not too high that it unnecessarily increases your printing time significantly. You can use both Anycubic and Elegoo’s respective resin or an equivalent third-party alternative with no discernible difference in print quality. Nor do Anycubic and Elegoo prevent the use of third-party materials like we’ve seen others do. Lifting distance is simply how far the build plate raises up from the FEP film after each layer is cured. The resin vat itself had a few surprises that caught me off guard, but were welcome changes from the typical featureless rectangular vat that I was expecting. For one, the vat has a graduated volume legend embossed directly onto the walls which lets you determine the rough amount of resin in the container with just a glance. It also has a pour spout (and a lip) on one corner, which means that the process of pouring resin out is a much cleaner operation than with a hard edge which liquid will spill over and get onto the bottom of the FEP film.

The 129 x 80 x 160 mm build volume is decent – again, more expensive resin printers offer larger. But for printing a few miniatures, it’s more than enough. The scratch-resistant screen protector prevents scratches and other unforeseen "accidents" when the resin leaks. With a light transmission of up to 95%, the screen protector not only protects the display but also ensures outstanding printing accuracy at the same time. Anycubic Mono 4K uses a monochrome grid with a contrast of more than 350. The high contrast makes the image in the exposure area more accurate and the print margins more sensitive, which improves the print quality and success rate and significantly reduces the residue in the resin container. Anywhere from 15 seconds up to 150 seconds is the full range, though you’ll usually see people with bottom exposure times from 30 seconds to 90 or 100 seconds. Best Bottom Layer Counts for Resin 3D Printing

With the ongoing developments in afforable desktop resin 3D-printers, Anycubic has launched another new product in 2023. Names the Anycubic Photon Mono 2, it seems like this is an upgrade from the original Photon Mono. But as they are releasing so many new and similar printers, it is difficult to see how the Anycubic Photon Mono 2 fits into its product offering. Some information can already be found online. There are quite a few lifting and speed settings with resin 3D printing, but a good value is something that is fairly slow. People tend to go with a lifting speed of 1-3mm/s or 60-180mm/min.

Resin compatibility with the Anycubic Photon Mono 2.

Make sure the room you use your resin printer in is well-ventilated to avoid inhaling fumes. Spilled or dripped resin should be immediately cleaned with 99% isopropyl alcohol. After printing, make sure to wipe down your printer and bottles to remove smudges of uncured resin. Always keep your resin tightly sealed and safely stored out of reach of pets and children. Assembling the Anycubic Photon Mono 2 It can put more strain on your supports and overhangs. Best Anti-Aliasing Setting for Resin 3D Printing As with any first print, there was that initial concern that the job would fail, but that never happened with the Photon Mono 4K. As we proceeded with our prints, we would churn out miniature after miniature over the next week with near perfection and absolutely zero print fails. The Craftsman Resin performed beautifully and proved to be slightly more durable (after a few drop tests) than other resins we’d used previously. Not only that, but the amount of detail it was able to hold, even on the smaller miniatures, was stunning. Two undead miniatures stand guard at their resin post, protecting the Photon Mono 4K that will produce the rest of their army.