What 3D Printer?

[nheather]

Apologies I have asked this question before that technology has moved on a lot since and now that I am ready to buy I think it is worth asking again.

 

My main purpose would be wargaming miniatures (figures, vehicles, equipment, scenery) in a range of scales from 15mm to 28mm.  My son would probably be interested in fantasy figures, most likely 28mm.  Also I should not overlook the hobby element of it.

 

Last year I was tracking the Elegoo Mars 3 and then when it really counted forgot about it and missed us on the great pre-order price.

 

I then got very interested in the AnyCubic Ultra and although I was a little sceptical of the claims I did try to join the KickStarter but got caught up in the fiasco and my pledge never registered and by the time I had realised all the good deals had gone.  So I decided to wait to see whether it really lives up to the bold claims.  They are just starting to arrive now, early days yet, but from what I have seen so far the results are poor and I’m rather glad my pledge didn’t go through.

 

Money is not necessary an obstacle but at the same time I don’t want to spend more than I need.  So printers I’m looking at include

 

Elegoo Mars 2 Pro - 2K Mono, £222

Elegoo Mars 3 - 4K Mono, £303

Phrozen 4K Mini - 4K Mono, £311

Phrozen 8K Mini - 8K, £579

AnyCubic 4K Mono - 8K, £263

AnyCubic Ultra - ???

 

So my thoughts.  
 

Still have an eye on the AnyCubic Ultra but I suspect that it is going to be too expensive and I don’t think it is going to live up to expectations.  And although I don’t think I need a big build plate, I think the Ultra one is too small.

 

The Elegoo Mars 2 Pro, interesting price but the newer 4K printers are not much more and I feel I should be giving it a miss.

 

The Phrozen 8K looks lovely but I think that £579 is more than I should be paying given my needs.

 

So that leaves me with the AnyCubic, Elegoo and Phrozen 4K offerings.  They are all of similar price and size and I imagine that they will all perform pretty similarly.  So it might come down to quality and maintainability.

 

My uneducated perception is quality-wise it goes Phrozen is better than Elegoo which is better than AnyCubic.

 

So I would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[ICMF]

It doesn't really matter.  They're all going to be fairly comparable.  The higher res printers (you'll want to go by pixel size, not resolution) will offer a slight improvement in detail, but it's going to be pretty minimal and certainly not make or break - most people will struggle to notice a difference.

 

The only real differences I'd note: 

 

Phrozen is based out of Taiwan, not China, so doesn't have the same subsidized shipping as other brands.  This means replacement parts can be pricey.  (it's also a less popular brand, partly because of the higher shipping costs, so parts are a little more limited)

 

Elegoo's build plate mechanism is, IMO, not as good as Anycubic or Phrozen.  It's a simple ball joint which seems a little harder to secure and a little harder to maintain... though realistically with proper care, once the build plate is trammed, you shouldn't have to do it again.

 

Some Anycubic printers are more limited in their firmware, as they lean more on their own slicer.  So you can't do some advanced features, like anti-aliasing (which smoothes out curves) or layer compensation (for better geometrical accuracy).  I know the Mono X is; not sure about other newer printers.

 

But in the end, you can pretty much just flip a coin.  Maintainence and reliability will be pretty much the same for all, and are more a factor of the end user than the basic printer anyway.

[nheather]

When looking at the print surface area and working out the size of the pixels the three all come out about the same but the Phrozen has square pixels where’s as the Elegoo and AnyCubic are slightly rectangular.  Is that a factor to consider or is it a case that the pixels are so small (circa 35uM) that it really isn’t noticeable whether they are square or off-square.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[ICMF]

I guess square would be slightly preferable, but ultimately it doesn't really matter.

 

Honestly, of the three of them, I'd probably go with the Mars 3, for the availability of replacement parts and software flexibility.  But it really is a toss up between the three; they'll all work fine, they'll all work about the same, they'll all have pretty much the same challenges and learning curve getting up and running.  Just pick one and pull the trigger.

[nheather]

46 minutes ago, ICMF said:

I guess square would be slightly preferable, but ultimately it doesn't really matter.

 

Honestly, of the three of them, I'd probably go with the Mars 3, for the availability of replacement parts and software flexibility.  But it really is a toss up between the three; they'll all work fine, they'll all work about the same, they'll all have pretty much the same challenges and learning curve getting up and running.  Just pick one and pull the trigger.

 

Yes I was looking at spares, screens in particular and I can get the Mars 3 screen considerably cheaper than the other two.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel