nheather Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Looking at first reason printer, budget of upto £300. At the lower end there is the Anycubic Mono 4K, at the top end there is the Elegoo Mars 3 Pro, and if I were to stretch the budget there is the Phozen Mini 4K. Rightly or wrongly I perceive an increase in quality, AnyCubic < Elegoo < Phrozen But at this entry level, is there any real difference. Interested to hear opinions from anyone who has tried one or more of these. Cheers, Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 I have the Anycubic Mono 4K I've hardly used it cos I need to upgrade my computer to run the slicer proggy But we found it easy peasy to set up and run Very, very quite and not very smelly. But I'm used to chemical smells in my place due to leather dyes, solvents and other resins. This is our one and only figure printed out so far. Its 28mm scale. Printed with Anycubic's own water washable resin. I think the detail is just dead-on I'm happy with the Anycubic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Hi Nigel, I have two printers now, an Anycubic Photon S (2K) and an Anycubic Mono X (4K). I find both to be fine for my needs, which are 1:144 scale aircraft and vehicles, plus 1:35 scale vehicle parts. I think that some of the Anycubic and Elegoo machines have the same innards, with different casings and brandings. Both types use the same, or similar, liquid resin; standard and plant based. Personally, I use the plant based resins as they are washable in warm soapy water and don't give off any strong smells; which is idea if printing indoors. This was my first attempt at CAD with an early build of a 1:144 scale Matador, printed on the 2K Photon S. These are more recent and printed on the 4K Mono X 1:35 scale Land Rover series I chassis - still needing supports cleaning off. Land Rover TACR1 cab roof 3D printed cab roof added to an Italeri Land Rover kit. HTH Mike 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nheather Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 Must admit I like the price point of the Anycubic Mono 4K, which has a smaller build plate than your Mono X but I assume is the same otherwise. The Mars 3 was a good alternative but this seems to have been dropped now in favour of the Mars 3 Pro which is £100. The way I look at it, I can get an Ancubic Mono 4K and a Wash and Cure for the same price as a Mars 3 Pro. The Phrozen looks nice but that is pushing the budget even more and I find it hard to imagine that it is not that much better than the Anycubic Mono 4K to justify the extra £150. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 I would say that, for most prints, a basic Anycubic or Elegoo printer would be fine. I often read about people getting the biggest, baddest device and then just print downloaded stuff about the size that would fit in a Photon S. If people are printing in quantity, for sales etc., such as that they need to print a lot of the items together, then a large plate printer would suit them. Another point to consider is that the bigger the machine, the larger the resin vat and that means using more resin just to at least cover the bottom of the vat. If all that resin doesn't get used then one has the overhead of having to strain it back into its container. The slightest hint of UV (daylight) will start to cure the resin in the vat, so it's always best to return any unused resin to its container. As can be seen by the views of my Matador, that was printed on a basic Anycubic 2K device and the detail on the chassis and suspension etc., is crisp; so no need to go to the expense of 4K. The benefits of 4K and higher are mainly speed, printing times can be half that of a 2K; plus the extra detail is available if you are printing something extremely fine, such as an instrument panel or engine component. For many of us, that level of detail is not a major requirement. If I could make a suggestion; buy a basic 2K machine and start making your prints with that - perhaps even a second-hand one. You may find, as I did, that it suited my needs very well; plus it was a good machine for learning with. I didn't feel the need to upgrade to a 4K for over a year and, even then, I still use the Photon S for much of my printing. I currently use my Mono X for coloured resin, mainly grey, vehicles and my Photon for clear items, such as these 1:144 scale Westland Wasps and Scouts. cheers, Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nheather Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 54 minutes ago, bootneck said: If I could make a suggestion; buy a basic 2K machine and start making your prints with that - perhaps even a second-hand one. You may find, as I did, that it suited my needs very well; plus it was a good machine for learning with. I didn't feel the need to upgrade to a 4K for over a year and, even then, I still use the Photon S for much of my printing. Can you even buy 2K printers these days. I wasn't looking at 4K for extra resolution but because that seems to be the standard resolution for the entry machines these days. But point taken - using the same reasoning, I'm not looking at 8K machines. I see those as extra cost when I don't really need it - also increase repair cost when you have to replace the LCD. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 I hadn't realised that; however, it does sound like natural progression with technology. Perhaps I have a collectors item. Cheers, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cklasse Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 I am impressed by your printed stuff. Does resin printer smell bad indoor? Like when you do spray painting with enamel. I am going for a Fusion360 class soon and looking around at 3D printers. Would like to have a resin printer but worried about chemical handling and smell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Hi TP, there are two types of resin for these printers; first is the standard and the other is a plant based product. The standard resin can give off a strong smell, especially indoors over time. This can cause coughing and breathing issues. The IPA, used to wash the printed parts, can also have a strong smell. The plant based resin has less of a smell and is the one I use indoors. The benefit is that the printed part can be washed in warm soapy water to clean the parts; thereby reducing smell even further. I started to learn Fusion360 by following this series of sixteen, ten minute, tutorials online. There is an updated version here. cheers, Mike 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo NZ Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Absolutely agree. This was the tutorial series that got me going in Fusion360. All the rest confused me.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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