The Anycubic Photon Mono X… let’s have
a look.
Hey guys,
Anycubic’s Photon has grown up. It’s eaten
all its vegetables and got lots of healthy
outdoor exercise – because it’s certainly
a big boy.
Elegoo has its Saturn and Anycubic now has
this, the Photon Mono X.
Look at this build plate. It looks industrial.
It’s big, smooth, chunky and strong. Elon
Musk could fly this thing to Mars, it’s
so well put together.
Compare it to the Photon S. What a difference.
And because I can, let’s be naughty and
compare it against the Saturn.
Oops… sorry Elegoo.
Included in the box is a USB memory stick
and if you’re new to 3D printing, this is
the place to start. Plug this into your PC
and you’ll find an excellent User Manual
to follow. I’m delighted to see this. There’s
been too much vagueness in the printing industry
and I’m thrilled to see Anycubic making
things easier on the user, with a clear step
by step guide.
The base is solid and metallic. It’s smooth
and elegant, an all round nice looking machine.
The power point, switch and USB port are all
sensibly located on the right side of the
printer.
The rear houses two cooling fans, so it’s
a little louder than the Photon S, but it’s
far from noisy and certainly not a problem
to my ears.
The large screen has a 4K resolution – and
this screen is Monochrome. If that means nothing
to you, articles I’ve read suggest Monochrome
screens transmit light more efficiently, print
faster and have a longer lifespan. That’s
got to be good!
The dual rail look well engineered and sure
enough the arm moves smoothly and quietly.
The resin tray is obviously a large to cope
with that wonderful build plate, and thanks
to these location points, the tray seats neatly
into position, where it can be locked in place
in the usual way.
The build plate slides on with expected ease
and gets secured with a twist of its bigger
than average knob.
The touch screen is bigger than that on the
Photon S but crucially it has the same large
and clear user interface, which means that
even someone with my poor eyesight can easily
see what’s going on thanks to large buttons
and sizable text.
Levelling the plate is delightfully straightforward.
Simply loosen four hex bolts, place a piece
of paper over the screen, click the home button,
hold lightly, then tighten the bolts. Easy-peasy.
I’ll use standard Anycubic Grey resin for
this and with this printer, you’d better
get a big bottle.
Finding the test print on the USB stick is
nice and easy and what a wonderful printing
job it’s done. Straight from the box with
no fiddling with settings, and yet it’s
a beautiful quality print.
I was so impressed I had a bash at printing
the AmeraLabs Test Print. And wow – just
wow! I have never, EVER seen ALL of these
pins actually print. ALL OF THEM! The top
of the tower’s there and the cross in the
circle. I could go on though my terrible photography
lets me down here, but honestly, this is the
best AmeraLabs test print I’ve done so far.
I was really excited by this and I really
fancied getting my hands on an ample sized
bust. So I headed over to MyMiniFactory and
looked up David Eastman. I was spoiled for
choice from his excellent work, but I couldn’t
resist old Darth.
I shrank it just a tiny bit, hollowed it,
added a couple of small drainage holes, added
some supports for good measure and set it
printing. And it took just 9 hours… not
19 hours, but just NINE hours and thirty minutes.
And look at it. With a little tidying up,
this would look great on a shelf.
(SCREECH!)
Hold on you say… is that a tear? Is old
VOG pulling a fast one?
Yes it’s a tear, but the print did hang
in place for over 12 hours before I had chance
to see to it, and it is a heavy print.
But to be on the safe side, I added a few
more supports and printed again. See? No tears…
just a beautiful quality print.
I know a lot of you guys enjoy printing your
miniatures, so again on MyMiniFactory I found
this fantastic Kickstarter print. Look at
the detail here. It’s a fabulous piece and
if you want to see more, you know what to
do. I’ll add a link in the description to
make finding this easier.
I shrank it to around 3 inches as I wanted
to see the details. But 2 inches is probably
more common, so I did one of those as well.
After cutting away the supports and with a
little crude clean up, look at the detail
in this 3 inch miniature. Whoops, my mistake,
that’s the 2 inch print. With the size of
this build plate, it wouldn’t take long
to print off a whole regiment.
I like casting jewellery and so I decided
to have a bashing at printing a design by
my French buddy Alexandre. And I’m sorry
to say this means really, really bad news…
for Bluecast.
My regulars know I enjoy annoying those hardworking
guys over at Bluecast and judging by these
results I’m going to be badgering them for
printer settings… because I’m going to
want to cast what this machine can print.
Now there is something missing from this printer.
No ethernet port. The Elegoo Saturn has an
ethernet port so the printer can be networked.
And you can’t do better than that can you…
Yes… yes you can… you can WIFI it!
Those clever boffins at Anycubic have snubbed
the idea of a messy dangling cable in favour
of an elegant Wifi antenna, which I love.
The provided instructions were easy enough
to follow but I couldn’t get them to work.
Fortunately those helpful chaps at Anycubic
got me sorted. So just in case you experience
the same issue, here’s my Wifi guide.
First, visit the App store and download the
Anycubic App.
Next create a text document and call it WIFI.txt
If you struggle doing that, I’ll put a link
in the description. You can download a free
document there.
What you do need is the name of your Internet
service and Wifi password, both of which should
be listed on your home Router box.
Save the Wifi.text file on to the USB stick,
insert it into the printer and Print the file…
that’s right, PRINT the file. Click OK and
head to SYSTEM, INFORMATION. After a few seconds
this will update and give you an IP Address.
Open your Phone App, click User, select the
Printer, the Device Name can be anything,
type in the IP Address that you just obtained.
If your printer is turned on and you have
good Wifi coverage, you should now be able
to talk to your printer.
I will say the App needs a little work. If
I head into Settings there’s no way back,
but I think a little feedback from Users and
Anycubic will soon have this sorted.
I’m not sure I like the Antenna location.
It occurs to me that a slight spill of resin
could easily find its way here and who know
what damage it might cause. Possible none,
but possibly plenty. Maybe another location
may have been better.
And given that not everyone has great Wifi,
maybe an Ethernet port might be helpful, giving
the user both options.
But that’s it… that’s my only concern
with this otherwise handsome, sturdy, precise
and high quality printer. I’ve nothing else
I can comment on.
Okay, it has a lift-off lid, and maybe dedicated
Photon users would prefer a hinged top, but
I much prefer the lift off variety. Pulling
off the top to get to the goodies inside is
something I’ve long enjoyed. But hey, it’s
a preference.
So the only outstanding issue is price. How
much will it be?
Unfortunately I don’t have an answer. I
would imagine Anycubic are aiming this printer
straight at the Elegoo Saturn and if they
want to steal that market, they’re going
to need be very similar with their pricing.
And before you ask, because I know some of
my regulars will, is it as good as or maybe
even better than the Saturn?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer that one.
You see, Elegoo sent me their Beta model of
the Saturn. They specifically asked me to
look for potential problems and offer suggestions.
And if you saw that video, you’ll know I
did… lots of them. Maybe I was nit-picking,
but I was trying to help them develop a better
product and, do you know what, they listened.
I’m pleased to say they incorporated my
suggestions in the model they finally released,
including the 4K upgrade which I quietly whispered
to them by email.
And when Elegoo completed the changes, they
sent the improved Saturn to more popular channels
than mine to review.
Oh well… but that’s marketing I guess…
So, the Elegoo Saturn that’s on the market
right now is not the one I reviewed. I would
imagine it’s a better one, but I don’t
know for sure. I can say that I liked it,
but obviously the Saturn Beta I have here
is no Anycubic Photon Mono X.
But the Anycubic Mono X IS the Anycubic Mono
X, and all potential sour grapes aside, I’d
be willing to go on a ledge and say this machine
should be the standard that other printers
in this category are compared against.
The looks…
The quality…
The print size…
The prints…
The clever touches…
I hope by now you guys know that I strive
to be completely honest and fair in my reviews,
and that I’m not afraid to speak out if
I don’t like what I see, but hand on heart,
this is a GREAT printer. It’s completely
won me over and you can be sure I’ll be
using it regularly.
I’m so impressed that when it hits the market
I’ll be begging Anycubic to give my viewers
a discount… but this is going to be a popular
item guys. I can feel it. So don’t hold
your breath…
And that’s it guys – a finished review
on an excellent printer.
If you have any comments or questions, as
always feel free to drop them below. If it’s
anything I don’t know, I’ll try and chase
a response from Anycubic for you.
So I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care
and thanks for watching.
