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. The Photon Mono X2 is a 4K printer with Anycubic’s smooth “LighTurbo” system. Because the X2 is a bigger printer, its light source is stretched across a bit more area, resulting in a slightly lesser resolution of 48 microns. This is still incredibly crisp, especially when you consider that a human hair averages 70 microns. It comes with an extra large screen protector for the LED glass, which covers the glass and the slight gap around it. This makes keeping the printer clean super easy. The feeling of strength runs all through the Mono SE, and that solidness helps create some excellent detail in the prints.

By including their Photon Workshop software with the Photon Mono, Anycubic has clearly put work into the out-of-the-box experience for new users. However, I did find the software somewhat limiting, and I preferred using the Chitubox software that runs natively with the Elegoo Mars 2 Pro. 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. The Anycubic Photon Mono M5s is an astounding machine with a remarkable level of detail and generous build volume. At 19 microns of resolution, we’re approaching a level of crispy detail that’s difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. Smart features like auto leveling, resin detection and the ability to stop when a major fail is sensed are something we’ve all been waiting for. 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.Like all 3D printers, the Anycubic Photon Mono 2 requires calibration before its first print. Leveling the build plate is fairly straightforward and only takes a piece of paper and an Allen wrench. Photon Mono 2 is equipped with a laser-engraved aluminium alloy platform. This features outstanding flatness, which greatly improves model adhesion and therefore printing success rate. The laser-engraved platform prevents the model from falling off or warping. The Anycubic Photon Mono requires you to level the build platform with the masked LCD to make sure the layers are exposed evenly as they are cured. The build platform also requires a very slight offset to compensate for the FEP film at the bottom of the vat which is present during printing. To accomplish both tasks in one step, Anycubic has included a piece of paper with the Photon Mono that can be used to protect the LCD while also creating a slight offset during leveling. The Photon Mono 2 uses a 6.6-inch monochrome 4K+ LCD screen with a resolution of 4096 x 2560 pixels. With better resolution, even highly detailed prints can become the norm!

The speed of this printer is quite an improvement in the world of consumer level resin. I love that the M5s gives us choices – we can use off the shelf resin for excellent detail while trimming a few hours, or buy specialty resin for mind-boggling speed. 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 Photon Mono 4K has a solid Z-axis rail structure as well as a stable stepper motor, which enables the production of parts with high precision and dimensional accuracy.

Detailed prints and reasonable volume at a decent price.

Your IPA should never be flushed down the drain, especially after being contaminated with uncured resin. Instead, keep using the resin until it’s too dirty, then leave the container open to evaporate. The remaining sludge can be cured with UV light or the sun before being thrown away. 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.

The new version of the slicer has been completed and optimised with some improved and updated features. Not only is the new user interface much easier to use - the slicing process has also been made a whole lot easier. We always suggest using a mask and some disposable gloves with operating a resin-based printer, and thankfully these are provided in the box alongside the Anycubic Photon Mono X 6K, as well as a few other useful tools such as a metal scraper to remove prints from the built plate. Once a model has been prepared and sliced for printing, Photon Workshop exports a .pwmo file which is readable by both the Photon Mono as well as Photon Workshop. Opening the file presents a preview of the print in a layer-by-layer fashion allowing you to see which pixels will be exposed on the LCD screen. The layer parameters (exposure, Z lift, etc.) are also listed, and can be directly edited in case you want to switch the settings for a different resin. The total amount of resin used is listed at the bottom, so you know how much resin to add if your vat is starting to get low. A high-quality anti-scratch film protects the LCD display and prevents resin and other liquids from leaking or the display from becoming dirty. This extends the service life of the LCD display considerably.To level the machine, remove the vat and then place the piece of paper provided by Anycubic on the LCD screen. Loosen the four adjustment screws on the sides of the build plate. The build plate should wiggle freely. The Photon Mono M5s has 12K resolution (11,520 x 5120) on a 10.1 inch monochrome LCD screen. This overwhelming number of pixels achieves a 19 micron accuracy on the X axis, which is incredibly crisp, especially when you consider that a human hair averages 70 microns. There aren't too many unique features outside of size and resolution to mention. The printer comes with a yellow acrylic hood that provides both UV protection to prevent the tank of liquid resin from curing in sunlight (our review images are taken in a sunroom with UV filters), as well as preventing most of the toxic fumes from escaping during the printing process. Like all 3D printers, the Anycubic Photon Mono X2 requires calibration before its first print. Leveling the build plate is fairly straightforward and only takes a piece of paper and an Allen wrench. Unfortunately, there’s no good way to tell if you’ve succeeded in leveling until you start printing. Anycubic’s Photon Mono M5s is breaking ground on two fronts – it is both a high speed printer and a high resolution printer. It can print at 105mm/s while using optimized parameters and has an unheard of 12k resolution.