Amazon Prime Day h/u-- Photon Mono X 3D Printer for $529

[Jesse6669]

Just a heads up if someone's looking for the Mono X 3D 4K printer, seems like a pretty good price ($200+ off the list).

[dem34]

Question for the peanut gallery since there is quite a few Resin printers for sale today. I have an OG photon that I wasn't entirely happy with and basically ruined almost 2yrs ago, (mostly due to being a newbie at this stuff) and finding Resin super tedious to work with. But I feel I've hit the limit of what detail I can get out of a Prusa Mini and want to get back into resin printing now that I'm learning to make my own CAD designs.

Would I be better served getting the Mono X or getting a Mono + Wash and Cure?

 Or to put if better, if I'm just making N scale rolling stock which is a better value?

[GaryHinshaw]

It really depends.  My focus has been mostly on small detail parts and conversion kits (e.g. this post), and for that the regular Mono has been outstanding, nay game-changing.  That said, the footprint of the build plate is ~3" x 5.5" which limits you to something like a 50-60' car in N scale if you print it horizontally.   The vertical build volume is ~6.5", so you can go a bit larger if you can print your model vertically.  For anything larger, you'll need the Mono X (at ~3 times the price).

I'm mezzo-mezzo on the Wash & Cure.  I have the 2.0 and I use it regularly for curing, but I've stopped using it for washing.  I find that the propellor stirs up a lot of residue during a wash, which can do more harm than good if the solution and vat are not very clean.  I now just manually dip parts in a sequence of two IPA baths (an old one and a newish one), followed by a quick finish dip in acetone.  That works great (though use care: some resins don't like acetone).  Bottom line: if you have a decent UV source that you can control, you can probably do without the station, but I do like having a controlled cure cycle,  so it's been worth it for me.

[dem34]

It really depends.  My focus has been mostly on small detail parts and conversion kits (e.g. this post), and for that the regular Mono has been outstanding, nay game-changing.  That said, the footprint of the build plate is ~3" x 5.5" which limits you to something like a 50-60' car in N scale if you print it horizontally.   The vertical build volume is ~6.5", so you can go a bit larger if you can print your model vertically.  For anything larger, you'll need the Mono X (at ~3 times the price).

I'm mezzo-mezzo on the Wash & Cure.  I have the 2.0 and I use it regularly for curing, but I've stopped using it for washing.  I find that the propellor stirs up a lot of residue during a wash, which can do more harm than good if the solution and vat are not very clean.  I now just manually dip parts in a sequence of two IPA baths (an old one and a newish one), followed by a quick finish dip in acetone.  That works great (though use care: some resins don't like acetone).  Bottom line: if you have a decent UV source that you can control, you can probably do without the station, but I do like having a controlled cure cycle,  so it's been worth it for me.

Thanks for the input, well seeing how those aftermarket tank car ends turned out; that's plenty of resolution for what I plan to do. Could even print some of my cars with the details molded to the model. And as long as I will myself to stick to my current modelling era I shouldn't have much issue on the build plate volume.

Since every other sale package just throws in the wash and cure I might as well see how I like it, if not I can just toss it on FB with the old photon. Though I wonder how well it handles Water washable resins. If they work fine in the wash station it would make frequent changes less costly. (And yes I know that just because its water washable I can't dump it in the sink.)

[Norris04]

Seems like I missed the discount, such a bummer... I'm looking for a good 3D printer for a while and lots of people suggested Photon Mono X but its price really hurts. Can anyone suggest a more economic alternative for this? I will buy office in Berlin soon so it would be so cool if you could suggest something that I can find in Europe.

[Erock482]

Seems like I missed the discount, such a bummer... I'm looking for a good 3D printer for a while and lots of people suggested Photon Mono X but its price really hurts. Can anyone suggest a more economic alternative for this? I will buy office in Berlin soon so it would be so cool if you could suggest something that I can find in Europe.

If the large build volume isn't a major factor, the Photon Mono or Mono SE would be good choices. the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K is also an option to look at

[dem34]

And I can attest that the Mono + Wash is pretty good, makes the post processing a lot less tedious.