I've noticed that some here think there's been "What's interesting is that there hasn't been anything revolutionary in the last 6 months or so regarding printer tech."
So, I thought I'd comment about that.
Actually, most, if not all 3D printers that we can afford are using technology that's at least two or three decades old. The trick is to make it available at a price level we can afford.
Years ago when I became aware of 3D resin printers (for over $100K), not much has been "new".
What's happened is that decades old, proven technology and manufacturing have advanced to the point that real precision is now available to us for less than $500, sometimes less than $200...and resolution has improved to the point that the UV resins that are presently available, simply are unable to show a visual difference between printers having a high resolution of 22microns, 28.5microns, or even a "low" resolution of 35microns on LCD Mono machines.
DLP technology from Texas Instruments has been available for several years on commercial-grade printers for thousands of dollars, but Anycubic's partnership with them brought us the Photon Ultra, which was just as sharp as the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8k LCD machine with its 22micron resolution...but both have small print envelopes, which may not be ideal for producing larger models, or production runs.
Now, Anycubic has come out with a DLP successor to their Photon Ultra with a 60% larger print volume, better resolution, but more importantly, a better slicer algorithm for anti-aliasing/blur that smooths the resultant print for significantly fewer "layer lines" (voxelization) than their original Photon Ultra. This has caused the Ultra's price to be reduced by 52% to $289 from $599 a couple of months ago. The successor, the Photon D2, is $599, reduced from $679. Both offer the ultimate sharp effective resolution for consumer-grade 3D resin printing, although they are actually too sharp for some eyes, the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8k still being the leader as far as getting rid of layer lines...but not by much.
Price on the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8k has fallen to $449.99 from $749.99.
Differences between DLP (Digital Light Processing) and LCD or mSLA (masked stereolithography) are that LCD printers now use a single-layer (mono) LCD to mask the collimated (as much as possible) UV light, emitted by an LED source directly under the FEP film on the bottom of the resin vat. This UV light must pass through the non-masked parts of the LCD, thru, possibly, a screen protector or protective glass screen, and through the FEP film before it hits the resin, where it hardens a layer of resin before turning off. All of this passing through layers of plastic & glass diffuses the light, making it less collimated, more blurry when it finally hits the resin. A DLP machine uses a UV LASER light source, which is reflected off of thousands of tiny mirrors to focus their reflections onto the resin in the printer's resin vat. This UV light still must pass through a glass protector and the FEP on the bottom of the resin vat, but it is focused much more precisely than light emitted by any mSLA printer's LED UV light source.
Even though the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8k mSLA printer's LCD screen is rated at 22microns, by the time the collimated UV light hits the resin in the vat, it has passed through enough layers so that the actual dot of light is much larger than 22microns...in the neighborhood of 50+ microns. It's just the nature of mSLA LCD printers to do this because of their technology. With the Anycubic DLP printers, the UV light emitted by its LASER source is rated with a resolution of around 52microns (I don't know the exact resolution), but that's measured at the bottom of the resin vat, since there is no LCD screen. This means that the UV light that hits the resin in a 22micron resolution mSLA printer and a 52micron resolution DLP printer are very close to being the same resolution, the difference being that the LASER light from the DLP printer is less diffuse, making for sharper edges and more visible layer lines if no anti-aliasing/blur is used.
Right now, the very best buy on the market for the sharpest consumer class desktop 3D printer is the Anycubic Ultra DLP printer for $289, which is a helluva great price.
DLP printers also have other advantages, which include much less energy used, no cooling fan to add noise to the workshop, faster printing times, and a 20,000 hour average life span, vs a 2,000 hour average life span for a mSLA printer's LCD screen.
At this time at least one other manufacturer (Elegoo) is introducing their own DLP printer, also with the assistance of Texas Instruments...that's three (3) DLP printers available for our desktops, the newer versions with improved anti-aliasing/blur algorithms, but all have small to medium small print volumes.
However, when proper anti-aliasing/blur is applied to get rid of the layer lines, there is no discernible difference in print quality (because of the limitations of UV resins currently available) in prints made with mSLA printers with screen resolutions from a maximum of 22microns, through larger volume 8k printers with 10" screens (resolutions of 28.5microns & 29microns) to smaller "Ultra" 4k printers with 35micron screens. DLP printers with their 52micron LASER resolutions at the bottom of the vat also are just as sharp.
When I was making my decision to buy a new 8k printer, I wanted a larger build volume and a quality machine. Although proper detail prints from any of the four manufacturers (Anycubic, Elegoo, Phrozen, Uniformation) of 8k 10" printers that I looked at are equal in quality, I chose the Anycubic Photon M3 Premium 10" 8k machine because of its build quality and the PRICE...on sale for $469 from $719! (unfortunately, it's back up to $579
) Tests I've been watching show that there is ZERO difference in print quality between the fine resolution of the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8k/Anycubic Ultra/D2 and any of the larger 10" 28.5/29 micron printers...so, I am getting a much larger print volume and equally excellent print quality as the smaller 8k/DLP printers...at an excellent price.
What I found very interesting was a recent review I watched that compared test prints made from the new Anycubic Photon Mono 2, which is Anycubic's entry level ($199) mSLA "Ultra" 4k 35micron 6.6" screen printer, to 22, 28.5micron machines, and there was no visible difference in print quality.
I think we have reached a level of technical & manufacturing excellence that "revolutionary" advances are not what is going to happen in the 3D printing hobbyist world, but incremental improvements as far as features, longevity, ease of use and safety are concerned, not to mention falling prices.
I noticed that even though the print quality was equal between the 10" 8k printers I was considering, what comprised the price differences were the features, the most feature-laden machines (Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8k & Uniformation GKtwo) coming in at around $900 ea. The MSRP on the Anycubic Photon M3 Premium 8k was $719 with precision, quality, durability and print speed being the "features", and the lowest priced ELEGOO Saturn 2 10" 8k at $600 with the lowest build quality and fewest features.
However, it's becoming more obvious to the increasing hobbyists who have been into 3D resin printing for a while, that what is also very important for quality and near-zero print failures are things such as quality slicer apps, that allow quick work, customization, a friendly UI and improved algorithms for supports, anti-aliasing and blur, and UV resins that have a variety of qualities, such as durability, flexibility, transparency, high detail, low odor, less toxicity, longer shelf life, less temperature sensitivity, and more thorough curing. New resins are actively being developed and the selection is MUCH greater than it was two years ago when I got into it and is going to allow me to print stuff that I wouldn't have even considered then. Also, features on printers are going to take a leap forward if the new Uniformation GKtwo is an example. This 8k 10.3" screen 29micron machine has many thoughtful design elements such as activated charcoal filtration, enclosed tilt-up cover, over-center print plate attachment lever, anti-drip lip on an innovative resin vat, simple push-in locking mechanism for the vat with no tightening of bolts necessary, quick LCD changing, excellent UI, future wireless, on-board memory so that your file is loaded into the machine so your print won't fail if the flash drive fails, USB drive slot and on/off switch on the front of the machine (why is that so hard for most manufacturers to do???) and, an integral vat heater to keep your resin at its optimal temperature independent of a too-cold room. Correspondingly, it is also the most expensive of all of the four 10" printers I looked at, with no discounts being offered at this time.
Nope, there's nothing "revolutionary" about any of the tech, nor the features, but what may be classified as "revolutionary" is that manufacturers are coming to the realization that convenience features, thoughtful printer design and safety features will make a difference as far as what is considered an entry level machine and an advanced machine...not the print quality.
On the 15th of this month, Anycubic is introducing their new 10" super-high resolution mSLA printer (the Photon Mono M5s) with a 19micron resolution screen, auto-leveling, a new more user-friendly UI and other features they haven't specified yet. I'm looking forward to seeing if there's any discernible benefit to a 19micron resolution, which makes it the highest resolution printer on the market. Both a high volume print envelope AND the highest resolution at the same time! Who'd a thunk it??
I guess that's still just "evolutionary"...not "revolutionary"...but the difference is getting harder to see! Now, if they'd have just included a vat heater.....
Now is a great time to get a printer that will do what we as model railroad hobbyists want, and waiting longer for new technology to appear seems counter-intuitive to me, since there's always gonna be something "better"...
I think NOW is the time to bite the bullet and get into it.
If y'all have any opinions, I'd like to hear 'em...
Photo (1) - Here's my setup...
Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore
