3D Printers

When I initially looked into getting a 3D printer in late 2020 I was considering either the Elegoo Saturn 4K or the Anycubic Photon Mono X 4K. I liked the naming system Elegoo were using and they seemed like good printers. Even had a friend at the time who was a Saturn enthusiast so it seemed like it was meant to be. However, when it came time to put the money down the release of the Saturn had been delayed so instead I went with the Photon Mono X during a black Friday sale.

In October of 2021, I backed the Kickstarter of the Photon Ultra and the Elegoo Jupiter. I would have a precision small printer and a large format printer. I had no hesitation about the investment as I had been a Kickstarter founder for Glowforge. However, neither machine would arrive anytime soon so out of a bit of frustration I purchased a second Anycubic Photon Mono X. I had been having an unprecedented amount of failures and could not figure out the issue. With two of the same machines, I would be able to compare results and share parts. It was shortly after this that Anycubic introduced the Photon Mono X 6K which did l lead to a bit of buyer’s remorse. However, I did figure out the issue and was able to concurrently use both machines to print out the infamous turtle head.

Then of course it was a waiting game for the two Kickstarter machines. The Photon Ultra arrived in January of 2022 and proved to be a great addition. High precision and good reliability, only hampered by its size.

However, frustration won over me once more, as Elegoo Jupiter had repeated delays, and I had several projects in mind that necessitated a larger build plate and higher resolution. During this time Anycubic introduced the Photon M3 series. I fought the temptation and waited. I put the Photon M3 Max in my cart and then removed it. I put it in again and left it. There was a price trigger point I had in mind and I held fast. They offered a coupon but it wasn't enough. I was doing good, I wasn't going to break. Then Amazon met the price point during a sale and with a simple click the Anycubic Photon M3 Max arrived the next week, July 2022. It was glorious and worked splendidly for several weeks but then I had to shut it down due to a lack of a replacement FEP. I wasn't about to risk ruining the LCD with a vat leak.

Meanwhile, the Elegoo Jupiter made its way across the seas and to my front door.