This thing is on sale right now on amazon for $189. There's no way i can pass this up! Thanks for the awesome review 2 years later!!

this looks amazing, I can't wait to see the future of 3D printers

Great video Angus. This is a great insight for anyone wishing to venture into this style of 3D Printing. Thanks for sharing. Awesome review too! Cheers Ben 😀👍

Fantastic review. You had me glued, in UV lit resin. I can see why you're #'s are skyward...sharp, thorough, great pace, knowledgeable and to the point. Subd.

I love how honest you are, it's what I value most in you

Thank you for your honest review. It helped me a lot and I believe it's the best review on KZfaq for this printer, with all possible aspects to think about. Thanks again.

THANK YOU for making this video. Ive been going back and forth about getting this printer for months and this helped me make a sure decision.

Incredible content man, so happy KZfaq recommended your channel. And extra points for Australian relevant info - can't wait to binge it all!

EXCELLENT clear and informative! This was the exact review I was hoping to find, since I was very much on the fence about purchasing this printer.

These reviews have been absolute gold in helping me determine what printers to keep an eye on as both a hobbyist, and hopefully a budding independent on demand 3d printer for local hobbyists and businesses. Hope you get a chance to play with an SLS printer sometime. if my research says anything about them they are incredible machines to work with.

Great review, Angus! In my opinion, the Photon is the darling of the miniature community at the moment (followed by the D7). After getting one myself, I get it now. It's easier in some ways, and harder in others as you show. Cheers again, and thanks again for your commitment to the 3D Printing community :)

to have this tec at home its amazing .... i remeber in the 90s they were only industrial tec...

heeeey great to see the review finally :D I bought one a few weeks ago, been having some issues, but the prints are amazing.

Great review as always; glad to see your channel grow tremendously

I love this printer. It's my second resin printer and by far the best nicest easiest to use printer I have owned including FDM. Personally I think dealing with liquid resin is much easier than all the moving parts of FDM that can break. It's not as bad as you think to clean it up and leave it for a few months. It's like cleaning some dishes level of work. It's not like having to completely take it apart and tighten belts like with FDM. I feel like I need to be an engineer to troubleshoot an FDM machine. Resin printers are much easier to deal with for me. Wear some gloves and don't be messy. Done. No degree required. Glad you finally got to review this printer. I love it.

I've had one for a few weeks now and I think it produced really awesome quality parts. I'm using it for functional parts; gears and housings and knobs, etc. Way better resolution than my Prusa MK2S. The smell is bad enough that you cannot run it next to you in your office. I put it in a separate room in front of a window with an inexpensive dual fan that can exhaust the smell. It's perfect now, in the summer. I don't know what I will do in the winter, yet. Note that it isn't just the smell of the resin. There's a lot of IPA involved in post processing. That said, it was a nightmare for about a week and then I got a process down and it isn't a problem at all anymore. It's no harder to use than my Prusa, with its wait time, filament changes, snipping the ends, waiting for the nozzle ooze before the print starts, cleaning off the plastic stringing, cleaning the nozzle, etc. Dealing with the resin really isn't bad. I printed a custom funnel with my Purse to get the resin back in the bottle. I printed a lid for the resin tray (again, on the Prusa) and clamp it down on top of the tray with the same screws that hold down the tray, so I don't have to return the resin to the bottle for a long time. I learned to use an old hand plane blade, holding in flat on the platform and knocking it with a piece of wood, while holding the part. It pops right off. Most things I can pop of without even taking off the platform, so I can literally get another print going within a minute. I spent $2 on two plastic food storage bins with lids. I filled one with a couple inches of cheap denatured alcohol, which is use for the initial part cleaning. The second one has 93% IPA, which I use for the final cleaning. It takes just a few minutes to clean a part and snap the lids back on for next time. I don't think the processing is that bad at all. I do go through lots of paper towels, though. The resin is about four times the cost of the comparable filament. I just recently started using Nova3D (clear). It's fantastic for this printer and cost about $70 US for a liter. I find the complaints about failed prints due to the "suction" issue are overstated. They say to never print flat surfaces parallel to the platform. Nonsense. I have printed watertight housings flat on the platform with no support that literally fill up 80% of the platform area. The trick is that you need tiny horizontal relief pinholes from any enclosed spaces to the outside perimeter. Otherwise, the platform will try to lift the entire enclosed volume of uncured resin and it will fail. Afterwards, you pick up a drop of liquid resin with a toothpick and drop it onto the pinhole. It will be wicked into the hole and sealed when you post process it with the UV light. Depending on the model, you may not even need to patch the pinhole. You do need to do that in your model, though. This technology is still pretty early days. I still use my Prusa for larger items and to use up my stacks of filament. There are many more options for filament than resin, so I definitely use both printers. They each have characteristics that make some prints possible only on one printer or the other, so I recommend having one of each.

I bought one a few month ago as my first own 3D Printer (used Ultimakers and objets in my university all the time) and i love it.

This channel is unbelievably underrated, you deserve many more subscribers, which will definitely come to you one day, and if it doesn’t you know KZfaq is not working right. Much love and luck, from a subscriber who loves the content

As usual Very informative video Angus..!! Well done mate

With the welcome to the channel for new subs I realized though I have been watching your for months I had not subbed yet

Great review as always. You touched every point of the pros and cons I've found using mine. That said, I haven't used my FDM printers in months. Too busy using the Photon. I even upgraded my pc to octa core just to be able to process models with extreme detail so I'm not feeding low res stuff to the Photon 😁 and do it within this lifetime (old pc could take too long) I pride myself of not getting nauseous with foul smells, but the chemicals in the resin did it. Bottom line, I open the window now when using it. Make sure you don't spill resin on the lcd and clean it promptly if you do. It will get stuck to the film and the suction from printing will crack the glass. Some people cracked all the way down to the lcd ($$$) but in my case only the protective glass cracked. Not easy to repair if you don't know how to do that. I've replaced smartphone glass before so I did it myself and Anycubic send me a free glass replacement. A heat gun is your friend to separate it from the lcd.

Vanguards FTW!! I almost bought one of these on sale on Amazon yesterday. I'm glad I waited and saw your review, because those fumes would make this thing a nightmare in my small apartment!

Love your unbiased reviews!

So glad you reviewed this

Been waiting for this thanks Angus!

thanks for all your work and info. I appreciate your honesty

Great review, wish I’d had this when I brought my first Form1.

Excellent review and very detailed pros/cons info for the newbie 3D modeler. Subscribed!

I'm a total noob, just ordered my first 3d printer. I found your channel because of a reference from Sexy Cyborg. Great stuff. Thanks.

This is the same printer that Luke Towan uses for certain parts on his railway model dioramas. I guess it's worth the hassle of care, smell and cleaning if you want the detail. Great review, thanks.

Thanks for sharing 😀👍 Good points 👍

Thanks, Angus. Running into a problem at work yesterday where I need to fabricate some parts with much finer detail than FDM can handle. Been wanting to try SLA for a while, this will be a good trial before investing thousands into the more industrial machines.

Great job, very informative. Love your work.

I'm adding this to my Amazon wish list right now. As a D&D wargamer, this looks amazing.

Another great vid.....well done Angus!

"Doesn't need a Stylus!!" mauhahahahaha take that Joel!!!!! hahahah

Thank you for this video I have been printing with FDM for a wile now and I am getting a lot of demand for miniatures that i just can not achieve on FDM so I will be buying this printer soon and thanks to this video I now know what I am getting into I am super about safety with my printers. Thank you for the advice.

Great review, a workmate bought this printer and loves it. Quick point, you should be able to leave resin in the vat for as long as you like with no issue. I don't touch my Form 2 for weeks at a time, and it just prints.

I'm 1 for 2 out of my first attempts with my new Photon. I actually printed my first tiny model (female torso no supports) at 10 microns! (The slicer lets you go below 25 micron, so it's probably limited by the stepper and leadscrew accuracy.) It was flawless. But tiny and slow, at 14mm tall it took over 5 hours with the small layer height. My second attempt was with models I did myself that needed supports. I just selected some random auto support settings, filled the build plate, and let it run for the 8 and a half hours. Came back to a mess of semi solidified goo as described in the video. Clean up is a pain, and resin is expensive. So I'm trying to learn a bit more about settings before trying my 3rd print. But based on the first successful print (I have a short vid on my channel) the quality is astounding.

Hey Angus, I have the Photon after having the Wanhao D7 (which I never got a print off). I love the Photon. Awesome prints, awesome detail. I have had it a month, and have not had a night where I haven't printed. If you go to Monocure, they have great price resin in Australia, and they just bought out their pigment range, where you can add CYMK colours to white or clear for almost any colour.

Thank you! I was really unsure if to buy another I3 Mega or this one. But for my humble needs, i' think i'll stick with the I3 Mega

Love this channel so much!!!

got mine 1 week ago. i am always around different solvents, glues, paints and smells so for me i can hardly smell it. even standing next to the machine i have no issues with the smell at all. i did go through 2 films tho, 1 of my prints stuck to the film today and pulled my printing platform down at the front. no idea how it didn’t crash into my screen and break my printer, very lucky i guess. my first resin printer so im sure ill go through more film quick before i get the hang of things. this video was the 1 that made me look into and buy this printer so a big thanks mate

Thinking of buying this printer. Already got 2 FDMers, I think this would make a nice addition, especially for the high detail stuff.

Nice to see/hear a review that isn't swayed by financial reward. Thanks

I think more people should know about the safety, messyness, smell etc. before even considering buying a resin DLP/SLA 3D printer! Great video!

Thanks - was strongly considering one, didn't think too much about the chemical angle.

I love my Photon! The FEP film is a pain but that print quality is worth every penny. Great review. Thanks!

Time for a do-over on this video :) I just unboxed mine last night and the resin has almost no odor at all (not that that changes the fact that you have to use gloves and IPA washing etc)

Nice review!! Do you mind making a review for the Creaity Ender 4?

Great review, thanks!

Hi Angus. 10:05 i left resin in my tank for over a month with a cover over the machine and the resin was still good when i powered up the machine. I think so long as the machine is kept in the dark, your resin will be as good as in the bottle.

Angus, really appreciate the fact that you always contextualise each review rather than simply assuming that the audience understands all the issues. However, I would also find it very useful, whenever you talk about the incredible detail, if you would include objects of known scale such as drink cans or even a ruler in the shots to help us gauge the quality. For me, seeing the models in both close up and at say half arm's length is a good representation of how I might view my objects. How about also concluding each review with a details sheet showing resolution, price, contacts, operating cost, speed, etc? Then we can easily gauge each product compared to others at a glance.

Good work, very clear review

I've just gotten into printing with my Kudo3d printer, and I've found that the best means of reducing the mess is to have a dedicated workspace with a lot of ventilation. Anything in that workspace, you do not touch without gloves. Step out of that workspace, you take those gloves off and throw them away.

Excellent review. Thank you

Give it a revision or two and I'm sure they'll improve the design too alleviate some of the issues. Here's hoping as I'm pretty keen on one of these for miniatures!

Was thinking of getting a resin printer and I’d heard about the safety and odour issues but wanted an opinion I could trust. Thanks for the info, really appreciated.

Great video. Very informative and well executed.

Yasss, been waiting for this

Thanks, Angus. I came to you to see if I should consider getting a Resin printer, but after watching your great video I see that I'm better off staying with my Creality Ender 5. I appreciate your honest assessment of both the Pros and the Cons.

Thanks earthling for making the video.

Thanks Angus, I have been waiting for this review for a while. I have had a Photon for about 6 months now and while I agree with everything you said, I would never go back. I would love to have a larger build volume but with decent software, it it not too much effort to cut a larger model into parts. Or, you could just use FDM for the bulky parts and resin for the details...? The smell is quite special but I am surprised you have not set up a fume cupboard. Simply pick up a ducting fan and some ducting, cut a hole in a box of some kind and run the duct outside. Plonk the printer in there and you are in business. What I was hoping to hear about was a couple issues that I am constantly in combat with. Firstly, if the platform is not perfectly clean, it can fail to hold onto the raft in some places. Other times it holds on so well that it actually tilts the locked platform due to the strain between it and the film; resulting in a raft that has thicker layers on one edge. I tighten the platform to the point that I feel the tool may break but this still seems to happen sometimes. I just have to keep trying till it works. Luckily, I am very comfortable with the pause button, which I am surprised you did not mention. I use it regularly through a print, once it has paused it will lift enough to assess, I like to slide a soft tool over the film to see if anything has become stuck while I am there. If you have any solutions or ideas to get around this, please let me know :) Oh and one last thing :p when you calibrate it, do you get it to the point of friction, or just past that so it holds the paper a little bit?

I'm going to like your video not because it is great but because it is 2:30am here. Thanks angus for fulfilling my 3d dreams

Had one for a couple of months now and once you get use to the cleaning up its easy. Different resins smell less. Pressing pause during print raises the bed so you can check on progress.

The thing about curing parts under the sun is that they cure best in low/0 oxygen environments soooo the parts would ideally be submerged in a water tank for quick cures. O2 significantly inhibits curing of uv resins. But I will say this is a great review and all the things you point out about the pit falls and and cautions of resin printing as of now are spot on. Keep on keeping in Angus your content is amazing!

To be honest, Angus, I'd equate the level of post-printing labor to photographic developing (dark room practices, etc.), and I'm perfectly willing to go through these hurdles because of the amazing quality this printer gives.

Thanks for the amazing video!

super clear review. thanks

Got one last night for $320 including postage from Aliexpress. Looking forward to it for sure

I won a bidding war on eBay and got mine for under AU$500. I have only printed the cube demo so far but no one commented on the smell in the dining room where it was printing. Also, the cleanup wasn’t a big issue for me. I didn’t worry about the gloves because, as long as you are careful, you’re not going to get any on your hands. I just wiped out the tray with towels and followed with a towel and metho. I love this machine.

Danke for the review!

Great videos, thank you. I am new to SLA and surmise; resins must have come a long way. I print in my office, in my house, have tried 4-5 different brands / types, and find the odor to be minimal., virtually the same as printing with my Ultimaker S3. As far as toxicity, the most I have found is that the resin may cause dermatitis or allergy, so not that much different from working with solvents, UV cured resin for jewelry, Super Glue, etc. It is a more time-consuming process changing resin than filament and does have a greater potential to create a huge mess, but if you are careful, it's not that messy. Again, thanks for the videos. Your channel is a great resource to the community.

Wow this is a realy good review of a product. Pros and cons are very clear.

Good video, just one question which brand of resign do you recommends?

Angus, as for the smell: Monocure (Australian seller) is the least smelly resin. I have the same problem as you, I can't stand the smell. I CAN stand Monocure resin. Monocure also recommends you disable the fan that is next to the build plate. I have done this and the smell is now negligible. The fan did nothing except put the smell into the room instead of it being in the chamber. Makes worlds of difference.

Thanks for the info. I was romanticising the printer but had not researched the process and it is not for me as casual maker. Good in them for making such a low cost printer, and I like ok forward to more innovation

Great review thanks!

Added this to my collection of 3d printers, and so far I am impressed. Pretty easy to work with, and just use common sense when cleaning. Not near as messy as so many make it seem IMHO. You will need many extra gloves though. I do vent the fumes out a near buy window using ducking and a brushless 12v high-speed fan. Also, it sounds like a German company is selling non-toxic resin. Waiting for a dealer in the U.S.A. though.

nice video work. no stupid jokes, good flow and pacing.

I have 3 printers and this one is my favorite by far.

@9:17 I really lol'd at "it depends" there. :D

So basically, it's perfect for somebody like me, who needs the ability to print relatively small but incredibly detailed objects at an affordable price, and has experience with etching circuit boards, casting in resin, and other tasks which require that level of care, safety, and cleanup?

This is so cool getting this DLP 3D printing at this price.

Thank you for your very informative video! Have one question how do you or is it possible to scan a physical object and then 3D print it?

Amazing. This could be the future.

Wow awesome quality!😍

Excellent video talking about resin

Did my first Photon Test print. Today at work. Shit looked nice! Very stocked to finally use this machine

Thanks for the indepth review. i wouldnt have known how messy this is.! on average how much does it cost to print a figurine would you say based on the cost of a spool? resin or fdm?

Well, someone woke up and smelled the Anycubic Photon. It has been out for months. I'm surprised they gave you one for review this late, considering your 400k subs. Try to get your hands on a Uniz UDP, fastest resin printer ever. Backed on Kickstarter, shipped this month. Biggest 3d secret no ones talking about.

Thanks for the review! Had been waiting for it. I wonder if there's any test directly comparing the print quality to the form2? In paper the Photon has XY resolution of 47µm while the form2 has 140µm, but since they use different technologies it would be interesting to compare a the resolution on a test part.

Sorry to bother you, someone by the name of Wyatt Enderson has uploaded your video of the Anycubic Photon as their own. Have you thought about ‘ watermark’ your videos to protect them. It’s unfair to you and others who put so much work to make videos for us and others try to take advantage of your work.

I work in Jewelry industry. DLP and SLA has always been our choice for years. But this is amazing as this 10x cheaper!

I often print prototypes for my work but they are usually fine and precise parts so for larger scale testing i need to get it printed by a company which is expensive and takes long. This looks like an awesome alternative i wish I looked into it earlier.

Would spraying mold release in the tray help prevent the issue of the resin sticking to the plastic film?

Hi, great review, but it left me wondering about the price. And can you mix anything in with the resins like glitters or mica powders?

Wicked vid man - sounds like you know you S when it comes to 3d printers..,. respect... !!! Cheers for sharing !!! :)

Nice review!

just bought one for 240 aussie. waiting on it coming. i can wait