Budget troublemaker

You, sir, are an enabler...  

Now I'm staring at the ads, especially since I recently viewed Luke Towan's video on the exact same device.

Quick query: how durable are resin prints versus the extruder style?

Tim B.

Do your research..

Dear Jeff,

Yes, AnyCubic are doing some pretty appealing deals at the moment, which at-first-blush promises filament-killing resolution and surface appearance, for less than the cost of a high spec HO DCC Sound equipped loco....

But dig a little deeper, there's nuance here.

- Original "Photon" - decent performer for the price, but single rail vertical support was reported to open the door of "Z axis wobble" on some units 

- follow-up "Photon S" - improved model with dual vertical rails reportedly eliminated "Z axis wobble" issues. Aliasing added some "dither" to the raw LCD resolution figures, with claimed improvement in diagonal surface handling. However, US-based early-adopters howled bitterly at the change to a plastic chassis/case, as opposed to the metal case of the original. (That the chassis material change was the "rise to the top" complaint, where it is not structural and did not affect the accuracy of operation of the machine, says to me more about the Reviewers than any detraction of the machine itself).

- "Fauxton" (Photon 2nd production run) - with the S on market at a slightly higher price, some user made it known they were prioritising price over performance (and wanted their metal case, dammit!).

A change (lack of availability of original?) parts led to a 2nd production phase of "Photon" printers, with different circuitry "brains", FW, and possibly LCD screens. These units are generally considered to be inferior to the original-run Photons, and are thus referred to commonly as "Fauxton". Unfortunately there dies not appear to be any clear visible-from-outside spotting features to ID a Photon VS a Fauxton

- Latest (July 2020) Photon Zero - taking the hint from the ongoing demand for the cheaper Photon, even after the S was released, AnyCubic joined a "race to the bottom" with the Photon Zero. Cheaper by 1/3 compared to the original Photon, the resolution compromises are reportedly more-apparent then expected. Budget offerings from other manufs are available at similar prices, but allegedly give better end-result performance.

...of course, none of these touch a Formlab Form2 for "straight off the print bed" results, and all require manual bed-leveling and resin pouring (the Form2 handles all of this automatically from its resin-tank delivery system), but equally you could buy 10s of Fauxtons RRP for the RRP cost of Formlab unit so "you gets what you pay for" seems to hold true again...

You're spending your own $$$, so proceed with caution,

But for actual "Model Component" work,

(as opposed to non-surface-appearance-critical work like turnout servo mounts, DCC Throttle holders, etc)

I would ignore anything PLA "filament based", and reach straight for a decent Resin printer (Photon S, et al, or better)

Happy Modelling,

Aim to Improve,

Prof Klyzlr

It’s a good printer

I have one of the original Photons, and like it very much.  Great resolution, produces a nice finish.  I use the grey ABS-like resin and get a finish that doesn’t need any further work.  The only drawback is the build volume is smaller than most filament printers, but I’m ok with that because my use is more for detail parts or “kits” of smaller parts to be assembled.