Should you buy the FASTEST resin 3D printer? Anycubic Photon M7 Pro review

[@larsandreasen4902]

Thanks for taking the time to make such a comprehensive and most of all honest review, I really like you leave in the frustrating bits and share the whole experience. Like you I am not a tinkerer that enjoys messing about a lot with tweaking my printers and dealing with fails etc., I just want a tool that works and works well with a minimum of fuzz then spend my time painting my minis. Speed isn't much of a priority for me, good detail with tough and durable resins like ABS-Like resin is what I am looking for in a printer (Not speed resin, Ill get back to that....). I want to share a little tip for you that someone passed on to me that makes cleaning out the vat, especially on large volume vats, a lot less messy and painful. I have the M3 MAX and whenever I have a fail and need to pour the resin back into a bottle it is nearly impossible to do without spilling some and one can very easily overfill a bottle so you have a funnel full of resin and need to somehow get that out without spilling the content... So someone came up with the simple brilliant idea of using a large syringe to suck out the majority of the resin until you are left with just a tiny bit in the vat, that can then be easily poured into a bottle. So much easier than trying to balance a large vat tipping that into a funnel and to control how much you pour into the funnel / bottle, no more mess and very little goes to waste ;-) I think I can explain why you had so many fails and a frustrating initial experience, bear in mind though this is guesswork not based on personal experience but mainly bits of info picked up on a comparison review of the M5 vs M5s, as well as some research into FEP vs nFEP and whatever they call the High Speed 'FEPs' (Film on the Vat). As far as I understand these new fancy high speed printers, they will only work properly with high speed resin if you want to print at that maximum speed, and you need to be aware of what type of film is installed in the VAT. You can use 'normal' resins on a high speed printers, but then you need to do two things. You need to swap the FEP (Which is called something else on this type of printer...) with a regular FEP or an nFEP, then you need to slow down the printer to 'regular' print speeds. Also as you mention, high speed printing uses thicker layers and I would expect that you sacrifice detail for speed, I would also question whether the high speed resins are as durable / tough as for instance Wargamer resin or similar. I heard some people that have high speed printers who want to be able to easily swap between fast printing and high detail printing, that address this by buying an extra Vat, so they have one vat for high speed printing and another with a regular FEP/nFEP film for high detail and normal speed printing. So my guess is that the explanation is that you have a high speed printer with a high speed film installed, so you got a lot of fails up until you switched to a high speed resin? All of this ought to have been made very clear in the manual, as well as how to properly use the R_E_R_F calibration function, though I am unfortunately not surprised it isn't.... (For those reading this that are not familiar with the R_E_R_F, it is a special file that makes it possible to print 8 test files in one go at different exposure times with 0,25 second increments ;-)

[@RisingApe]

Thanks for the comment, really appreciate the time. After using the printer I slowly got used to it. And while no doubt it can be extremely fast, you can still prioritise detail on this machine, which is frankly excellent at it. But my one line review will be they made it too complicated compared to their rivals.

[@larsandreasen4902]

@@RisingApeYou're quite welcome :-) I watched a couple of other reviews after this one, and that seems to be the consensus. Having the heater built into the vat and having to clean that as well sounds a bit troublesome. I have built a ventilated enclosure for my M3 Max cause I need to keep it inside the house and the fumes were making me sick. I think I will go for the Saturn 4 or maybe even a Saturn 3 if I can get a good deal on it. If need be I can install a small heater in the enclosure ;-)

[@BOBBOBER-n8s]

I bought one and I just cannot believe how awesome it is I absolutely love it

[@RisingApe]

Awesome, glad you like it

[@mikeb-s8966]

Really appreciate the honest review, it's always helpful to get a full picture for the more expensive hobby tools and reviews like yours can be hard to find!

[@RisingApe]

Thanks Mike, appreciate that

[@Kitty-wc9or]

Great vid! I have an Any Cubic, but kind of glad it's not this one...! Nice idea with the pumps and heater, but we just added a heater and it does the job nicely. I actually like the little purifiers though, stopped me getting headaches! They may be small but they do the job! Also, quality over speed always with 3D printing... I have enough to paint!

[@RisingApe]

Exactly, thanks for watching!

[@LSCModels]

Awesome review. So basically this printer loves high speed resin that works best that will generate great prints ? Or the standard resin printed slower is what caused the failed prints?

[@RisingApe]

It’s not even as simple as that, basically it’s amazing when it works but it’s finicky to dial in.

[@tomlewis782]

I just bought the M7 pro. I'm willing to do the work to learn to dial it in for good reliable, high quality, fast prints.

[@RisingApe]

Once it’s dialled in, it’s great machine, hope you have loads of fun with it.

[@matthewpinder7967]

Great honest video, this is definitely one for me to consider when upgrading to a larger build plate. For me personally I'm looking for simplicity and consistent detail, speed is just a bonus.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks

[@JoeDillingham]

Good video. Informative. Nice titles.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks Joe!

[@johndodson8144]

Quality review as always with great takes.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks

[@gtrmotorc7]

Uh...they have a cheaper/no-fluff version without the heater or pump. The M7. 'Pro' is for the accessory version.

[@RisingApe]

They do now, yes that would be the version I would choose

[@yukiaisa8826]

A great and honest video. Many thanks for that. We want to buy our first resin printer and are wavering between this and the m5s pro. Would the m5 be more suitable for beginners?

[@RisingApe]

I know lots of people who have an M5s and like them a lot but I havent used one. basically it comes down to budget, if you have a bit of extra cash and would find the resin pump and heated vat useful then this one is the one you want, if you want a more basic printer with a few less steps then the m5s is a great shout.

[@pugnboots5683]

Nice work

[@RisingApe]

thanks

[@questsquills]

As always, a great review. I think I'll struggle to upgrade my Saturn 2 any time soon.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks 🙏 I think when you do you will see a big step up but yeh, wait for the price to drop on the current gen maybe

[@Floorhocking]

Gotta love the dino being busted out as a test model again 👌

[@RisingApe]

Yup, it’s my standard now, I have so many dinos!

[@pickle_axxis1521]

would you recommend this or the m5s pro? Im curious as to which one cause I plan on getting a printer. I do have prior knowledge as I had a Flashforge printer that was horrible.

[@RisingApe]

It’s a great printer but too complex, the M5s is good, do me the Saturn 4 or Mars 5 are my go too entry printers or for more money, the GK2

[@FrazzledDadsMinis]

Thanks for including your frustrating errors. I really dislike reviewers who gloss over or outright skip their mistakes. Seeing others' mistakes helps me avoid similar issues in my own work. Great video.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks 🙏 appreciate that

[@chrisserra3718]

Glad I watched this I was about to buy and now I’m thinking I’ll pass

[@RisingApe]

Glad I could help, I would look at a GK2 or a Saturn 4 or an Anycubic M5s if you want to stay with that brand

[@somerandomguy180]

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks

[@gmee123]

I broke out my photon mono x after having sat in the closet for almost 2 years due to frustration and after running the bench test cube and seeing that little piece is going to take almost 4 hours, I'm almost inclined to say F- it and buy this machine and give resin printers another go. Resin printers are such a pain in the ass to use and not to mention the terrible smell, BUT I really really want to enjoy the quality they offer and the speed of this printer almost has me convinced to take the plunge and see.

[@RisingApe]

And there is no doubt that once you have it dialled in it’s both blazingly fast and incredibly detailed

[@morphf-YouTube]

That’s why I like the Saturn series workhorses, no projects they just work good without a lot of failed prints (beside user errors)

[@RisingApe]

I haven’t used the Saturns, but I have used the Mars 5 and that is excellent

[@dariorseventyeight]

Between nanometers and micrometers there are 3 order of magnitude... ;)

[@RisingApe]

I make this mistake SO often, just a mis-speak on my part apologies 😅

[@RSM-b2x]

what settings did you use, I currently have problems with mine :(

[@RisingApe]

What issues do you have? For the fast print at the end I just used default settings. I will have to look up for the other resins but as you can tell it wasn’t simple for me

[@RSM-b2x]

@@RisingApe I also used default settings but I got ´Cerebral force zero´ as an error message. the print came off completely, but the first few layers remained on the build plate

[@UG3DBoss-54]

Bro… why are you spinning through a dimensional triangle while talking??…🤷🏽‍♂️… but otherwise good video… lol

[@RisingApe]

I have a portal in my office, very inconvenient

[@Kitbash.Carnage]

👍❤️🤘🔥

[@RisingApe]

Thanks 🙏