This is the Voxelab Proxima Resin 3D Printer:
it uses a 2k MONO LCD, which is excellent
and it is very,
very,
VERY…
CHEAP!
Cheap?
Blehh…
No! No! No!
It is very affordable!
But, should you buy it?
I really appreciate Voxelab
for sending this printer for me to review,
for free, I need to disclose that.
And, let me tell you:
4 months ago, when I was opening the box
I was excited AND a little bit worried,
Like: I hope this is good!
A budget printer that I could recommend!?…
I will spare you the suspense:
it prints great!
In fact, the Voxelab Proxima gets pretty much the same printing quality
as the Mars 2, the Mars 2 Pro, the Creality Halot-One...
and the Anycubic Photon Mono 2k printers
considerably more expensive.
I am not telling these printers are all the same…
But the most important component,
the thing that "masks" or “shapes” the UV light
coming from the bottom is the LCD…
not this…
the one under the resin VAT…
and all these printers use the same LCD Module!
There are lots of things I like on this printer,
and just a few things that I don’t like.
By the way, don’t open the box from the bottom
it was silly of me
there is a bunch of stuff in here…
My goodness, this is heavy!
Resin printers are so well packed!
Maybe too well!
There is something here…
Sure: Thats the build plate
and the more I printed with it, the more I liked it
because of this curve in the top.
The resin flows off very easily
and when it finishes printing,
this side is pretty clean already,
no resin on the edges.
And the printing surface has excellent adhesion:
I printed a bunch of stuff and I had only one partial failure.
The cover is not just for the resin smell,
it protects the resin on the tank against external Ultraviolet Light and it works.
Seriously, hear me out if you are just getting started:
you need it on your printer
specially if you have any natural light in your room.
The body of the VAT is metal
and it has these two latches or “ears” to fix it in place.
It is not fancy, but I like it:
you don’t need to take the screws off
just a few turns and it’s done, very fast
and there is no risk of dropping the screws in the resin.
There is one thing you need to be careful:
the FEP film is quite exposed,
it is flush with the bottom.
There is always the risk of some grain of salt, sand...
you know, something on your table, cut or perforate the FEP.
I always lay it upside-down.
Well, when there is no resin on it.
The touchscreen is small, but it works well.
It is resistive and I think that’s ideal on a Resin Printer:
You can use the tip of your nails,
a stylus,
anything actually…
See: I should have opened the box from the top.
Somebody designed a place for everything in the box and I blew it.
Anyway, a paper filter funnel
you’ll need more,
Gloves: you will also need boxes of it,
the keys to adjust the plate,
the Metal Scraper you will use a lot,
but the plastic one that was meant to help you clean the FEP,
it is a bad idea: it can scratch or even puncture the FEP.
Power adapter is 12V
be careful if you have other printers, not to mix them.
The Quick Start Guide is simple,
it has some occasional weird translation
but the content is useful.
I liked the manual!
Do you know what is missing?
Flush cutting pliers to help you remove supports
All right, let’s turn it on!
Oh, the USB port is on the side
There are people that like it here, cause it would avoid accidents.
The power switch is in the back…
It is a matter of taste:
I would prefer everything in the front.
Gee!
The Buzzer is super Loud, and everybody was sleeping…
Luckily you can switch the “beep” ON and OFF.
Homing, levelling the Build Plate,
finding the ideal pressure: not too loose, not too tight,
and setting Z to Zero is just like any other resin printers.
Tell me in the comments if you want me to make a video
just about levelling the build plate.
And as you can hear: the z-stepper motor is LOUD on this printer.
To me, really, NOISE is the only “issue”?,
“annoyance”? in this printer.
Sure, if you are adventurous, this printer is simple to open:
an “easy” MOD would be installing a stepper damper.
But I didn’t try it myself…
yet.
And if something happens to the USB port,
it is also very easy to replace.
Voxelab has their own resin brand.
But any standard UV Curing resin will work.
My first print was the Deer test model that comes in the pen drive
and I used the ABS-Like Grey resin.
It printed beautifully!
The surface of this model is like a mesh with tiny, tiny holes.
Anyway, to get a perfect piece,
you need to clean it really well
and take off ALL this uncured resin
And a washing station helps A LOT.
Now it is clean.
You can cure it on the SUN,
but it was night and I used an UV curing station from Elegoo.
Wow!
THIS is the type of thing,
a mesh so thin!
That is impossible to print on filament printers.
At least not so clean.
And that’s why Resin printers became so popular
to print Miniatures, specially for TableTop Gaming!
and, I need to say again:
the Voxelab Proxima is one of the cheapest printers you can buy,
but check this out:
isn’t this bust super cool?
And I printed it much smaller than the maximum build volume.
About Speed: in the Resin world it doesn’t matter
if what you are printing is simple or complex…
if it is thin or wide…
each layer will take the same time to print.
So, instead printing just one item,
the cool thing to do is to fill the build plate with stuff.
And even more important:
the Proxima has a MONO LCD and this is excellent.
It the first, “old” resin printers,
they used the same Color LCDs used in smartphones…
and that was a problem: because in RGB screens,
Ultra Violet light can only pass through the Blue elements,
so, most of the light was actually wasted
and each layer needed like 8 seconds, 10 seconds to cure.
But the Proxima has a newer LCD made specifically for Resin printers:
each pixel is a single element,
with bigger aperture and no color filters.
More than twice UV light can go through
and each layer can now be cured in just 2 or 3 seconds.
So, if you find the old ‘color lcd’ resin printers,
even if it is super cheap,
don’t buy that…
MONO LCD is the real deal.
About printing Mechanical, Functional parts,
Resin printers really shine when you need very small tolerances…
like, a tenth of a millimiter GAP
and it delivers, no surprises, no sanding…
it just fits.
This is a nice printer to make prototypes.
So, “should you buy it?”
If you are a hobbyist getting started on a budget,
yes!
The Proxima 2k prints great,
it is very affordable,
you won’t regret,
there are links in the description,
buy it!
If you are setting up a Resin 3D Printing Farm, it also makes sense:
why would you buy only 1 printer
when you could buy 10 printers?!
Now, if you do professional Jewellery Casting, Pewter casting,
it will pay off to buy a higher resolution printer,
like the Elegoo Mars 3 or the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8k.
Finally, if you are obsessed with resolution,
visible voxels,
calibration tests
and light reflection…
you must watch my review of the Mars 3 right now!
That’s the Proxima!
If you have any question just write a comment!
I read everything!
And watch my review of the Mars 3.
Take care and have fun 3D printing!