The Anycubic Photon M3 Max - let’s give it a review.
Hey guys. It’s rare to get excited over a cardboard box, but today I will.
I’ve been lucky enough to review the Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K and the Elegoo Jupiter, and both are big,
heavy, metal machines that arrived in massive boxes or crates. These cost a fortune to ship
and at my end took two people to carry and unbox. But Anycubic have been clever right from
the off by avoiding a heavy and, frankly, unnecessary metal carcass.
Then by using a simple metal frame to surround ordinary packaging material, they were able to
wrap their printer in cardboard, resulting is a much smaller, lighter but sufficiently strong
enough package that undoubtably cost them much less to post. That’s smart thinking.
Not having a metal body means the M3 Max is just 26 Kg, a weight that can be comfortably
moved by just one person, which is excellent. But despite this, the M3 Max is Anycubic’s largest
volume resin printer to date, printing to a height of 300mm and practically the same in width.
This obviously means that the Max is a big printer and will take up more than a little workspace.
To facilitate easy access, the familiar yellow plastic lid is split in two, with the rear section
being secured permanently in place with small hex bolts. This means the large front section
can be lifted away comfortably and this works great – BUT I am concerned that this may be the
Max’s Achilles heel. The lid is no stronger than that on the other models and is actually weaker
as it misses a fourth side. Drop this lid and it will break, so handling with care is a must.
Sticking with the outside for a moment, there are a couple of oddities.
The M3 Plus has a 5 inch screen and comes with both Ethernet and Wifi,
making it connectable with the Anycubic Cloud. Now strangely the biggest printer in the M3 series,
the Max, does not have internet connectivity, so there’s no Cloud option here. Also
the menu screen is 3 inches rather than 5, though it comes with the standard Anycubic User Interface
which many will prefer. Why there’s no Cloud for the Max, I really don’t know. I personally prefer
to use a USB stick, but I have a feeling that this feature will be missed by many.
However, just like the Plus, the M3 Max does come with resin Autofeed system.
I covered this in more detail in my M3 Plus review and it’s a system that’s completely
optional to use, so I didn’t bother setting it up here on the Max. However, here’s a quick overview:
A standard bottle of Anycubic resin fits neatly into a bracket which attaches to the rear of the
printer. These probes are actually part of a pump and replace the lid of the resin bottle, and hoses
are attached to this resin depth detection device. With the resin tray primed with a little resin
and printing underway, every 5 minutes the system checks the depth of the resin
and gently trickles more into the vat to make sure the tray never runs dry.
I liked the system and I found it worked well, though I was concerned
that overnight the tray was fuller than ideal. Critically it hadn’t overflowed,
but it had risen passed the Max level indicator. Since my video, Anycubic have been in touch
and will be bringing out a Help video to make sure people get the best from this system.
The build plate is a monster, as you’d expect, and has the checkered laser
engraved pattern that seems to grip like stink. The resin tray is also large and equally metallic.
The FEP is once again slightly opaque, and I believe this is a new anti-scratch surface.
I know from my trials with the M3 Plus that this doesn’t inhibit printing in any way but as for
anti-scratch properties, only time will tell. The Z Arm is a strangle looking affair, a simple
rectangular frame. My guess is this reduces weight, but it seems strong enough for the job.
It rides smoothly upon widely spanned dual linear rails, propelled by a High Precision Ball Screw.
Below this is the printer’s heart, a 13.6" 7K Monochrome Screen, the biggest we’ve
seen from Anycubic so far. This gives us a very impressive 46 micron XY printing resolution,
which is just 3 microns less than the 8K Phrozen Mega, and 5 more than the Elegoo Jupiter.
Levelling is a typical paper affair and Anycubic even give us a sheet to make life simpler.
Anycubic were kind enough to send me these rechargeable air filters to try.
Personally the smell of resin doesn’t bother me but I know this is a serious issue for many.
My wife is always happy to find things to complain about and the smell of resin is one of them.
These small units comfortably fit inside just about any unit and the Max can accommodate two
in a row. I was pleasantly surprised. Whilst I really wouldn’t have noticed the difference,
my wife was suitably impressed, and as a happy wife means a better life,
I thought I’d pass on her nod of approval. As I offered this suggestion in my recent
Elegoo Jupiter review, it’s only fair that I take the same opportunity to encourage Anycubic. These
air purifiers are great, but many of us would love to see dedicated enclosure
heaters to maintain a more desirable resin temperature. So come on Anycubic, help us out.
The M3 Max comes with Anycubic Workshop as standard,
but I see those clever guys at Lychee already have the M3’s listed in their latest update,
so you can opt for a slicer of your choice. So how does the M3 Max fair with printing?
Unfortunately I’d run out of all my Anycubic resin, so I opted instead to use Phrozen Aqua 8K.
I stuck with 0.05 layer height and no anti-aliasing.
I turned to my buddies at Archvillain Games for something a little more pleasing to look at.
This fabulous Mandalorian is by Printed Obsession and is available freely on MyMiniFactory.
So what are my thoughts on the Anycubic Photon M3 Max?
That’s easy, I like it. It’s a big volume printer that’s light enough
to move around the workshop, and I love that. It has an impressive XY resolution of 46 microns
which shows in the quality of the prints, and whilst this is not a comparison video,
I know people will ask anyway, so here’s a few useful stats.
The removable lid is a concern and something to be very careful about when handling, and the lack
of internet connectivity will be missed by many. The Resin Autofeed system works well and helpful
videos from Anycubic Support should ensure users can get the best from it.
But most notably, the M3 Max is very competitively priced against its rivals.
And this should be surprising as when it comes to printing quality, it really holds its own.
I really think this is about metal. By not having the Max in a metal carcass,
by using plastic where they can, but by sticking with quality parts where quality is really needed,
Anycubic have been able to produce an affordable large volume printer that may well make it
desirable above and beyond its competitors. Personally, I think they’ve been very shrewd.
As I said, I like it, and I don’t think I’ll be alone in that.
So that’s it for this review guys. Take care, and thanks for watching.