Anycubic I3 Mega experience?
Hi,
i am relatively new to 3D printing and am about to buy myself a 3D printer. After some research I was about to buy a Creality CR-10 because it is recommended very often. A couple days ago I found the Anycubic I3 Mega and am wondering if anyone owns this printer or has some experience with it?
To me it looks really promising. Even though the build volume is a bit smaller than the build volume of the CR-10, it is still big enough for my needs (210x210x205mm).
But the features why I am so interested in this printer are:
It has a power-outage protection. So in case of a power-outage the printer can just continue printing when the power is back. This is such a simple feature, the printer just needs to remember in which line of the code it was - but for some reason there are barely any (affordable) 3D printers which have this feature. Especially when you are printing big parts which require a lot of time, this is a great feature.
Another feature is the filament-detection sensor. So the printer recoginzes if you are running out of filament and stops the print. You can simply replace the spool and continue printing - another feature which is really nice if you are printing bigger parts, since you do not have to worry if you have enough filament left on you spool.
Why is this printer so unpopular? There are barely any Reviews even though it is also very easy to put together (it comes almost pre-assembled) and offers these simple, but really helpfull features - and all that for a reasonable price as well.
Usually it is $369.99 on gearbest, but I found a coupon code (SPAINLABSGB) which reduces the price to $329.39 which, in my opinion, is a really good price for this printer.
Anycubic I3 Mega
Anyone got some experience with this printer and can tell me if there are any downsides I am missing?
My experience. Please Read (Whole thing)
Hello,
My experience:
I have 2 Anycubic Printers that I bought from Amazon (an Anycubic Pro (it's a 2 in one; a printer and a laser engraver) and an Anycubic Mega X)
The main reason why I like Anycubic is because of their buildplates. They're super sticky when there hot and the part comes off super easily when it's cooled down (no scraper necessary! That was a big problem with some of my former printers, the beds we're all scratched up because the parts had a hard time coming off the bed)The anycubic printers are easy to use but takes some patience with leveling the bed.
The good news is once the bed is leveled you'll never have to touch it again (unless you accidently turn the knobs. (I had some other printers that when the bed moved back and fourth, the knobs would loosen, and the buildplate/bed would become unlevel and screw up the part)).
Another thing to add is that their customer service is great! If you have a problem they will try their best to help you fix the problem even if that means sending you as many replacement parts as you need(which should be free of charge) to get your printer back up and running again. If you take care of the printer and treat it right it will last a long time.
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Pro's: GREAT buildplate
GREAT customer service
Good extruder drive
Very sturdy frame
Dual stepper motors on Z-axis
Very good detailed prints without much fine tuning
Not that much of a pain in the A** to level
Easy to assembly (You can get it up and running in less than 2h (I say 1.5h if you're completely new, maybe 30m-1h if you have some experience))
You can resume prints if there is a power failure
Filament detection (stops printing if you run out of plastic)
Good hotend (parts are easy to switch out in case something breaks)
Cons (My personal experience):
My Anycubic Mega X died last year and I was going back and fourth with customer support and we couldn't figure out the issue. Well, we got it working for about 10sec before the motherboard got fried (again). I contacted the company (like I usually did) and they ghosted me.
>>>>>TO BE FAIR, I only contacted the one guy I was dealing with before (since he knew all the issues I was having) maybe he quit or something happened and that's why I never got a response. I didn't open a new ticket/contact another person who worked there because I just haven't had the time to deal with this annoying printer issue. My printer's still sitting there with a giant sticker that says "No Work".
Once I have time, I'll open another ticket and I am confident I'll get a response (from someone else).
--->While I'm on this topic, I did notice that my printer started to have some minor issues after an outage cause by a lighting storm and, yes even though it has built in protection (a fuse), I HIGHLY recommend you plug your printer into a SURGE PROTECTED POWER BAR. I think it might be a coincidence but you never know. That's why all my printer are connected to a surge suppressor. I did notice some minor things happening out of the box (I think my unit might have been defective out of the box) but I didn't really think anything of it. Now, I also had an issue with my Anycubic Pro where the hotbed would not heat up, I contacted them, got an answer the next day and we worked through the problem. I had my pinter up and running in about 4 days (Keep in mind the customer service center is in china so they're 12h ahead where I am)
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Final Opinion:
I've had both my any cubic printers for about a year now and they serve (served if we're talking about the Mega X) me well. My Anycubic Pro still amazes me with it's print quality on detailed models and how easy they come off the buildplate when they're done. The buildplate is super sticky as well that you can print a long skinny thing and not worry about having it fly off the printer because it came loose (that was one of tests I did when I first got the printer. I don't know if you can tell, but the buildplate is what really sold me).
Would I recommend this to a beginner: Hell Yeah! If you have any questions, customer service is there for you. It's easy to set up and not that much of a pain to level. The buildplate is great so you don't have to worry about prints flying off the printer mid print (as long as it's leveled properly of course).
Out of all the printer's I had (GeeeTech(Not recommended), x2 Diggro Alpha 3 (Not recommended. FYI rebranded to Longrunner), Artillery Sidewinder (recommend-high quality and it's a work horse! Just make sure it doesn't ship with a defective buildplate. Mine did, I contacted them and they sent me another one free of charge. It works really well now. I also recommend waiting until it goes on sale), Anycubic Mega X & Pro (recommended)) The AnyCubic brand is the one I prefer with artillery coming in at a close second (the Artillery Sidewinder's build plate is nothing compared to Anycubic's ).
Side note: If the slicer software comes with printer on the SD card, don't use it (It's really out of date, and not that great). Use the latest version of Cura or PrusaSlicer. Just go their websites (Cura or Prusa3d) and download it from there.
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Word of advice (this can be applied to most FDM 3D printers):
>Take care of your buildplate. Try to keep it scratch free. I've seen some buildplates so scratched up, nothing stuck to them. This could all be avoided if be very careful.
After every 3-5 parts I like to take some rubbing alcohol and wipe my buildplate down to get the dust and gunk out of the pores.
>>This may sound a little weird, but trust me it helps. Treat your printer like an employee. Yes, you read right, treat it like a employee who works tirelessly for you. Give your printer a break.
What I do for my printer's: If In print a part that will take 24h or longer, I'll shut my printer off and let it rest for a 12h. If the parts 12-23h it gets 6h of rest. If it's less than 12h I give it a 1-2h break. This is a rule of thumb I follow to keep the longevity of my printers so they stay reliable and in working order.
This is me but when I do my printing during the day (mainly small parts) I'll turn my printer off for the night and turn it on the next day to print more stuff. If I print overnight and my part finishes in the morning, I turn my printer off and leave it alone for the rest of the day (at least half the day)
>>>This is pretty important and will save you a lot of time in the future if you take the time to do it right. Take the time to properly level your buildplate (trust me it'll save you future headaches and LOT's of time and frustration. Trust me, I know from experience). Just take your time, do some tests, and re-level it again if you have to. It's time consuming at first but totally worth it. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _______________________
3D printers give you the power to create anything you want and I think that's just freaki'n awesome! If you're looking to get into 3D printing, just go for it. All you need is a good & reliable 3D printer (although if you want to be like me and really learn some things, buy a bunch of really, really, cheap and low quality printers, that way you can learn (almost) every issue in the book ;) Just don't be surprised when you're blood pressure sky rockets. LOL).
I hope this helps.
