ANYCUBICPhoton Mono M7 MAX Resin 3D Printer, 13.6’’ 7K Large Resin Printer with COB LighTurbo 3.0, Flip-Open Cover Design, Intelligent-Assist Printing, Print Size 11.8'' x 11.7'' x 6.5''

RIGHT OUT-OF-THE-BOX PRINTINGThis printer works right out of the box. Period. Unboxing to set up was about 15 minutes. Figuring out which file to print FIRST took more time.SPEEDTWO print speeds are pretty much given; standard (with normal resin) and fast (with high-speed resin). The default settings for the FAST print had the test model done in about 17 minutes; this would normally be about a 4 HOUR process with traditional printers. The default standard print of the test model still comes in at an impressive 1 hour. This is due to the usage of the ACF over the old-school FEP and even newer nFEP. Do NOT be alarmed with the “matte” finish! This is also the same type of film used by the M3 Max and works flawlessly!RESIN TYPESThe high-speed resin from Anycubic is STINKY. Maybe even a little more so than usual. But, it works GREAT. May have to look at more ventilation or moving the printer to a more open area to reduce the smell.Using Anycubic's Craftsman, which I also use in my Photon Ultra, makes for a much finer detailed print overall, even with slightly increased speeds and layer line thickness.INCLUDED HEATER AND AIR PURIFIERDon’t expect miracles with the purifier. It’s a simple fan system that does its best to circulate the air inside the chamber, but let’s face it; resin is stinky. I used some odor-neutralizer in the carbon filter to reduce the odor.The HEATER works wonderfully! The entire unit is self-contained. The heater and purifier are one piece with its own power cord/source. Rumor has it that this unit WILL be available as a standalone purchase in February.WI-FIA little buggy at the beginning but once it’s detected your network and connected, it works flawlessly. The procedure requires you to download the Anycubic Cloud App to start. This also allows you to monitor and print from your phone. Once the app has detected the printer is configured to the network, then you can add the printer to the home network and the process is seamless.AUTO PLATE LEVELINGPlate dynamically levels every single print with this option enforced. This mitigates possible failures due to improper build plate leveling. This is done right out of the box during the initial equipment check. You also have the option to manually level the plate, but that seems to be only for specific errors or situations; most operations will not require this at all.VAT CLEANING MODEEasy to use. Use the Lychee Vat Cleaner Tool to assist. No longer need to empty vat, remove particles. Place LVCT in the corner of the vat, utilize the vat cleaning option (10, 20, or 30 seconds…20 worked fine for me), and peel the cured resin out. All foreign particles and failed pieces are trapped within the cured resin and can be removed all at once.FOREIGN OBJECT DETECTIONWhen the plate is lowered, if it detects even the tiniest foreign object in the vat, it stops and raises. An error is displayed allowing you to investigate as needed.OBJECT FAILURE (ZERO PEEL FORCE)If the printer senses that the print releases with zero force, it stops the build process, allowing you to investigate. This saves a LOT of time, frustration, and most importantly, resin. Rather than having to wait until the plate reaches a certain height to visually inspect the piece, the printer senses the release forces. When those are zero, it throws an error, stopping the print, raising the plate, and allowing you to visually inspect the piece. You can resume or cancel the print at that point, depending on your situation.INTELLIGENT RELEASESo, I had no idea about this when I first read about it, but today’s print testing made me aware of this feature. Intelligent release, according to Anycubic, calculates the forces of the build plate lifting and retracting…and, if possible, ADUSTS THE HEIGHT DYNAMICALLY. How I found this out was from a print with an initial build time of 8.5 hours. I accidentally used the Default Resin profile, even though I had High Speed resin in the vat. Oh Well…no problem, I’ll be home all day to monitor things. But as time went by, and when I would turn to look at the print progress (also keeping an eye for failures and other errors that may pop up) I noticed the progress was a lot faster than anticipated. End result? The 8.5 hour estimated build (from Photon Workshop) finished in 5 hours and 53 minutes. Without me adjusting anything. The printer figured I was using high speed resin, did some auto adjustments, and increased the variables…and my print was done 2.5 hours faster than estimated.PRINT DETAILSSo, let’s really face it; humans really can’t detect the difference down to 14K resolution. So folks who are either very excited for this OR naysaying and stating that it isn’t TRULY 14K…well, settle down. Most resin printers being sold today are in the 8K and above range, with the Mighty 8K offering that initial 12K experience as an upgrade, and then Anycubic following with the M5S and now the M5S Pro.FACT is…the results are spectacular as you would imagine. I was impressed with my little Anycubic Photon Ultra back in the day (my first resin printer and STILL going strong and impresses me every single time). Then moving into the Mighty 8K, I noticed some subtle changes in quality. Then on to the M3 Max and was impressed with how well it compared with the Mighty 8K…and the build size was incredible.So, having a pretty sizable mid-range build volume here at 14K is equally impressive.Now, will YOU see the difference between what you may have been using and what the M5S Pro offers? Maybe. But honestly, I couldn’t. NOR could I notice that “softness” that others are talking about due to the matte ACP film of the vat. The M3 Max has the same film and I never noticed a change in quality over my Mighty 8K. Now, that doesn’t mean that I’ve switched some of my extra on-the-fly vats for all of my printers over to nFEP. I have to admit, I loved that little “upgrade” from the traditional FEP and the slight increase in speeds I achieved were also a plus. But, I’ve also been experimenting with the ACF on my Photon Ultra and now, with the M3 Max and the new M5S Pro having this ACF installed, again…impressed with the speed increase and not affected by this so-called “softness” of details others are talking about. To me, EVEN IF there were some loss of sharpness, I would much rather have the peace of mind on my other printer’s building process that comes with the ACF installed than be nit-picky over something that most people really can’t detect with the naked eye.ISSUES/OBSERVATIONSOne of the FIRST things I noticed off my successful first print was how hard it was to remove the supports from the test print. You can notice in the first image (Test Print) the marks and left over material along the bottom. This thing was BAKED to the build plate and the supports were, in turn, BAKED to the model itself.Trial and error led me to destroying several other test prints from excessive exposure and baking the supports or build itself to the build plate. Thus, looking at not only modifying exposure settings but also support settings.

Having had issues with the Mono M5s from the day I bought it. I wanted to replace it and was hesitant to buy another Anycubic printer, but the Photon Mono M7 is excellent. Having watch YouTube reviews of this machine, I went with the M7 option. I bought a heater for the M5s which I switched over to the M7. I figure the M7Pro attached heater to the resin fill vat looked like it would be an issue and, the automatic resin refill would only be something else to clean out so, I passed on the higher end M7's.On my first print, I forego the various test prints found on the enclosed USB drive and went straight to doing a print of a Velma Dinkley figure, that was my print test, and it came out great. I done the same figure in FDM and compared to resin, there's no going back to filament. I love the easy cleanup of the supports Using the High-Speed resin, the four print jobs I done so far all came in just over an hour. The one I just now finished, 52 minutes. Only wish Anycubic will bring down the price of their High-Speed resin. Two notes, the odor of the high-speed is stronger than the regular resin and, this one is a little bit louder than my M5s but considering the great printing it's doing, who cares.Only issue I have and it's not with the printer but the Anycubic slice program, and that is it's hit and miss when you're trying to hollow the subject. Often times it won't, and you wind up using more resin for the print job. Something I contacted Anycubic support about. I found using Chitubox as my slicer, hollowing is not an issue and that is now my go to slicer program.So far, I am very pleased with this printer. Set-up wasn't difficult and unlike the M5s, I have not gotten one fault indication. I tried light and medium supports and had no issues with plate adhesion and the prints easily comes off the build plate. I would certainly purchase this printer again which I hope won't need to for a few years from now. And would recommend it to family and friends.