/anycubic-photon-docs

This repo aims to collect curate and compile information on anycubic photon hardware software and use

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Anycubic Photon Owner's Documentation

Use this repository to collect information on the Anycubic Photon LCD resin printer's hardware, software and usage.

IMPORTANT NOTE!

As of September 2019, Anycubic has been shipping printers which deceptively look like original Photon printers but are not. These new printers (commonly called the Fauxton) have new motherboards (PTB2BK) and are incompatible with the original Photon printers. The information provided here for the most part will not apply to this new printer.

Please also note that most of the community tools, software, mods and information here do NOT apply to the new Fauxton or the Photon-S model. They are fundamentally different printers.

Want to help? Check at the bottom of this page for the TO DO list and open a issue with #IWantToHelp.

Table of Contents

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Check the FAQ page before asking questions! You may find the answers to all your questions regarding setting up your Photon, to post processing your prints, already covered in the FAQ.

Known issues

There are several known issues with the Photon hardware and software. Check the known issues page for details, solutions and workarounds.

Photon technical specifications

Dimensions

  • Machine Volume: 220(L)x200(W)x400(H)
  • Print Volume: 115(L)x65(W)x155(H)
  • Empty Vat weight 630g (FB Link)

Photon masking

Motion driver / mechanics

  • T8 leadscrew with 2mm lead/pitch
  • Nema 17 Motor 1.8º 200steps/rev
  • Driver embeded Polulu Alegro 4998 set at 1/16 microstepping
  • Hardware resolution 10µ (0.01mm)
  • Digital microstepped resolution 0.625µ (0.000625mm) - Advised reading: Microstepping Myths and Realities

Electronics

  • LED power 25W 405nm
  • PSU 12v 6A (72w) - 5.5 x 2.5mm Jack - check image

Photon file image format

  • 2560x1440px
  • Black and White
  • RLE 7bit encoding
  • 538 dpi (537.566 dpi)

Firmware & Configuration files

If you've just received your Photon, or it's working properly, do not update your firmware unnecessarily.

Photon slicing software

ANYCUBIC Photon Slicer

Go to this page slicer will be shoved under the printer you will have to scroll a bunch.

image

Chitu Slicer (ANYCUBIC is rebranded Chitu)

Chitu devs have been helping Photonster devs with some support questions, and Chitu's new software release will allow for better integration of Photonsters tools with the slicer software, and will support many new formats including zip/gcode import/export.

Chitubox (New Slicer for the photon from the same makers of ChituDLP)

New software that integrates code and ideas first seen in the community projects VoxelOps, Validator, Rob's 3D photon Viewer and Photon File Editor Project.

Photon Open Slicer (Community developed OpenSource Slicer)

A independent command line Slicer from Photonsters, that can be integrated with MeshMixer or any other software capable of outputting a STL file.

List of Slicing Software

Some of the slicers that are available to date.

Community resin exposure settings

  • Known good resin settings - Curated by Artur Fuste.
  • Also check the resin exposure finder test under community projects below.

Community resin precision gauge test

Resin Precision-Fit Test-Gauge - This is for resin as tested with no software profile/compensation. Dimensions can be corrected by activating the horizontal-size compensation feature in your slicing software. If you don't have this feature, please contact your slicer developer.

Printed material torsion test results

Torsion Test Results - 3D printed material comparison by torsion testing.

Community projects

User mods (on Facebook)

NETWORK ENABLED PHOTON UI

Z AXIS MODS

Social media groups

Models & resources

Calibration models

Use these resources to test how your Photon is printing, and to remove guesswork from calculating resin exposure times.

Photon Cad files and Blueprints

Models for Resin Printing

Tutorials, videos, tips & tricks

TODO

  1. Videos for the Photonsters Youtube Channel
  2. Map Photon hardware
  3. Map Photon file anatomy
  4. How-to test resins
  5. How-to level
  6. How-to use external Stepper driver
  7. Create Repo with resins and community consensus resin test method check this page
  8. List official slicers and alternative/usefull software
  9. Collect config files and firmware from Google group
  10. Collect community reversed Photon CAD parts
  11. List community software projects and tools for the Photon
  12. Finish compare chart https://ethercalc.org/ResinPrintersCompareChart