Anycubic Releases Kobra, Anycubic M3 3D Printer Series and More on the Photon Nex

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Anycubic today released two new series of desktop 3D printers, the Kobra and Anycubic Photon M3 series.

We’ve previously written about this pending release, which has now occurred. The two series in all make up five new 3D printers:

• Anycubic Kobra (starts at US$299)
• Anycubic Kobra Max (starts at US$539)
• Anycubic Photon M3 (starts at US$299)
• Anycubic Photon M3 Plus (starts at US$699)
• Anycubic Photon M3 Max (starts at US$1099, pre-sale price)

Kobra Series

The Anycubic Kobra and Kobra Max are FFF devices, using a single 0.4mm nozzle and extrusion system. While that might sound similar to many other devices, there are some very interesting features designed into the Kobra equipment.

First, Anycubic has taken steps to ensure the devices are very easy to assemble. This is because they, like many desktop open gantry 3D printers, are shipped as a flat pack. To save a significant amount of shipping space the gantry is laid flat and must be erected before operation. Typically this involves bolting the frame, running and plugging cables and more.

However, the Kobra series should simplify this activity. Anycubic VP James Ouyang explains:

“With integrated structure and modular design, the Kobra series of 3D printers allow users to easily assemble the machine without requiring any soldering or complex mechanical assembly.”

Our testing of the Kobra verifies this claim; it is indeed very easy to assemble the device and get it working. We’ll have more details when our testing is complete.

The second interesting feature on the Kobra series is a new bed leveling process they call “Anycubic LeviQ”. This is a fully automated processing involving 25 test points on the print surface, and greatly improves print reliability.

The Kobra 3D printers include a magnetically attached spring steel sheet for very easy removal of completed 3D prints. This feature has become popular and is now included with the Kobra devices.

Finally, the Kobra Max is indeed “max”, as its build volume is a tremendous 450 x 400 x 400 mm, suitable for almost any size print. Anycubic has reinforced the z-axis on this machine to ensure the large size is fully stabilized.

Anycubic Photon M3 Series

The Anycubic Photon M3 series includes three desktop resin 3D printers that are shipped fully assembled. Each of the three devices are quite a bit more stylish than the typical “box with square orange UV shield on top” design so often seen in this market. They sport a sleek UV cover that, on the Anycubic Photon M3 and Anycubic Photon M3 Plus slants to the rear. Additionally, the unit enclosures are made from metal with a brushed surface that provides an interesting patina.

The build plate for the Anycubic Photon M3 series is laser-engraved with a checkerboard pattern that increases print adhesion. This is not often found on inexpensive resin 3D printers, and it’s likely it will save you a failed print from time to time.

The light engine is protected by a replaceable anti-scratch polymer film. This ensures that should you drop the build plate or other items on the light engine screen you will not make a scratch that could corrupt future prints.

An interesting feature is the Anycubic Airpure, which is designed to reduce the odor produced by photopolymer resins. This will be quite welcome by many operators, as smelly resin can often be detected even in properly ventilated configurations. Most inexpensive resin 3D printers do not have air filtration systems.

All three machines use the Anycubic LighTurbo light engine, which is a monochrome LCD panel that offers very high energy transmission. This means that resins cure more swiftly, as each pixel delivers more energy per exposure time than normal LCD panels. The result is very fast resin 3D printing speeds.

Ouyang explained:

“We have redefined the UV light of these resin 3D printers with the Anycubic LighTurbo matrix light source. With bright LED lights and a high light transmittance screen, the Anycubic Photon M3 series can give a higher uniformity of light and strong light energy, thus producing great print details and faster print speed.”

The major difference between the Anycubic Photon M3 models is the build volume, ranging from the base model’s 180 x 164 x 102 mm, to the huge Anycubic Photon M3 Max’s 300 x 298 x 164 mm build volume. That’s one of the largest build volumes on a desktop resin 3D printer I’ve seen, much larger than the huge Anycubic Photon X 6K we tested a few months ago, and it includes a 6480 x 3600 pixel array.

The Anycubic Photon M3 Plus includes a new feature, the Anycubic Auto Resin Filler. This is a system that automatically fills the resin vat if it were to run low during a large 3D print job. This avoids the possibility of running out of resin, which can be an expensive matter.

The Anycubic Photon M3 Plus is also the first machine to connect to the brand new Anycubic Cloud system, which allows for remote control and monitoring of print jobs. Cloud monitoring is a very important feature, as it ensures you can take action immediately if anything happens to go wrong during a print job.

Anycubic also introduced a new series of water-washable resins called “Anycubic Water-Wash Resin” that should be able to reduce operational costs: water costs much less than IPA as a solvent. The use of water instead of IPA also reduces the risks of toxic exposure and flammability.

Anycubic Photon Nex

Finally, Anycubic provided a few more teasers about an upcoming resin machine, the Photon Nex. This machine is said to have a sleek science fiction-inspired industrial design, but also an incredibly fast print speed: 1600mm per hour. Anycubic said that printing a four-hour Eiffel Tower 3D model takes only seven minutes! They also hinted that the Photon Nex could have some type of mysterious color capability. I’m very interested to learn more about this device.

Meanwhile, the Kobra and Anycubic Photon M3 series are all now available for immediate purchase either from Anycubic’s online store, their AliExpress store, eBay store or Amazon store.

Anycubic has launched a series of machines that should have something for everyone in these new resin and filament 3D printers.

Via Anycubic and AliExpress