Hands On With The Anycubic D2 DLP 3D Printer, Part 3

Our test of the new Anycubic D2 DLP 3D printer concludes with a look at print results and final thoughts.

This is part three of a three part series, please read parts one and two.

Anycubic D2 DLP 3D Printer Print Results

Finally, I was ready to do some printing, and I ran off a number of prints, focusing on items with fine details. While you could print mechanical parts on the D2, I suspect that most operators will use it for figurines and similar artistic parts with a lot of detail.

I did run the supplied GCODE for a sample print, which turned out pretty good. Very good, actually. However, not knowing the parameters for this print meant I would be on my own to replicate that success.

Having the resin dialed-in, I was pretty certain I’d get good print results, and I wasn’t wrong. In fact, the results were absolutely outstanding.

I started with Cosmo Wenman’s incredible Winged Victory 3D model, obtained from a museum 3D scan. This model is quite large and has plenty of details. (Readers might notice the wings in the failed print image above).

The detail is quite good, but I wondered about those lines on the torso. Were they caused by the printer? Or part of the original 3D model.

A second test print was made of the Aztec Calendar 3D model. This is a flat structure with an enormous amount of detail. Really, it should be printed at a much larger size, but shrinking it down for the D2 should show what the machine was capable of achieving.

The Aztec Calendar result was amazing, as you can see above. The detail is evident all over this print, and the edges are quite precise.

But how precise, exactly? Let’s take an even closer look. This is quite amazing — the closer you look, the more details you see. There are details even smaller than the lettering on the penny! You can just barely make out the layering on the print here and there.

I was curious about how good this print was, so I compared it to my best resin 3D print of the same object made on a 6K 3D printer. Look above to see the comparison. It’s obvious the quality of the D2 is fantastically better than the 6K 3D printer.

My final test print was of the extremely detailed “Copy of Caryatid C, Erechtheion of the Acropolis” 3D model (henceforth referred to as “Caryatid C”). This 3D scan of the famous Ancient Greek sculpture contains an enormous amount of detail, so I was really curious to see how it turned out.

Like the Aztec Calendar, the Caryatid C had significant detail, as you can see in this headshot.

However, there was even more detail. Check out this shot of the Caryatid C’s hand and clothing. It’s so incredibly smooth, as the penny shows vastly more surface variation. Note that there are some spheres on some of the fingers: they are the support points that have broken off, leaving the spherical attachment. They are so unbelievably tiny, I really don’t know how to remove them without damaging the rest of the hand.

Anyhow, that’s the kind of problem you want to have on a high resolution 3D printer.

The bottom line on D2 print quality is obvious: it’s absolutely tremendous.

Anycubic D2 DLP 3D Printer Final Thoughts

After using the D2 for a few weeks, I have to say that I really like this device. In spite of not having many advanced convenience features, it is quite easy to use. It’s small and easy to move around, and big enough for many types of 3D prints.

I’m told the price of the D2 should be something around US$700, which is more than some desktop resin 3D printers, but that price gets you resolution you simply cannot achieve with lower cost devices. It’s likely the D2 could even be used by jewelry designers in a professional context.

Currently priced at a ridiculously low US$299, this is a device that provides very good value for the money. However, buyers will have to learn the machine’s unique “language” when operating the device.

This is part three of a three part series, please read parts one and two.

Via Anycubic