Anycubic Mega X 3D Printer: A Great Printer at a Modest Price

Budget 3D printer with a very large workspace. Source howchoo.com

Article Zach from howchoo.com adapted for you Top 3D Shop.

In 3D printer Anycubic mega x successfully combines a large volume of the print area, high quality prints and a price that will not hit your pocket.

Let’s start from the end or right to the main thing: conclusions

Anycubic mega x – An excellent choice for frugal users who want to take advantage of a large workspace without losing quality.

Advantages of Mega X:

  • large work area: 300 mm x 300 mm x 305 mm;
  • excellent print quality at an affordable price;
  • robust construction;
  • takes up relatively little space;
  • high-quality printed glass surface

Features to pay attention to:

  • some initial adjustment is required;
  • there may be minor problems with fixing the X axis (which are easy to fix);
  • unusual interface.

Perfect fit
For the following categories of users:

  • novice users;
  • average and experienced users;
  • teachers
  • pupils and students;

To perform various tasks:

  • for the manufacture of prototypes in small businesses and for small-scale production;
  • for printing volume prints;
  • to print multiple models at once.

Mega X is a great budget 3D printer with high print quality.

Technical specifications Anycubic Mega X

Source: top3dshop.ru

First meeting

The 300×300 mm printing table is impressive. Even if you are not going to make volume prints, on such a table you can print several small models at the same time and save a lot of time.

The stamped steel frame is thick, heavy, practically – the limit of desires.

The power supply, motherboard and most internal components are housed in a sturdy metal housing at the base of the printer. Due to this, it was possible to significantly reduce the area that the printer occupies on the table.

Thanks to its solid base, you are unlikely to have to align the printer if you move it to another location.

A pleasant surprise – Mega X has a filament end sensor, which is usually found only in more expensive models of 3D printers. This sensor will pause printing if the thread breaks or runs out. This feature is very useful for large projects.

And great pens to level the table! Anyone who has aligned the printing platform manually knows how inconvenient to turn the small level adjustment knobs, while you can hook the platform on the bottom with your hand, and all the efforts are wasted. Anycubic fixed this problem – Mega X has large handles and a small thread pitch on the leveling screws. Handles are very easy to rotate, you can handle almost with one finger.

The surface of the table is made of corporate glass with a thin layer of mesh on top, as a result there is no problem with adhesion – the print is well held on the printed surface.

The soundtrack is a little annoying. When you touch the screen, a loud rattle is heard, and when the printer boots up, a standard sound clip is played. Fortunately, these sounds can be easily turned off once and for all.

Packaging and equipment

The printer is securely packed in a large box and polystyrene.

Package Included:

Source: top3dshop.ru

Assembly

The assembly is very simple: tighten a few screws and connect the cables.

The Mega X assembly took only 20 minutes. Like most 3D printers on the market today, Mega X has few separate parts that need to be connected together. Gone are the days when you had to fully assemble a 3D printer from parts.

In general, the assembly is very simple: remove one of the bolts securing the horizontal bar (with wires on it), ask someone to raise the front of the printer and slide the frame toward the center of the printer. Then tighten the four bolts on each side.

Attach the filament sensor holder and thread spool holder.

Finally, connect four cables, all of them with connectors, it is very convenient to connect them.

The size of the working chamber

As already mentioned, Anycubic Mega X has a print volume of 300 x 300 x 305 mm. This is an impressive space, even when compared with other budget Large-area 3D printers. For example, compared to a 3D printer from the same line – Anycubic mega s – The volume has tripled, from 9 liters to 27!

The advantage of this build volume is not only the ability to print large objects. You can simultaneously print several parts of very large models or several different models at the same time. Before the trip, the author of the article urgently needed to print several holders, hangers, mounts and spare parts for the refrigerator. All this was able to print in one print cycle and finish the job in a night.

Dimensions and area of ​​the base

Make sure that the table that the printer is on is deep enough and the printer is far enough from the wall.

Like other Anycubic printers, Mega X components are mainly located at the bottom of the device. Therefore, the printer does not take up much space on the table. The coil holder, however, protrudes to the side, this must be taken into account.

The printer turned out to be quite compact: 50 cm wide and deep, but taking into account the full stroke along the Y axis, the maximum distance in depth is approximately 65 centimeters. Use this information when choosing a printer stand.

Print quality

The print is printed with a fairly low resolution: 0.2 mm layer thickness.

As expected from Anycubic Mega 3D PrinterThe Mega X prints in high quality.

The first print was not successful for the author. It turned out that the belt along the X axis was weakened, so we got small defects. It took about 30 seconds to disconnect 3 clamps, tighten the belt and tighten the clamps again.

The next print was better, but not perfect, because the Cura slicer was used incorrectly – the extruder temperature was set too high for the selected filament, and the speed of movement was unnecessarily increased.

After choosing the right settings, the prints began to turn out flawless, corresponding to the print quality of the author’s previous printer – Creality Ender 3.

Alignment

Giant handles greatly facilitate the leveling process.

Like most budget 3D printers, Anycubic Mega X offers manual alignment of the printing platform. Fortunately, with such adjustment knobs, this is very easy to do. Set the printer to zero, then insert a sheet of paper at all four corners in the form of X, adjusting each pen as needed.

The design of the handle and the small thread pitch of the leveling screw make it easy to micro-adjust with your fingers without using the entire hand and therefore not touching the platform.

Build quality

The Mega X 3D printer consists mainly of durable, stamped steel parts that fit well together. The car looks very solid.

Motion system design

Two cylindrical guides, two step screws along the Z axis and a wide profile along the Y axis increase stability.

Often, budget 3D printers have only one guide on the Z axis, but Mega X has two (and two motors). This eliminates vibration and improves print quality. In addition, the wide and stable double aluminum Y-axis carriage enhances stability.

The massive enclosure, containing the Mega X power supply and electronics, gives the printer extra stability.

Power Supply

The Mega X 3D printer uses a MeanWell power supply. Its advantages:

  • MeanWell power supply is assembled from high-quality components that ensure power stability;
  • the power supply fan turns on only when printing is in progress, so that in general the printer is quieter than usual;
  • The power supply has a fuse that is necessary to ensure the safety of any 3D printer.

Printed Table Material

The material on the printed table is quite interesting. Anycubic calls it the Ultrabase Platform. It consists of a heated aluminum layer on which there is a layer of borosilicate glass (with increased heat resistance and resistance to mechanical damage) with a thin mesh on top.

The model holds well on such a surface, so fixing it with hairspray or glue is not required.

Extruder

Like many FDM 3D Printers now, Mega Xs ​​are equipped with a Bowden type extruder. In short: in this model, the housing with the feed mechanism is separated from the hot end. The filament to the hot end is fed through a long tube. The heavy stepper motor, together with the casing, is mounted on the frame of a 3D printer, the carriage with a print head is light, so the printing speed increases.

The author did not like that the extruder tube touches the ball screw of the Z axis and can erase the lubricant. Maybe you should come up with some kind of holder.

Interface

At least until you configure OctoPrint, you have to use the Mega X touch screen to control the printer and start printing.

Well, as “have to”, in principle, it is convenient. The 3.5-inch color display gives a fairly wide viewing angle. The touch sensor is sensitive, and large menu items are convenient to press.

Each menu item is represented by a button with an icon. You need to understand the menu: the fact is that when you click on some items, an additional menu pops up, and when you press others, actions are immediately performed.

For example, touching the temperature icon brings up the temperature control menu, and touching the cooling icon turns off all heaters. Forward and backward navigation is also a bit confusing.

However, the menu works correctly, and most likely the interface will improve when updating the firmware. In any case, not very successful 3D printer user interfaces are common, that’s why there is such a printer management software as OctoPrint.

Printing process

For slicing the 3D model, the Cura slicer is used, but since the Anycubic Mega X is a recently released printer, you will have to manually configure it.

Write the .gcode file to any directory on the SD drive and insert it into the computer – the SD-USB adapter is included with the printer. Then, from the menu, start the printing process.

A small problem with downloading prints is that the printer recursively searches for any .gcode file on the SD card, even if it is deleted in the trash (in the .Trashes directory). This means that if you delete the file in the trash, but it remains on the SD card, the file will still appear on the print screen. For this reason, it is recommended that you regularly delete the .Trashes directory or choose a new name each time you save the file.

Mega X can print with the following materials:

  • PLA
  • ABS
  • TPU
  • HIPS;
  • Wood.

Mega X pauses automatically when there is a loss of power or a broken thread – this is very convenient.

Conclusion

So, if you are looking for a large, high-quality and inexpensive 3D printer, then Anycubic Mega X – great choice.

Buy Anycubic Mega X at the Top 3D Shop and get the original printer with a guarantee, excellent after-sales service and up to 20% discount on supplies until the end of the year.

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