Anycubic i3 Mega-S - 3D Printer Review - Chris's Basement

Man! Thanks for the noise warning. I guess I'm still looking for:
1.) Open Source Everything HW/SW
2.) Open Mod-Conscious Design
3.) Quiet Drivers/Fans
4.) Linear Rails/0.0x Precision
5.) SW Bed Leveling
6.) ABS Temperatures
7.) Foldaway Gantry
8.) Glass Bed
9.) 32b con w/ 3rd party availability
10.) Sub-$600 PP Deli2California

Just received and set up mine, I really like the thing. Thanks for the useful info!

Great , simple , concise review. Thanks

Waiting for my Mega-S to show up .

So, no silent stepper drivers, right? But easy to upgrade them?

can you print nylon with this?

I have this printer and installed TMC2088 drivers and Noctua Fans and it becomes a totally different printer all together

Awesome review and spot on. I replaced my hot end cover with a pla print, getting rid of the metal cover reduced noise tremendously, but I didn't stop there, I did capricorn tubing, flipped the bed because I prefer glass, swapped out the drivers for 2208 set to .85
And installed noctua 92mm fans over the board and in the power supply.
It's literally silent now. I couldn't be happier with still under 300 invested total

so this or the ender 3 (pro)?

The i3 Mega was my first printer going on 2 years now and it still prints great but my wife just about kicked it out of the house due to the excessive noise level. Man, this thing wines more than she does.

Hello can anyone suggest a simple 3d printer which has a minimum volume size of 15x15x15. I am looking for something hassle free but I do appreciate we are not there yet. I looked at the Flashforge adventurer 3 but wary of there support and a replacement nozzle costing $30.

Loved the video but I purchased the anycubic mega x and all I have had is nothing but problems unfortunately

Do not buy anything from this company. they will just take your money and you will get nothing in return. I paid for a 3d printer on the 7th of June and they have not sent a printer nor responded to any of my inquirers. they are a scam. do not buy from these people. I tried leaving a negative review and they just deleted it. Be warned.

Hello chris which board would you recommend buddy as an easy straight swap. Upgrade i watch all you skr tutorials, but must admit some do lose me, my main aim would be quieten down but 32 bit, and able to use the pause at layer either in cura or prusa, any help and a point to a video guide you've done would be ace.
Cheers

Great video! Just ordered one :) As I see it is quite loud, what fans and drivers upgrades would you consider to have a quieter printer?

Nice review but I have 2 questions about Printer: Firstly, can it Print TPU? Do you have any experience in printing TPU? I heard Mega fails TPU so they added Titan extruder to S model. Also how exactly loud does it work? I'm living in apartment so will it be a problem for my nextdoors?

Have you tested out printing with TPU?

Trigorilla equals fire hazard lol, those crash like mad and can crash hotend enabled

I've found the one! Thanks dude

My sister is doing a grant proposal to try and get her school's STEM program two 3D printers, so this will probably help her a lot

Which printer is good for beginner?

Great review well delivered , thanks

I've missed a lot of your vids (always good to have a back catalogue) - I was hoping you'd reviewed the Mega S because I bought one after you helped me fix my anycubic delta bot, keep up the good work.. ive just shared your link to a colleague, as I think you talk the most common sense..

I just got one of these as my first foray into 3d printing. My only regret is the strangled cat noises it makes, and sadly it does need to be nearby. All in all I'm satisfied with the results so far.

This or the ender 3 pro? If I can get either for the same price?

Thanks Chris

So i3 Mega or i3 Mega S remains the question :(

Thank you for your review. I bought one myself based on this video. I have no experience since before in 3d-printing and since i received it two days ago I'm now printing around the clock..

very useful review. especially the noise. as a first timer to printing the earlier version I3 Mega v2 looks interesting just for the saving in cost on the used market and it appears to have a lot less noise.

Thanks Chris, putting one together tonight. Found it on eBay for $155 had to give it a go.

I have found your videos just few weeks ago, but i really like them. You are talking right into the point, without a lot of unnecessary informations, and make all important points which are interesting and important. Thank you!

I have just purchased this printer, it does not switch off when a print is finished, is this normal or can I change this somewhere.
It means you can't leave it through the night incase a print finishes and it is just idling for hours.

no one one relying?

Just received mine, yet to assemble it.......boy this will be FUN!

To cut down the stringings, just play with the retraction speed and increase retraction distance, works wonders

Way to go

Hi, Chris good vídeo
Now i have a problem with My original BLtouch... In 1 point the Nozzle was to close to the bed And in the oposite side the Nozzle was to high but un the other esa fine
the offset was correct, the firmware was correct, the BLtouch distance was correct And the g-code was correct so what's wrong with the machine....

nice video Chris

I'm on my second year with the non-s version and yes it is a noisy contraption. But it was easily and relatively cheaply resolved with a set of new drivers. The extruder is the regular 1:1 I did however make a fitting so it would screw directly onto of the hot end. It prints flexible no issues this way and I'm still really satisfied with it's performance.

Once again thank you for a great video :-)

I'm having PTSD watching this. My first printer was a Wanhao i3, basically this printer minus filament run-out and direct drive system. So many headaches. Warped bed, non flashible firmware, control box on the side and needing a mosfet upgrade, frame shakes horribly, thin sheet metal frame was warped. Mine cost $400 too.

I respect you trying to get this bad boy working well. I gutted mine and put it on an aluminum frame with Prusa style parts following the ReDuplicator guide on thingiverse.

Great revival
Thanks for sharing👍😀

I installed some TMC2209 drivers to solve the noise issue, you can also easily compile your own Marlin with touch panel support, great printer, only issue is that the cables will break rather fast

unrealted but I had a video idea
you should do a comparison between capricorn and normal tubing! do stuff tune your settings. switch to capricorn and see if it reduces your retraction or helps in anyway.
just a thought :3

EDIT: PS that printer sadly uses a v5 hotend not a v6. it's weird and I don't know why...


sadly the newer versions seem to have a 32bit board without ANY info on them or anything making it really be just horrible. no more upgrading to tmc2208 or anything.
also a few of their wirings is weird and has no labels so it took me a lot of time to figure out what to do when messing with the insides. like the endstop/thermistor wires are all shared with the LCD board

this was my first printer. it honestly caused me a lot of issues. but after replacing all ball bearings with better ones that don't have play. replacing the threaded rod's nuts with anti backlash pom ones
and a few more (a v6 hotend) this thing prints far far better and is actually kinda good. I recently screwed it up tho i need to fix it again xD
also that extruder isn't the best. the gear that pushes the filament is one of those regular flat ones making it not be very reliable and changing the tension can mess with the extrusion rate.

Also that y carriage could use a huge redesign from their part. it seems t be a chunky flat stainless steel sheet. while they could reshape it to something like the mk3's and even switch to aluminium to make it lighter. i'm sure it won't have issues with the correct shape (like an x)

one tip: try not to pull parts from the ultrabase when it's still hot and wait for it to cool down. that way it'll last longer. mine lasted me a week or two

Yeah, I've got an older Anycubic i3 Mega (not S). This matches up to my experience as well.
I was snickering when you started talking about the fan noise. If you figure out how to stuff a Noctua in there, please post a video.
Also, after a few years of rough use the belts are getting a bit slack. Any tips on how to tighten them up?

great review thanks! i'm leaning ender 5 pro, any advice? my main goals are quiet enough for office use and TPA capable. THANKS!

Is that really a Bowden tube ? Looks more like a filament guide so it should not matter what make the tube is.

easy to put together

Thanks... I'll search on Amazon or Bangood for it...