My darling Significant Other wants to buy me a 3D printer (specifically an Anycubic Photon) for Christmas. We live in the UK and I am not having much luck finding a reputable vendor.

Can anyone recommend a reliable reseller, ideally in the UK or EU?

Thanks,

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NetEpic Necron Army Book

[ jodrell.org | @j_plays_games | @jodrellplaysgames ]

Amazon.

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Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

There's a seller on Amazon called "ANYCUBIC Store (UK)" who is actually Chinese, and their profile page doesn't exactly inspire confidence:

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NetEpic Necron Army Book

[ jodrell.org | @j_plays_games | @jodrellplaysgames ]

Just checked the VAT number and it does seem legit...

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NetEpic Necron Army Book

[ jodrell.org | @j_plays_games | @jodrellplaysgames ]

Can't you go through the official site? With the recent sale it was the cheapest option for me.

Apoc just recently purchased an anycubic. Might want to rap with him.

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He's a lawyer and a super-villian. That's like having a shark with a bazooka!

-I HAVE NO POINT
-Penal Legion-Fan list
-Help me make Whitescars not suck!

I got mine from amazon from that exact seller a few of months ago, all fine. It's a Chinese made product from a Chinese company, so if that puts you off it won't matter where you buy it! It shipped from the UK. The instructions are in … not great but readable english.

Important note for UK use I was not aware off: the resin is temperature sensitive. Prints will fail in low temperature, the liquid resin wants to be 20C+ (YMMV depending on resin type/brand, some wants to be even warmer).
This is awkward in the UK in winter if you also want to have it in a well ventilated space like a shed (due to toxic fumes) and keep it above 20C. Currently not running mine until i get a little heater set up to go inside the case.

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

I ended up running a fan heater on mine IOT print those lightnings you found, worked quite well

I bought one from Amazon for business use, I must admit I found the whole prep for printing a pain in the ass, the process very slow and the clean up a nightmare. Nothing i've printed has met my satisfaction and I found the whole experience rather disappointing, On the whole I much prefer proper castings to printed models.

If your willing to spend hours to find the right settings for what you want to print, which by the way changes for each resin type used, commit time to adding in additional supports so it will print fully, not mind the resin smell in the house, or the IPA fumes for clean up operations, then by all means give it a go. But for me the things sat in a corner and been pretty much ignored for a month or so now, I just can't be bothered with it.

I may make use of it for prototyping and or scale tests but cannot see me ever making miniatures with it, I like the real thing and so its the traditional method for me.

Really printing at home is an entire hobby in its own right one I really don't have time to commit to or interest enough to bother with the all to steep learning curve, and that's when it is working properly.

Just my experience and IMHO of course.

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Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

yeah its an absolute pig, agreed with dakka, mine would have got sent back without junkstar's patient input

that said, was feeling like id got the hang of it until recent failures, which are hopefully just temperature related.

awful/awkward to use … but also absolute game changer. You'll hate it, but you should still get one

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

Thanks for the comments all! I was able to contact Anycubic and they confirmed that the seller I found on Amazon *was* their official UK reseller, and my SO has now purchased my Christmas present (in fact I think it's currently sitting in the porch).

Point noted about the temperature issue!

_________________
NetEpic Necron Army Book

[ jodrell.org | @j_plays_games | @jodrellplaysgames ]

make sure you get some isopropyl alcohol to go with it

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

Some feed back about some faults you might run into.

I have had a 3D printer for well over 6 months now, and printed up a storm of Epic minis and terrain. My Creality CR-10 S4 has had the following faults or problems that I had to learn how to fix/repair from online videos and help from chat sites. Trial and error, and a lot of problems which caused some of the prints to stuff up.

The latest problem - The drive belt on the Y axis broke due to too much tension, and because of the Xmas break and the cost of postage from the U.S.A. to Australia, I chose standard post, so it could take 4 to 5 weeks till the replacement part will arrive. Then I have to refit the replacement, and make sure the tension is not too loose or too tight.

Another problem, the grub screws holding the cog mounted on the Y-axis step motor spindle became loose causing the drive belt to slip while printing, and the layers on the print job moved askew of each other. I noticed that when it was pulled out of alignment the step motor on the y-axis was making a grinding noise because the spindle was being pulled off centre. I tightened them and used loctite 243 to stop them slipping.

Again anothwer problem - the extruder step motor was making a wierd noise but kept turning. However the tension arm kept slipping making clunking noises and the PLA would not feed, or fed very thinly. The result is that the print layers looked stringy or just did not print. I found out that it turned out to be the one of 2 things. The PLA was manufactured with small impurities which clogged the small 0.2mm extruder head. The second reason is the Teflon guide tube that guides the PLA into the heating element and extruder head was pushed through too far and started to burn and degrade. Small bits of it broke off and clogged the extruder. Once this was fixed and the extruder cleaned out, everything was okay.

Another problem I have run into is when the z-axis screw rods were not seated evenly into the lock/spinning clamps (just above the step motor). This had 2 effects, first the bed was on a slight angle, and second the z-axis step motor kept slipping and making a noise. I had to trial and error spin one or the other to even them up.

The last thing that I have had problems with is that the glass plate/sheet which I bull clipped onto the heating bed had a bow in it. This is easily confirmed by running a straight rule across the glass sheet and seeing if you can see any gaps. What this does is that the PLA does not always get to stick to the bed plate as well as you would like. If you notice this, then turn the glass plate over, and it will eventually start to drop down again, but the tempory fix can be repeated. Either that or spend money on replacing both the heating bed late and glass plate, but the replacements might also have a bow in the centre.

If you find the PLA does not stick to the plate, there are a couple of things you can do to make it stick. Normal UHU magic stick (glue stick) rubbed thinly onto the plate does work. I also found that you do not need it sometimes, if you adjust the height screws manually while it is printing, but this can also cause problems to the print.

Make sure you level the print bed every few prints, especially if you are printing large print jobs. I also find that if I pause the print job when the print head loses its position, followed by setting it to auto home, before resuming the print, that the print head often realigns itself back to where it should be.

I hope these help you with some of the many problems you can often run into using a 3D printer.

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6mm wargaming is just like 25mm wargaming with more units fitting on the same size table. Thus bigger games to get lost in and avoid the hassles of everyday living, and offerings for the dice gods.

I have to say I was excited to get a resin printer until this thread. For the people that have been at it since this thread was written have things got any better or should I sit on the sidelines until a new (better) generation of the tech comes out?