3D printing is a crucial technology that is equally important to hobbyists and the aerospace, automotive, healthcare, and defense industries. The Anycubic Vyper is a clone of the Creality Ender 3 like so many other similar vehicles. The clones frequently only offer little improvements here and there and sometimes a better buildplate. However, the Vyper has upgraded nearly every component of the Ender 3 blueprint. It features an entirely new double-gear extruder, a new 32-bit mainboard, and a set of injection-molded finishes that contain tuning screws to help with belt tension.
Anycubic Vyper review: Design
The Anycubic Vyper is an extremely distinctive-looking 3D printer thanks to its side-mounted spool holder and huge plastic cover coverings. The Creality CR-6 SE, a printer with a similarly distinctive appearance, has a similar side-mounted spool and strain-gauge automatic bed levelling system. The Vyper’s overall construction quality impressed us, and the injection-molded covers on the motion components feel like they were made of premium plastic. The Neptune 2’s aluminum extrusions have a smooth, matte black finish with V-slots for the rollers on the sides. The front-facing surfaces of the frame are unslotted, which gives the machine a very tidy and expert appearance. The typical 2020-style aluminum extrusions used for 3D printer frames have always given us the impression that they somewhat resemble a high school robotics project, which can be unprofessional in a professional setting. The dual-geared extruder system is completely enclosed by the clear enclosure fitted to the Vyper. With an adjustable level of tension, the Bowden system pulls the filament from the spool to the hot end while compensating for material stripping. The Vyper’s in-line design, which flows filament through a run-out sensor and right into the extruder module, is something we enjoy. The printer will immediately halt the construction process if the filament supply runs out so you may reload it. This is a crucial feature for a printer with a high print volume like the Vyper to avoid an unexpected part failure during a lengthy print. Belt tensioners on the X and Y axes make it possible to change the tension of the belt without completely disassembling the printer. The flexibility to make modifications like this is a wonderful touch for a printer built to be a workhorse like the Vyper because the belts can stretch out over time. The Vyper has a built-in drawer on the bottom of the printer that allows you to discreetly store frequently used tools. We are big fans of this type of storage because it makes finding the right tool quick and easy. For example, having quick access to an Allen key or tweezers can help save a print that is about to fail.
Features
The interface makes it simple to access the automatic levelling capability; it is prominently displayed on the home page with choices for setting up and preheating your preferred filament. The AnyCubic Vyper is an absolute blessing in contrast to most printers that must be manually calibrated using a sheet of paper and modest, controlled modifications. By choosing “Auto-leveling,” the Vyper will begin the process of precisely locating 16 various areas on the printer bed and establishing light contact with the surface with the nozzle. In addition to taking less than three minutes to complete, this calibration is really saved, obviating the need for ongoing modifications (provided your printer doesn’t move). The best part is that it functions flawlessly. The machine only needed to be levelled once during initial setup, and it kept its calibration until it was transferred to a new place. Even then, we only re-leveled it out of an abundance of caution. Regardless of your level of 3D printing expertise, it’s difficult to overstate how beneficial this is. Other features include the ability to easily pause a print when the available filament runs out or the power is turned off and resume it later, as well as dual cooling fans to quickly cool your prints and enable impressive printing speeds. Although speeds of up to 180mm/s are possible, it is advised that you stick with speeds of between 80 and 100mm/s for prints of higher quality. The heated bed is a steel sheet with a mild texture that is kept in place by magnets, making it simple to remove for cleaning or routine maintenance. This also makes it simpler to remove your finished prints from the bed if the cooled print material has stuck to it too firmly. Instead of using the plastic spatula that comes with the printer to wriggle under the prints, you can just “peel” away the bed. If you want a spatula on hand, you should probably invest in a metal one because it took us only a few uses before we discovered the edge was warping. Although some material does become attached to the surface if the layers are especially thin and this can be difficult to remove, being textured stops things from sliding about mid-print.
Anycubic Vyper review: Software
Anycubic provides the open-source Cura package for software, and it ships it with the Vyper on an SD card. The Vyper was not listed as one of the Anycubic printers supported by Cura at the time we tested it, but there is a workaround. The Anycubic i3 Mega is supported by Cura and can be added, its name changed to Anycubic Vyper from Manage Printers, and its X, Y, and Z (width, depth, and height) values changed to those of the Vyper in the Machine Settings dialogue box. With Cura’s full-featured suite, you can load, change (3D object files can be moved, scaled, rotated, mirrored, and added supports), slice (3D object files can be split into layers for printing), and save 3D files. The common. STL and.OBJ file formats, as well as the less well-known. DAE and. AMF file types, are all supported by the Vyper. Draft (300 microns), Normal (200 microns), the default setting, and High are the resolution options available (100 microns). The Vyper is backed by a 12-month warranty from Anycubic. As is the case with the Vyper, 3D printer warranties are frequently shorter than those for other tech products. Prusa, a rival printer manufacturer, offers more generous two-year warranties on its products.
Calibrating and Leveling
With the Anycubic Vyper, there is no longer any need to manually calibrate the printer using thumbscrews and a piece of paper because the bed levelling operation is automatic. In fact, there aren’t even any thumbscrews to turn because the construction platform on the Vyper is fixed directly to the moving gantry. The majority of automatic bed levelling procedures still require some level of operator involvement (such as the hybrid method used by the Flashforge Adventurer 3 Lite), but the Vyper is a one-button operation that requires no operator involvement at all. also you will learn our article on Anycubic Vyper review. The Vyper will immediately start levelling after you press the “Auto-leveling” button. The nozzle will gradually descend and make contact with the bed at each of the 16 places that the Vyper utilizes to calculate the offsets for the build surface at any given point. The auto bed-leveling process only took a few minutes, which impressed us. Contrary to printers like the Prusa Mini+, which runs the calibration before each print, the Vyper runs the calibration as needed, and during the course of our extensive testing, we only once ran it. This saves time and stops the calibration from running unnecessarily, but if you wanted to run the calibration before each print, it could be easily added to the starting gcode.
Performance
On the SD card are a profile for the Vyper and a version of Ultimaker Cura. The most popular slicing programme is Cura, which converts 3D models into the code needed for printers to construct models by printing layers on top of each other. You can print a preliminary test using the small owl figure that is included as.gcode on the SD card after levelling the bed. Before printing anything that uses a lot of PLA, you can do this to test that everything is functioning as it should. It also uses very little filament. The 3DBenchy, a miniature boat that serves as a 3D printer torture test, was then cut using Cura. The outcome was remarkably clean. With the exception of a small under-extrusion on the horizontal area at the back (which resulted in gaps between the extruded filament), it was one of the best we’ve seen in terms of stringing. also you can check our article on Anycubic Vyper review. A noticeable z-seam was the sole blemish. It is exactly what it sounds like: a vertical line on the print that resembles the point where the sides join, and it is brought on by the nozzle stopping at the same location on each layer. There are several ways to do this, including using Cura’s z-seam option in the Shell settings. It would be great to see Anycubic optimize the Cura profile for this to get the best print quality. When printing, you may modify the print speed and temperature using the Vyper’s touchscreen, which can be helpful if you notice a problem in the middle of printing. The lack of information and settings may feel limiting to expert users but is acceptable for newbies. The auto-resume feature operates as promised, but in order to make use of it, you must print from an SD card and position your model close to the back of the bed. Generally speaking, prints stuck to the flexible bed nicely and were simple to remove after printing. The fact that the Vyper prints quietly is a major benefit. The cooling fans, which cool the filament as soon as it is extruded, are the only sounds you’ll hear. This is a crucial point to remember when running longer prints overnight because it won’t interfere with your sleep, even though you won’t want to be in the same room.
Anycubic Vyper review: Price and availability
For the first 3,000 units sold, the AnyCubic Vyper is currently available for pre-order on the AnyCubic website for consumers in the US and EU areas for $299 (about £210/€250/AU$390). Once the initial early bird deal has run out, it will be sold for $359 (about £255, €300, or AU$460), which is the regular price. Although it’s not the cheapest FDM printer available, it’s still a fairly economical choice that makes it accessible to both those looking to purchase their first printer and those looking to replace an older model. This puts it in direct competition with products like the Creality CR-6 SE, which is currently listed for $307 (roughly £220 or €250), making it a more affordable alternative to the Original Prusa MINI, which costs $399 (roughly €419). The AnyCubic Vyper is a great buy and more than a fair price for what you’re getting, especially when you consider how many features you get in comparison to these two other products.
Conclusion
The Anycubic Vyper, which has a larger print surface and support for automatic print-bed leveling, is an improvement over the company’s Mega S. Although you will need to adjust a few parameters to enable Cura software to function with the Vyper, its fundamental setup is simple. It’s a good option for a user who has some 3D printing experience and wants to try their hand at larger prints. Despite having printed for easily 1000+ hours, all belts and motors remain in good shape. Only minor adjustments have been required, in addition to the usual nozzle wear and tear. Is the Anycubic Vyper thus worthwhile? Yes, Anycubic has made it simple for anyone to enter the 3D printing industry with excellent prints right out of the box and with little calibration or tweaks.
