ANET N4 V1.60 DLP 3D Printer Product Review

Me :p

Today we will be looking at the Anet N4 V1.60 Printer. It is a nice and compact resin printer that has simple functionality as well as design. I will give a brief overview of my experience that I had messing around with it and what are the benefits as well as areas of improvement that could have resulted from my experience. I did not get paid for this review and am not making money from affiliate marketing. 3DPrint.com itself also did not get paid for this revue and is not making money off of affiliate marketing on this review either. The printer was sent to me for evaluation. 

Anet is a 3D printing company that was established from Shenzhen, China in 2015. They have grown rapidly within the past few years. They have done a lot of work to become a worldwide competitor within the 3D Printing industry. Anet is currently one of the largest 3D printer vendors worldwide. In this low-cost printer, segment quality remains a big problem and this has plagued some Anet systems. How will Anet manage with a DLP printer? 

As an international supplier of 3D printers, it is important to make sure that their shipping and handling is done properly. The representatives from Anet were very precise and on time in terms of the international shipment from Shenzhen to my location in Chicago. Honestly, I took longer to receive the item and mess with the printer than they did in shipping it over. This printing shipment took about a week to arrive. The box that it came in was a nice and simple design aesthetic that showcased their product in a minimalist manner while being sturdy. 

Anet N4 3D Printer Packaging

When I opened the package, various parts of the printer and tools needed to build it were neatly packed within styrofoam. This allowed for simple unpacking and usage. Then the build process was ready to be conducted. The printer itself is of a medium size build. From a basic look at the device it should be nice for small and quick prototypes. 

The parameters of the product include the following:

• Layer precision: 40-100 micrometers
• Product Dimension: 230 * 235 * 380mm
• Printing precision: 47 micrometers
• Product weight: 6.5 ± 0.1 kg
• Z axis resolution: 0.001 mm
• Printing speed: 5 -10s/layer
• Moving speed: 5-10mm/s
• Software language: Chinese/English
• USB Connector for files
• Slice software AlPrint
• Operating System: Windows 7 and higher
• Build Volume: 120*65*138mm
• 3.5 inch LCD color touch screen
• STL file format support
• Output file format: N4
• Environmental requirements: Temperature 0 – 40 degrees C, Humidity 5-80%

Anet N4

The user manual was easy to understand and follow. If anything could be improved within this manual, there could be a section for common errors that could happen when setting up your printer. This should be expanded upon. The printer was having problems in terms of automatically calibrating at some times. It seemed that it would vibrate the whole printer if the motor and z axis did not realize that it had reached the end of its travel. This made a large clicking and humming noise, but the print was not affected by this. I am sure there may be something I may be missing in terms of setup that could cause this. Still, though the prints I made came out successfully. Some were a bit rough in certain areas of the print, but I believe that was due to the complex geometry of the part. Prints often also require some post-processing, as most 3D prints do anyhow.

Successful Print

One concern is the lack of open source software capability with this particular printer. This is not the largest concern though as this is a universal concern with SLA and DLP printers. The interface and online interaction is standard for a 3D printer, but this is a good system for this company that is still growing.

The only other concern I had about the product was the LCD screen. It lacked a certain amount of responsiveness. This can become frustrating as this is the main way of interfacing with the printer. From the looks of the device though, someone who is DIY inclined may be able to install a new screen with higher responsiveness if they choose. 

The overall grade I give to this printer is a 8/10. The printer did a great job of printing and creating parts. There are just a few things in terms of user interface and build quality needed for this product to be at a 10/10 rating.

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