With the development of technology, we now can have what used to be a part or size of an industrial machinery. Things such as computers or printing machines, used to be so big that it is not likely to be owned by a normal household. This is the same case for what happened with 3D printers nowadays. Today, we will take a look and compare two 3D printers made from a pretty well-known company in 3D printing enthusiast, the Anycubic i3 Mega S and the Creality Ender 3 3D printer.
Anycubic i3 Mega S
First, let us take a look into the Anycubic i3 Mega S 3D printer. Anycubic is a company which specializes in the 3D printing business. The company itself has already sold 3D printers since 2015. The i3 Mega S 3D printer is the latest iteration of their Mega series 3D printer. Read also: Creality Ender 3 vs Monoprice Maker Select V2.
When you receive the Anycubic i3 Mega S 3D printer, you will receive it in a box in a disassembled condition. The installation itself is pretty simple with a manual book that you can use as a reference. Other than the 3D printer itself, you will also receive tools and accessories such as plier, filament, data cable, power cord, and some tool kits. When it is fully assembled, the i3 Mega S is measured at 405 mm long, 410 mm wide, and 453 mm tall (15 inches x 16 inches x 17 inches), with total weight all around of 11 kg or 24 lbs.
Just like most 3D printer in the market, the Anycubic i3 Mega S 3D printer use FDM or Fused Deposition Modeling as its modeling technology. You might also known its common name which is the FFF or Fused Filament Fabrication. Both are the same modeling technology. The i3 Mega S has printing surface of 210 mm x 210 mm x 205 mm (8.27 inches x8.27 inches x8.07 inches), which is good enough to print medium size to large size model. It also comes equipped with heated bed to allows your cast stay in shape and makes it easy to remove the printing result when finished. The heated bed of i3 Mega S can reach up to 110-degree Celsius. The i3 Mega S has travel speed of 100 mm/s, makes it quite on par with other 3D printer model in the market. The i3 Mega S can be said as versatile printer, as it can use many types of filament from PLA, ABS, HIPS, and Wood.
| Anycubic i3 Mega S | Creality Ender 3 | |
|---|---|---|
  |   |
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| Product Dimensions | 16.14 x 15.95 x 17.83 inches | 8.7 x 8.7 x 9.8 inches |
| Shipping Weight | 24.25 Pounds | 17.64 Pounds |
| Best offer | Check price | Check price |
As the norm in the market, the i3 Mega S can take a model to be printed in two ways. The first one being with a Micro SD Card. With this way, you can just insert the card and do a small setting in the screen such as selecting the model and adjusting the necessary procedure before printing, and the printer is good to go. Meanwhile, the other ways are through a USB port connected to your PC. This will require some previous knowledge of using the designated software, so it is recommended only if you already use this 3D printer long enough.
Creality Ender 3
Now, let us take a look into the Creality Ender 3 3D printer. Creality is a company that specialized in the 3D printing business since its inception in 2014. The Ender 3 is one of the two series of 3D printers that they have already sold in the market and the third generation of the Ender series.
When you receive the Creality Ender 3 3D printer for the first time, you will receive in a box in parts. You will need to assemble the 3D printer before using it. Inside the box, there is a manual book that can help you to do this. You can also get this manual from the Creality official website. For its price, the Ender 3 can be said as a big 3D printer, with the whole set up when it is finished being assembled, being 440 mm long, 410 mm wide, and 465 mm tall; 17” x 16” x 18.3”. Also, when fully assembled, the Ender 3 has a weight of 8 kgs, or 17.6 lbs. The Creality Ender 3 3D printer is powered with cord which requires 100-265 Volt 50-60 Hz to work.
The Creality Ender 3 3D printer uses FDM modeling technology, or Fused Deposition Modeling. This modeling technology uses heated plastic material as the main ingredients to create the result. For the printing size of the Ender 3, it has a surface area of 220 mm long and wide, and 250 mm tall; 8” tall and wide x 9.8” tall. The Ender 3 is also equipped with a heated bed. This will ensure your printed result does not cool too quickly after being cast, which might affect the result of the printing if it happens. The heat up process of the heated bed is also fairly quick, with its bed being able to reach 110-degree Celsius in just under 5 minutes. This will speed up the printing process as you do not need to wait for the bed to reach the ideal temperature for long. To be operational, the Ender 3 requires a standard 1.75 mm plastic filament, be it PLA, TPU, or ABS, to be fed into its nozzle. The Ender 3 can print with a maximum of 0.4 mm thickness with printing precision of more or less 0.1 mm. The Ender 3 also can be said as a fast printer with its ability to print at maximum speed of 185 mm/s.
The Ender 3 can also be said to be versatile, as it can receive data from SD card or while directly connected into your computer. It also can resume its works after being shut down. This gives you flexibility of the time when you want to print your model. No longer you need to let it on for all day and night just to print a model until it is finished.
Anycubic i3 Mega S vs Creality Ender 3
Conclusion
All in all, the Creality Ender 3 might be your best choice as your first 3D printer. This 3D printer is comparatively cheaper than Anycubic i3 Mega S 3D printer, with the previous being 199.00 USD while the latter is 239.00 USD. An overall similarity in performance and capability also makes Ender 3 become much better on top of that.