Whoever said that ‘size does not matter’ had obviously never seen the Anycubic Chiron and its jaw-dropping dimensions.
The Anycubic Chiron printer basically measures a commanding 25.5” W x 24” D x 28.3” H (or 0.65m wide, 0.61m deep, and 0.72m tall). So before you buy one, be sure to check and see if you have enough room on your desk or basement workbench if you want to store or work with this massive hulk of a machine.
The Anycubic Chiron has a total actual build volume that measures an absolutely astounding 15.6” W x 15.6” D x 17.7” H (0.4m W x 0.4m D x 0.45m H). There are very few 3D printers that can print out objects requiring such a large build volume. Let us check out this machine in this detailed Anycubic Chiron Review.
Anycubic Chiron Review and Performance
Assembly
When we first started this Anycubic Chiron review we found out that the device is too massive to be shipped completely assembled. This is why Anycubic dispatches their Chiron 3D printers in a partially unassembled state.
Assembly is rather easy, though. You’d simply have to mount the frame to the unit’s base and connect the wiring and cabling of the machine. Expect to spend 20-30 minutes on initial assembly. Far easier than your typical Ikea chair.
Anycubic also made assemby a little easier by putting all ports and connections on the same right-hand side of the machine.
Apart from the printer, the whole package also contains the following items:
- A removable sensor for extra fine calibration
- PLA filament spool
- A spare hot end
- A comprehensive toolkit for assembly of the printer
- USB cable
- Tweezers
- Detailed instruction manual
- SD card along with its card reader Gloves
- Pliers
- Spatula
Initial impressions
The engineers at Anycubic HQ have drawn their inspiration from the frame style popularized by Creality’s immensely popular CR-10 3D printer model. They took the basic outline and improved upon it to create the Chiron.
Overall, the general appearance as well as the cabling of the Anycubic Chiron 3D printer is neat, clean, and tidy. The drag chain houses its thermistor along with its temperature probe.
The multiple fans keep the machine cool and its leveling probe cables tend to keep everything well organized. The PTFE filament guide tube is the only projection that protrudes directly from the machine’s hot end.
Keeping the minimalist design in mind, the mainboard, power supply, along with other important electronic components have been stowed inside the base of the Anycubic Chiron. The SD card reader, USB port, and all power and cable connections have been placed on the same side for ease of use, too.
Design
After years of working in the small to medium-sized market, the good people at Anycubic HQ decided to play with the big boys. Anycubic’s stab at the major leagues took the shape of the large format desktop 3D printer they named the ‘Chiron’.
The huge printing frame consists of solid black and yellow accents that are pleasing to the eye. Compared with many of the other popular 3D printers this thing is at least 2 to 3 times the normal size of other printers in its price range.
This machine may be large, but it is certainly not very expensive and clocks in at under $400 or so (depending on retailer to retailer). This is a big and bombastic looking 3D printer and it has been appropriately named on a mythological Greek centaur.
On paper, the Anycubic Chiron certainly has the mojo to take on other large printers that are way beyond its price class. A Titan-like Anycubic Chiron duel extruder set up has been paired to Anycubic’s E3D V6-like hotend.
The former has a constrained filament path that effectively takes care of most over and under extrusion issues and thus effectively ensures a hassle and frustration-free 3D printing experience.
3D printing basically takes place on a truly huge sheet of Anycubic’s proprietary Ultrabase Pro heated bed. This bed is much bigger and better than the plain vanilla Ultrabase present on the Anycubic i3 Mega. The Ultrabase Pro on the Chiron printer is much larger and also contains some decorative patterns.
Unlike many other manufacturers, Anycubic delivers all of its 3D printers with a complete set of documents. As a matter of fact, all of the materials regarding this machine such as the assembly and operation manual, its specifications, as well as the required software are easily available on the supplied SD card available with the printer.
Important Features of the Anycubic Chiron
Some of the Chiron’s differentiating features (apart from the massive volume) include:
Large LCD Touch Screen Display
The liquid crystal display (LCD) touch-screen is very large and it has been mounted at a very easy-to-see and use angle. It is convenient to operate and responds very quickly responds to any commands you give to the machine.
Proprietary Ultrabase Print Bed
The machine has been suitably well-equipped with a proprietary quick-heating glass Ultrabase print bed. This allows you to print in a large variety of diverse filament materials that also including ABS, TPU, PLA, as well as PETG.
As may be expected, the cutting edge Ultrabase coating on the print bed makes both adhering and subsequent removal of the models a whole lot easier when compared to most other conventional print beds.
High Precision
In part because of the printer’s huge and hulking size, print speeds tend to be predictably slow and they hover around 20-30mm per second or so. The overall travel speed tends to max out at around 60mm/s.
However, the sheer precision of this machine almost always remains high. This holds particularly true when the Chiron prints in high resolutions that go up to 50 microns and above. Moreover, the Chiron also produces really great-looking results when you print in ABS and PLA.
Solid Frame
The frame has been well-constructed from solid extruded aluminum. This is a very important feature of the Chiron 3D printer because it provides much-needed rigidity to the entire construction of the machine. This printer essentially works on the Cartesian kinematic system.
‘Titanic’ Extruder
The Anycubic Chiron dual extruder closely resembles the (by now ubiquitous) Titan extruder in its construction. Since Titan is very popular amongst the 3D enthusiasts’ community, this is a solid investment right here. The extruder that comes bundled with the Chiron can work with a large variety and range of diverse filaments, including TPU as well.
Mechanical Filament Run-Out Sensor
The 3D printer has been equipped with its own mechanical filament run-out sensor. This is a very useful function for anyone who likes to print a lot of 3D objects. In fact, it also allows 3D object makers to reduce the total amount of defective products.
Super Quick Heat Bed
The machine’s heat bed has been supplied with a 24-volt power supply instead of the regular 12 volts one. It is powerful enough to allow this huge machine to go from cold to printing temperature very quickly indeed. Moreover, the rock-solid aluminum sheet located underneath the Ultrabase Pro reaches out to all the corners of the bed.
This means that there is consistent heat and stable adhesion regardless of the overall size of the prints. However, its bed leveling feature doesn’t work properly.
Anycubic Chiron Tech Specs
The bare bone specs of this printer include:
- Technology: FDM
- Make: Anycubic
- Frame: Cartesian
- Model: Chiron
- Category: Desktop, preassembled
- Nozzle size: 0.4 mm
- Year: 2018
- X/Y-axis accuracy: 12 microns
- Print area: 400 x 400 x 450 mm
- Max. bed temp: 100°C
- Z-axis accuracy: 2 microns
- Power input: 24 volts
- Max. nozzle temp: 260°C
- Max. print speed: 100 mm/s
- Max. travel speed: 60 mm/s
- Max. Z-axis resolution: 50 microns to 300 microns
- Printer weight: 15 kg
- 3rd Party material compatibility: Yes
- Interface: TFT display
- Boxed size: TFT display
- Printer size: 651 x 612 x 720 mm
Pros
- This printer is absolutely huge
- Very high quality build plate
- The Ultrabase pro print bed is very impressive
- Edge to edge heating is very quick
- Exceptional build volume for large scale printing applications
- Ideal for quality prints
Cons
- The auto leveling feature doesn’t always work as expected
- There are plenty of packaging and shipment related issues
- There isn’t enough Anycubic Chiron firmware support
- There aren’t many Anycubic Chiron upgrades currently available in the market
Conclusion
Summing up, the Anycubic Chiron is a giant in the world of 3D printers. If you are in the market for something massive that can churn out very large prints this is the machine to get; especially when it comes to purchasing a large and high quality printer on a budget.
You can find them on Amazon, but be sure to check their website as well and happy (mega sized) printing!
