CONTACT ANYCUBIC SUPPORT FIRST!
This should be your first point of contact for faulty machines, some of the fixes here may void your warranty, proceed at your own risk! (Anycubic Support Contact Page)
The following issues and solutions have been compiled from cases reported by Photonsters in the Anycubic Photon Printer Owners Group on Facebook.
IMPORTANT NOTE!
As of September 2019, Anycubic has been shipping printers which deceptively look like Photon printers but are not. These new printers are incompatible with the original Photon printers. The troubleshooting guides and fixes provided here do not apply to this new printer.
- Filenames on USB stick must not contain special characters as the Photon will not read them. Try also to avoid long filenames although they have been confirmed to be fine. (FB post)
- Faulty internal USB cable. (loose or bad connection, causing random resets)
- Random resets possibly caused by internal memory buffer issue.
- Z-wobble.
- Included USB stick is faulty. (replace with known good usb formatted FAT32)
- Bad PSU brick. (included with older Photons before yellow windows)
- Random resets / reboots.
- Random freezes mid-print. (usually usb related)
- LCD half screen issues.
- LCD screen flickering during print or corrupted and shifted layers or artifacts. (FB post1) (FB post2) (FB post3))
- Screen cable broken / sheared during shipping.
- Mainboard failure. (see how to test video)
- Memory errors.
- Dead motor / Z axis. (FB post)
- Failure to set homing offset values. (config.gcode issue, reflash config.gcode)
- Layers shifting/shearing on LCD during print. (occurs on certain files, firmware issue, downgrade to v4.0.11 to fix)
- Loose print bed head / print head too short. (build plate assembly issue)
- Slicer does not display STL. (PC graphics board driver issue)
- Slicer up to 1.3.6 has a floating point bug in layer sizes other than 50u making layer height float. (FB post)
- Z motor stops moving mid-print, LCD keeps exposing resin, no error message, stopping print and moving Z via menu works.
- LCD screen light bleed. UV test rectangle shows dimly, low contrast, entire screen letting UV through slightly. Possibly fpga/contrast issue reported fixable by firmware update. (FB post)
- LCD stops displaying layer slices halfway through a print, all other functions still continues. (FB post) (Youtube video)
- Squares print rhomboid, circles are skewed.
- Build Plate Does Not Reach Z0 Bottom.
- *.photon sliced file prepared in anycubic/chitu slicer v1.3.6 or Chitubox is not detected or won't print on an original Photon printer.
- Check firmware version of printer, if it shows v3.4.x then it is not an original Photon. You have a new Photon, otherwise known as a Fauxton. These are new printers that look like an original Photon but the motherboard and firmware has been changed.
- Try to reslice your model and obtain *.pws output files. These are the only files that will print on a Fauxton.
- If you have been sold one of these new printers without your knowing, you may try to seek resolution from your Seller.
- Printing freezes at random points, resets to homescreen.
- Random freezes with error code. (see error codes below)
- File browser not displaying any models.
- USB key light indicator is off, but plugged in (it should always be on.)
- If you wiggle the USB key, you can read files again.
- Replace stock USB key with a known good branded one, formatted to FAT32.
- Only have one file on USB, using short name and no non english characters or spaces.
- If problem still occurs you might have defective USB extension cable or faulty mainboard.
- Video instructions for checking USB cable Youtube video
- Test with a new USB Extension cable. this is male to female type, you can easily access this by removing the four screws holding the rear vent panel. UNPLUG POWER BEFORE DOING THIS! Unplug the male connector to the mainboard and plug in a replacement, then plug in your USB key. If this fixes the problem, contact Anycubic for a replacement cable as it uses a special external mount.
- If you have a small USB key, you can plug it directly to the mainboard for testing, (Not recommended as a permanent solution.)
- If the problem isn't solved with replacement USB cable, then you might have a faulty mainboard. Contact Anycubic immediately for a replacement or new machine. Firmware updates will not solve the USB issue.
- Before printing try to remove power cable with no USB plugged in, wait for 1 min then plug power and USB back in. Possible cause might be IC Memory buffer issue, unplugging the power should reset it. (Update 15-07-18)
- Check printer driver reference voltage is between 1.07V to 1.16V. If not, tune it to around those figures. FB post (confirmed by Laszlo Cook.)
- Check power supply unit (PSU) version. Early versions are known to be faulty. Replace with another 12V 6A unit. Comparison photo
The Anycubic Photon Slicer currently does not support intergrated graphics driver, or resolutions above 2K.
- The build plate easily tilts side to side even when grub/mount screw is tightened,
- The build plate sits too high from the FEP and cannot lower any further. Photo of the print bed assembly here
- Disassemble build plate assembly, clean and reseat ball joint. Youtube video
- Check your build plate mount screws. Youtube video
- Remove the grub screw.
- Remove the four screws holding the build plate.
- Tighten three more screws inside that help secure the ball joint.
- Make sure to clean out any resin with IPA or other solvents.
- All screws should be tight.
- Realign and adjust the build plate.
- If you can't tighten down the build plate with the grub screw, make sure there isn't two screws in there.
- Non random layer artifacts visible on surfaces no matter what orientation of print.
- Consistent banding lines approximately 2mm apart.
- Consistent warped prints.
- First, try cleaning the lead screw (Z rod) and reapply with good quality viscous grease.
- FEP film may be loose. Tighten the FEP. Youtube video
- Replace the FEP film. Youtube video
- Tighten the eccentric roller of the slide block. Anycubic official video
- Brass nut of the lead screw loose or not seated properly. Remove, clean, reseat and tighten the four screws.
- Bent or warped motor dampener /cushion. Open back vent hatch, check and replace if necessary.
- Motor mounting causing lead screw to be off centre or not perpendicular to lcd glass. Tighten the two screws that hold the motor. Sometimes, loosening the two screws slightly may provide a temporary fix.
- Replace entire integrated motor lead screw assembly.
- Only occurs on certain prints, depending on placement and/or geometry.
- Prints look like they have been sliced / cut and moved onto another part of the build plate.
- Layer images on LCD look sheared and do not correspond to layer images showing correctly on touchscreen.
- Checking the Photon file reveals no problems. (in slicer or Validator)
- Firmware bug affecting all firmware except v4.0.11 (Fixed in 4.2.18+)
- Do a 'dry run' and use timelapse camera to check if the LCD images shift or shears during print.
- Suggested fix is to upgrade firmware to 4.2.18+ FB Post
- Update display driver.
- Reinstall slicer program.
- Reinstall C++ distribution library. https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads
- LCD displays half the screen only, touchscreen display shows correctly. (This not related to flickering LCD issue)
- Check that all cable connections are seated correctly.
- Contact Anycubic Support.
- Update or reflash firmware obtained from Anycubic website.
- A cube when printed turns out to be not perfectly squared. Cylinders when printed have a lean. FB post
- Check that the rail column is perpendicular to the red base plate. It may be a small degree off, and could be leaning forward or to the sides, or a combination. Use a small engineer's square to check accurately. If the column is leaning it will cause prints to skew. Adjust the 4 mounting bolts for the column, you may have to loosen and tighten so that the column is perfectly vertical. It takes some trial and error to get it right. If not, you will have to shim the column base. FB post
- After leveling and setting Z=0 correctly, prints still fail. FB post
- Check if the carriage arm is hitting the top of the vat wall and is thus prevented from reaching Z0 to the bottom of the vat.
- A simple fix is to add 4 washers as spacers to the 4 screws that secure the build plate to the ball joint assembly.
- On boot, Z carriage does not move, touchscreen Z controls are unresponsive. LCD test shows nothing on screen, fans are dead.
- Bad shutdown, or power interruption, no matter how slight sometimes causes corruption to the EEPROM.
- Download the factory defaults gcode file and reflash EEPROM.
- Or update the firmware.
- After you have tried all the fixes above, machine is still behaving abnormally. Possibly faulty Mainboard.
- Check for mainboard faults using mulitmeter following this video. Anycubic Official Video
- Replace Mainboard.
These are some of the known error codes that the Photon will display.
Machine will randomly freeze during print and display error, Z does not retract, fan stays on.
From Anycubic engineer, "this means USB is not plugged in". Troubleshooting and fixes for M_11800 Error.
USB read problem, Replace with new good branded USB stick, formatted FAT32.
USB cable problems? FB
"No TE signal for 2K LCD" This indicates an LCD screen physical connection problem. YoutubeVideo
The Tearing Effect Signal (TE) is a feedback signal from the LCD Controller to MCU. This signal reveals the display status of the LCD controller. In the non-display period, the TE signal will go high. Therefore, this signal enables the MCU to send data by observing the non-display period to avoid tearing.
According to hardware Master César Fernández, once a bad LCD or bad LCD connector is ruled out, next things to look for in order of economy are:
- Reinstall firmware for a version very different than the current one and test.
- Check Onboard LCD connector, replace if damaged and test.
- Check R15, R16, R24 Resistors and Q10 transistor, replace if shorted or wrong value and test.
If none of the above work, then:
- Replace Mipi bridge ICs and test.
- Replace FPGA and test.
Meaning: "2K LCD signal errors (TWICE)"; Reconnect the cable of the 2k screen is ok. FB post 1 FB post 2
Complete list of onscreen error codes, probable causes and solutions as provided by Anycubic.