7.5
AnkerMake M5C
How
Excellent software
Fast, consistently great prints
Several improvements over the original
I do not like it
The default settings do not cool prints quickly enough
The play-pause button has a hook
It’s been less than a year since AnkerMake surprised the world with its impressive M5 3D printer, the first the company has ever made. A lot has changed since then. Several companies now offer amazingly fast printers at otherwise reasonable prices, and AnkerMake has worked hard to continually improve this device while reducing the price from its original $800 to a much more competitive $560. Instead of lowering the price further, there’s a new AnkerMake. The new MC5 sacrifices some features from the original to reduce costs, allowing this version to sell for $399 (£399 or around AU$780).
The world is full of products that are far less capable or worthwhile if features are sacrificed in a budget version. The M5C has proven to be the exception that proves the rule, thanks in no small part to a superior software experience.
AnkerMake M5C: Small but important hardware changes
Unless you’re somewhat familiar with 3D printers, there’s a good chance that when you see an AnkerMake M5 and an AnkerMake M5C side by side, you’ll hardly notice that they’re not the same device. AnkerMake has kept the same basic design with the same color scheme and the two machines move identically when printing.
In fact, however, the M5C has weakened significantly compared to the M5. The touchscreen is gone, there’s no camera to remotely show you what your print in progress looks like, and the build plate is smaller. I expected to notice these differences much more than I did. In fact, I found that I appreciated the performance of the M5C much more than the M5.
A “ghost ship” print made from wood filament.
I placed this M5C next to the M5 and the first thing that struck me was how much quieter the new machine was in comparison. The AnkerMake M5 runs its fans from power on to power off, but the M5C uses its fans much more intelligently when creating and the difference is immediately noticeable. The build plate also comes with a set of green stoppers. This means you can guide the flexible metal back onto the heated base with one hand – rather than laboriously aligning it and hoping for the best, which so many others in this category force you to do. This M5C has also opted for an all-metal hotend, meaning it can reach higher temperatures than the M5, allowing much more than PLA to pass through the extruder.
There are only two physical points of interaction on this printer: the power button and a large, easy-to-use play-pause button on the front. It’s located exactly where the M5’s screen would normally be and serves a similar purpose. If you suddenly need to replace filament or something has catastrophically failed, there’s no need to scroll through menus or reach for a computer with AnkerMake software. If you have split a file into segments using the AnkerMake software before sending it to your printer, you can use this button to start a new print using the previously loaded file.
The play-pause button would be much more useful if the AnkerMake software allowed you to paste multiple things into the software and print them one at a time rather than all at once. It would also be nice if the button worked with every file you send to the printer. But even in its current state, having it on the printer itself is useful.
AnkerMake’s M5 received top marks last year for producing beautiful prints with relatively little effort. So it shouldn’t be a big surprise that the M5C offers a similar, but not quite the same, quality experience. The CNET 3D Printer Test is specifically designed to highlight the most common failures of all printers, and in this test there are some clear points where the M5C struggled. Between uneven towers, stringing, and some melting in the overhangs, it was immediately clear that this printer doesn’t do enough to cool the filament while printing.
As with all 3D printers, these issues can be resolved with some adjustments to the settings. What is noteworthy, however, is that the M5C cannot keep up with the M5 in terms of quality when delivered.
Ultimately, AnkerMake’s consistent quality is a big reason why I don’t feel like it’s removing the camera that’s really that important. I’ve been using the M5 long enough to know that when I send a file to print, the chance of the print failing is statistically insignificant. The M5C easily meets these expectations. It’s a great, reliable little printer that I can set and forget.
AnkerMake M5C: Moving the Software to Your Laptop and Phone
If you’re new to the world of 3D printing, there’s really nothing better than the AnkerMake app right now. The included Easy Mode allows anyone to grab a file from the Internet and see it in front of them in just a few hours and with very little instruction. There are a lot of 3D printer apps out there right now, and few of them are designed for beginners without taking away the settings that experts are looking for. Having an app that works for all abilities makes a significant difference.
Several times I started my day by turning on the printer and immediately leaving the room. From my kitchen, I sent the instruction to automatically level the bed, which takes about 10 minutes. While I’m making breakfast I can send the command to retract the current filament in the printer. Then when I’m back in the room I can load the filament I want to use today. I can then go to my office, send the file I want to print over WiFi, and be sure that file will be printed in its entirety when I come downstairs for lunch. Knowing that the printer is consistently good is a big part of the experience, but it’s actually the software that allows me to not constantly hover over the device.
The AnkerMake app has always worked well on both a laptop and a phone, especially because you can use it interchangeably depending on your location, which is somewhat unique at the moment. Removing the display from the M5C makes this even more important as your laptop or phone is now the only screen to control this device. The good news is that the apps offer a much better overall experience than the monochromatic or overly simple displays found on most other budget 3D printers. I would challenge AnkerMake to go further and add either desktop or mobile widgets, even if it just shows the countdown to print completion to complete the experience.
As great as the Wi-Fi and multiplatform experience is here, the AnkerMake app needs to continue to grow and improve. In a recent update, this app warns against using slicer apps outside of the AnkerMake experience with alleged quality or performance issues. Instead of trying to stop people from leaving the platform, I would encourage the folks at AnkerMake to identify the reasons why and address them.
I regularly run Cura or PursaSlicer to create files for the M5 and M5C, mainly because I need to use features not included in AnkerMake. If I want to make organic or tree-like supports or print multiple items at once, I have to go somewhere else. No quality warning will prevent that for now.
Should you buy the AnkerMake M5C? Probably
If you’re looking for a consistently good 3D printer for under $400, the AnkerMake M5C would probably be my first recommendation. The print quality out of the box isn’t quite as good as the cheaper Anycubic Kobra 2, but that can easily be remedied in the settings. What other printers’ settings cannot accommodate is a high-quality software experience that receives regular updates with new features that you can access across platforms. And as long as the AnkerMake team continues to deliver this great experience, it will continue to be a significant advantage over many of its competitors.
