The Anycubic Vyper ($359), an open-frame 3D printer, is a step up from the AnyCubic i3 Mega S we recently tested. With a large-volume print area and support for automatic bed leveling, it is a good value in a sub-$500 3D printer. Although its print quality and reliability don’t match those of the Original Prusa Mini—our Editors’ Choice pick for budget 3D printers—the Vyper is capable of producing larger prints. You just might need to clean them up a little.
A Spacious Build Area
The Vyper is made by Anycubic, a manufacturer of 3D printers based in Shenzhen, China. It sells to the American market chiefly through Amazon. Like many other relatively low-priced 3D printers, the Vyper has an open frame and a spacious build volume. In fact, its 10.2-by-9.6-by-9.6-inch (HWD) build area is the largest of any 3D printer that we have recently tested, larger than the AnyCubic Mega S (8.1 by 8.3 by 8.3 inches), the Prusa Mini (7 by 7 by 7 inches), and even the Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ (9.8 by 8.3 by 8.3 inches).
The blue-and-black Vyper measures 20.3 by 18 by 20 inches (HWD) overall and weighs 22 pounds. It has a single extruder. Prints can be created in the included Cura software (its settings require tweaking to use with the Vyper), and loaded on an SD card or printed over a USB connection. The Vyper is controlled from a monochrome (blue-tint) LCD.
Like most open-frame printers, some assembly is required, but with the Vyper it is a simple and quick process that needn’t deter anyone. It consists of cutting some zip ties and bolting the printer’s frame to its base, plugging several cables (for motors, filament detector, and LCD) into their sockets according to diagrams in the user manual, and fastening the filament spool holder to the side of the printer’s base. The spool-holder assembly extends straight outward from the Vyper’s side, which increases the printer’s width. (That said, this portion can extend in the air off the left edge of a table, desk, or bench.) This design does make it a lot easier to access the SD-card slot, which was partially blocked in the Mega S by the spool holder and spool.
Although many 3D printers come with tools such as Allen keys, the Vyper is the first 3D printer I have encountered with a tool drawer built into its base, which should help ensure that the tiny wrenches and keys are always there when you need them. The downside is that the drawer felt a bit flimsy, and it wasn’t easy to open or completely close.
Unlike the AnyCubic Mega S, in which you adjust the height of each corner of the print bed by turning a knob underneath the corner, print-bed leveling is automatic. You can launch a leveling routine from the LCD, in which a probe measures the height of 16 separate points on the print bed, and adjusts the height as needed. The ability to accurately level a print bed is most important when printing large objects, which the Vyper’s generous print volume allows you to do.
Your Pick of Filaments
The print bed is a removable sheet of spring steel coated with polyetherimide (PEI), a thermoplastic polymer commonly used to cover print beds. Objects tend to adhere well to it during printing (the fact that the print bed is heated helps with that), yet are easy enough to remove when the print is done. Sometimes you may need to remove the print bed and flex it to loosen the print, which should pop right off at that point.
Anycubic sells filament from various materials: PLA, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG)—all of which can be handled by the Vyper—among them. The Vyper base model comes with only a tiny coil of filament, enough for just two or three objects, so you will want to buy at least one spool when you buy the printer. For beginners, we recommend PLA, which Anycubic sells in 1-kilogram spools in a variety of colors for $29 each. Whether you buy a Vyper from Anycubic or Amazon, several filament deals are offered; Anycubic gives you four 1-kilo spools for the price of three.
Software: Some Tweaking Required
For software, Anycubic offers the open-source Cura package, which it includes on the SD card that comes with the Vyper. At the time I tested it, the Vyper was not listed as one of the Anycubic printers supported by Cura, but there is a workaround. Cura does support the Anycubic i3 Mega, which you can add, change the name to Anycubic Vyper from Manage Printers, and change the X, Y, and Z (width, depth, and height) values to those of the Vyper (250mm, 255mm, and 265mm, respectively) in the Machine Settings dialog box. You will want to refer to the user guide before implementing this fix. Fortunately, you should only have to do this once; hopefully, before long, a dedicated Vyper setting will be added to the Cura list of supported printers.
Cura is a full-featured suite, which lets you load, modify (move, scale, rotate, mirror, add supports), slice (cut a 3D object file into layers for printing), and save 3D files. The Vyper handles object files in the common .STL and .OBJ formats, as well as the more obscure .DAE and .AMF file types. Standard resolution settings range from Draft (300 microns) through the default setting, Normal (200 microns), to High (100 microns).
Anycubic backs the Vyper with a one-year warranty. 3D printer warranties tend to be shorter than those for other tech products, and that is the case with the Vyper. Rival printer maker Prusa backs its printers with more generous two-year warranties.
Testing the Vyper: Running Our Sample Prints
The Vyper finished eight test prints, seven at the Normal resolution setting and one at Draft resolution. (There were also two misprints, of indeterminate cause.) Overall print quality was average for a filament printer.
Some prints looked near-perfect, while others seemed a bit rough-hewn, and it had trouble with printing some overhangs. One issue I noted is that some of the Vyper’s prints had more than their share of loose filament “hairs” sticking out. Those can be snipped away, and sanded if need be, but that’s a hassle.
The Vyper completed one of our standard geometric test objects—comprising various shapes and text emerging from a steeply angled face—without the warping we had seen when I had printed the same file with the Mega S. I had run the Vyper’s auto bed-leveling routine before I had launched the print, which I suspect helped. (You have to level the Mega S’s print bed by hand, by adjusting four knobs, one set beneath each corner of the print bed, in turn. I had gone through two iterations of knob-turning when I’d tested the Mega S, but that may not have been enough to fully level the bed.)
Verdict: The Vyper Has Moderate Bite
The Anycubic Vyper is a step up from the company’s Mega S, with a larger print area and support for automatic print-bed leveling. Its basic setup is easy, although you will need to tweak a couple of settings to get Cura software to work with the Vyper. It’s a good choice for a user with some experience with 3D printing who is looking to try his or her hand at larger prints.
