AnkerMake M5 3D printer comes with AI camera, prints at up to 300mm/s (Crowdfunding)

Anker is better known for its charger and power banks, but the company has now entered the 3D printer market with the AnkerMake M5 3D printer which is said to print five times faster and comes with an AI camera for monitoring the prints.

Besides the up to 300mm/s printing speed, other highlights of the 3D printer include Google Assistant & Amazon Alexa voice assistant compatibility,  and easy assembly that requires 3 steps done in about 15 minutes.

AnkerMake M5 3D printer specifications:

• SoC – Ingenic X2000 tri-core MIPS processor with 2x XBurst cores @ 1.2 GHz plus one XBurst0 core @ 240 MHz running Linux
• MCU – STM32F407 running Marlin firmware
• Print volume (L x W x H) – 235 × 235 × 250 mm
• Standard speed – 250 mm/s
• Speed range – 50 – 300 mm/s
• Acceleration speed – 2500 mm/s²
• X-axis movement – 42 – 40 stepper motor with single belt
• Y-axis movement – 42 – 48 stepper motor with double belt
• Z-axis movement – 2x 42 – 34 lead screw motors
• Extruder – Direct extrusion
• Printing precision – ± 0.1 mm
• Positioning precision – XY = 12.5 um, Z = 2 um
• Z-axis cross-sectional area – 4133 mm² (up to 2.5x larger for max stability)
• Auto leveling via 49 (7×7) points
• Heated bed platform – PEI soft magnetic steel; max temperature: 100°C
• Nozzle diameter – 0.4mm
• Nozzle temperature – Up to 260°C
• Filament diameter – 1.75mm
• Noise level – 50 dB
• Integrated 1080p30 AI camera with IR filter, support for alerts, timelapse photography with one-click sharing to social networks (Facebook, Instagram, etc…)
• 4.3-inch touchscreen for control
• Data/Host interface – WiFi, USB Cable & USB Flash Drive
• Print materials – PLA, TPU, ABS & PETG
• Case material – Aluminum alloy with whole die-casting molding

The camera supports timelapse photography with social network sharing, which is probably a gimmick you’ll use once or twice unless you’re a reviewer, but AI features might be more useful over the long term with alerts in case something goes wrong, or you’ll be notified in case of spaghetti mess, staggered layers, non-sticky first layer, broken filament, and nozzle blockages. I could not find a download link for the AnkerMake app just yet. You’ll also be able to control the 3D printer from a computer with AnkerMake Slicer or voice commands.

Youtuber “Uncle Jessy” got an early sample and uploaded a preview of the 3D printer showing assembly and sample prints at high speed using the prototype. He seems impressed with the results both in terms of speed and quality of the prints. A full review will be done later once production units become available.

Anker launched the 3D printer on Kickstarter yesterday and has raised close to 3 million US dollars so far. All early bird rewards are gone, but you can still pledge $599 to get the AnkerMake M5 3D printer that is expected to retail for $759. The price includes shipping, and delivery is scheduled for November 2022.

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