Print Volume & Resolution

The Pixel L is a medium-sized resin 3D printer with a 9.1-inch monochrome LCD. With a total build volume of 196 x 122 x 210 mm, you get a decent amount of room to work with, putting it in the same size category as printers like the Elegoo Saturn S.

Pixel-wise, the screen spreads 4098 x 2560 dots over its surface, giving it a 4K resolution. Across the 9.1-inch LCD, you get an X/Y-axis granularity of about 47 microns. In a world increasingly populated by 6 and even 8K resolution printers, these are fairly standard parameters and nothing to write home about, but this level of detail should still allow you to print highly detailed models.

The illuminating of pixels is done via a light matrix comprised of 40 LEDs which is stated to provide a decent light uniformity of 90%. As with all things monochrome, you get about 2000 hours of use before the screen will need replacing. Again, standard parameters.

Heated Vat

Now, this is something you don’t see every day on a consumer resin 3D printer: a heated vat. Resin can be sensitive to temperature changes, affecting the print quality, speed and, in general, its ability to cure. Best results are typically obtained at a comfy room temperature. If you plan on setting your resin 3D printer up in your garage, shed, or any other well-ventilated place (which you really should, given the volatile fumes), the ability to keep your resin at a constant 20-23 °C temperature can save you from a lot of failed prints.

The metal vat in the Pixel L has built-in heating blocks that connect via small metal pins at the back of the vat. You can adjust the temperature with the push of a button inside the printer – a convenient feature that should allow for greater consistency. For safety reasons, the printer enters a protection mode when removing the vat to protect against any short-circuiting or frying of the motherboard.

Auto-Feeding

Another noteworthy feature, and one we’re starting to see more and more manufacturers adopt, is an automatic resin feeding system. Printers such as the Elegoo Jupiter or Anycubic’s larger M3 series machines both feature resin auto-feeding. The Pixel L features a system similar to that found in the Jupiter, utilizing a special screw-on cap for bottles which are then placed upside-down inside the back of the printer. Once in place, it tops up the vat via a little inlet when the resin falls below required levels.

Biqu does provide a 250 ml bottle to be used with the auto-feeding system; however, we saw users online equipping it with large, 1 liter bottles as well. The vat has a 900 ml capacity, so it should hold enough resin for most of your prints, but if you want to be sure you’re not going to run short of the stuff on particularly large prints, this feature can come in handy.

Micrometer Leveling

Another feature that helps the Pixel L stand out is its use of micrometers. Intended to help fine-tune the leveling, micrometers should help get the print plate perfectly leveled after it is initially leveled. That’s done via the standard method of loosening four screws and homing the print plate onto a sheet of paper before retightening the screws.

If you’ve leveled a resin printer this way before, you might have noticed one side of the paper being slightly more tucked in by the print plate than the other. In this event, the micrometers should come into their own. With three pins on top of the cantilever, you can adjust the plate’s level with precision movements of 0.01 mm, and theoretically, get an extra level print plate.

Build Plate

The Pixel L doesn’t cease to surprise. Next up is its unusual machined aluminum print plate design with six screwheads in its face. Equipped with two side handles, the design is far from anything we have yet encountered on a consumer resin 3D printer. In fact, you could mistake the plate’s slide-on holder for the print plate itself.

User reviews seem to be quite happy with the adhesion of this plate, but the print plate’s top does not seem to be slanted enough, meaning users may have to scrape excess resin off after a print. The plate is also tightened by two rather intricate screws, which could prove to be difficult to tighten or unscrew once greased up in resin. We’ll have to see, once we test this machine, how convenient the setup really is.

To move the cantilever and build plate up and down, the Pixel L comes with a large Z-axis thread and two linear guide rails, which should provide all the stability needed for this extraordinary setup.

Hinged Lid

One thing that shouldn’t get greased up with resin too soon is the printer’s acrylic lid. The Pixel L comes with a hinged-lid design. You can easily access the print chamber with the flick of a finger, and this should mean users won’t end up covering the lid in resin over time from having to grab it with two hands. Just make sure you have a little shunting space behind the printer to flip it back.

We encountered a similar approach on the Nova3D Bene4 Mono, which we quite liked. Simple but handy, a smart design choice.

Further Features

Additional features on the Biqu Pixel L include:

• All-metal body: Adding to the sophisticated look of the Pixel L is its all-metal body.
• 4.3-inch touchscreen: The Pixel L’s UI can be accessed via the touchscreen. Files are transferred via USB.
• Screen protection: The Pixel L comes with a protective layer on top to protect the screen from unwanted scratching.
• Ventilation: Air from the print chamber is ventilated outside of the printer via a built-in activated carbon filter.