Resin-based 3D printers have been round for a couple of years now and can be found in all sizes, starting from items sufficiently small to suit in your desktop to bigger printers which have a quantity that exceeds some standard FDM printers. As producers develop these printers, they’re quickly including new options to make them simpler to make use of and extra accessible to the typical particular person and the brand new Saturn 2 is not any exception.
Elegoo has been within the resin 3D printer enterprise for the previous few years and has produced a number of completely different sizes starting from small printers just like the current Elegoo Mars 3, which has a 4K decision, all the way in which as much as the brand new Elegoo Jupiter, with a 6K decision. Just like the quantity in its title suggests, the brand new Elegoo Saturn 2 is the newest iteration of their Elegoo Saturn line of resin 3D printers and comes with fairly a couple of enhancements. The Saturn 2, which is designed to compete with the Greatest Resin 3D Printers, usually has a retail value of $600, however shall be out there for pre-order with an early fowl value of solely $500 for the primary 1000 items and $550 for the following 5000 items.
For the prints on this evaluate, I used a few of Elegoo’s water washable resin as a result of it was thinner than the low odor resin I had used beforehand with different resin printers and I needed to carry out the small print so the prints would come out higher. I used to be very impressed with the brand new resin and utilizing it did appear to make a distinction in each the benefit of cleanup in addition to an enchancment within the high quality of the prints.
In keeping with Elegoo, they need to have an 8K resin out there very quickly, but it surely was not out there for buy on the time of this evaluate.
Elegoo Saturn 2 8K Specs
| Machine Footprint | 12″ x 10.8″ x 22.3″ (306mm x 273mm x 567mm) |
| Construct Quantity | 8.62″ x 4.84″ x 9.84″ (219mm x 123mm x 250mm) |
| Resin | DLP Photopolymer Resin? |
| UV Mild | 405nm UV LED? |
| Masking LCD Decision | 7680 x 4320 px |
| Masking LCD Dimension | 10-inch |
| Interface | 4.3-inch Capacitive LCD Touchscreen |
| XY Axis Decision | 28.5 microns |
Included within the Field with Elegoo Saturn 2 8K
The Elegoo Saturn 2 got here properly packaged with loads of foam round all sides together with some cardboard reinforcements alongside the sides to assist stop any harm occurring throughout delivery.
Like a lot of Elegoo’s different printers, it got here packaged in a nesting doll model with the instruments packaged within a smaller field. The smaller field is within the printer itself together with the construct platform, which is positioned inside a big block of froth.
The Elegoo Saturn 2 features a fairly normal array of equipment that many different Elegoo resin printers ship with together with instruments such because the diagonal cutters for help elimination in addition to the metallic and plastic spatulas.
The metallic spatula is for serving to to take away your prints from the construct plate and also you need to watch out whereas doing so, as it will probably probably gouge or scuff the metallic floor. The comfortable spatula is used extra as a software for cleanup akin to helping with eradicating any residual resin out of the resin tank when emptying.
It additionally comes with a set of hex key wrenches and a few spare screws in case any servicing or repairs must be carried out throughout the printer’s lifetime. There are two pairs of latex gloves and two surgical model masks for private safety, however you’ll most likely need to get some larger high quality masks and extra gloves for working with resin.
Moreover, it comes with a set of paper filtering funnels, the ability brick, an air air purifier module, a person handbook, and a USB reminiscence stick to a replica of the handbook, Chitubox Fundamental (the really useful slider for the Elegoo Saturn 2) and a few check prints on it.
Design of Elegoo Saturn 2 8K
Instantly, you possibly can inform the design of the Saturn 2 is completely different from the earlier fashions. Whereas not being as curvy because the Mars 3, the aesthetic is interesting in its personal proper. With regard to the options, the Elegoo Saturn 2 is closest in design to the Saturn S of another of Elegoo’s choices, which is to be anticipated as that was the earlier mannequin.
One of the apparent enhancements of the Elegoo Saturn 2 is the 8K excessive decision display screen. The display screen is 10 inches, which is a noticeable enchancment over the 8.9-inch display screen on the unique Saturn and the 9.1 inch show that got here on the Saturn S.
Along with having a bigger display screen, additionally it is a considerably larger decision then both of its two predecessors. The upper decision means you possibly can produce extra detailed fashions than ever earlier than. Beneath the 8K LCD is a Fresnel Lens that is ready to distribute the UV mild very evenly.
The Elegoo Saturn 2 is pushed by a pair of linear rails together with a pleasant thick lead screw for a really sturdy construct platform, which is important to provide detailed prints at such a excessive decision.
One of many extra fascinating design options is a detachable panel within the rear of the UV cowl that can be utilized to connect with an exhaust air flow system to assist additional scale back odors for individuals who function in small areas and are involved with fumes.
Like Elegoo’s Saturn S and Jupiter printers, the Saturn 2 8K comes with a replaceable air air purifier module that’s powered by a port beneath the UV cowl. Although the port is formed like a normal USB port, it has a warning subsequent to it that the output voltage is 24 volts as an alternative of the same old 5 volts produced by USB ports, so that you wouldn’t need to plug your USB reminiscence stick into it. Throughout testing, I observed that there was nonetheless a lingering resin odor that wasn’t utterly eradicated.
One other characteristic that I’m actually completely satisfied to see on this mannequin is that the ability change that’s on the rear of the Saturn S has now been changed with an influence button on the entrance of the Saturn 2, making it very handy to activate and off.
Leveling the Construct Platform on the Elegoo Saturn 2 8K
Leveling the printer was fairly easy. Step one is to loosen the 2 bolts on the edges of the resin tank. Then utilizing the management panel on the entrance of the printer, you need to elevate the construct platform to a adequate top that the resin tank may be eliminated.
Then after ensuring the massive knob that holds the construct platform onto the printer is tightened, use the most important hex key to loosen the bolts on the entrance and aspect just under the knob. Ensure to take away the display screen protector from the LCD in the event you haven’t already.
There’s a card that comes with the printer that’s in regards to the thickness of cardstock. You’ll want to place that immediately on prime of the LCD display screen. On the sooner generations of printers, an everyday piece of paper was used to compensate for the thickness of the FEP movie, however a thicker card is now used as a result of the brand new FEP 2.0 movie is thicker and extra sturdy.
Subsequent, it would be best to press the house button to decrease the construct platform till it rests squarely on the cardboard. You may press the house button to readjust the cardboard if vital. As soon as you’re proud of the place, maintain the construct platform with some stress in opposition to the LCD when you tighten first the entrance bolt, after which the aspect bolt.
You may then press the up button till the construct platform is excessive sufficient to reinstall the resin tank. The platform ought to now be correctly leveled. In case you are having bother with prints sticking to the platform otherwise you discover a flat spot in your printed mannequin after eradicating it, chances are you’ll need to strive re-leveling the platform.
Printing Security with Elegoo Saturn 2 8K
With resin printing, it would be best to print in a properly ventilated space that’s nonetheless out of the way in which of any UV radiation akin to direct or oblique daylight. Even with the low odor resins, the fumes can nonetheless be poisonous. Additionally, you will need to be sure to are sporting gloves to keep away from immediately contacting the resin together with your pores and skin.
One factor that you just hear mentioned a bit much less typically is publicity to UV mild. With the Elegoo Saturn 2, I examined whether or not eradicating the duvet would flip off the UV mild supply and sadly discovered it continues to emit UV mild. Though it’s seemingly not any stronger than daylight, it’s best to keep away from wanting immediately at a UV mild supply together with your eyes in the event you will help it, and it’s a good suggestion to keep away from direct publicity to your pores and skin as properly. More often than not the resin shall be masking up the UV mild supply, so this isn’t actually a lot of a problem, however it’s one thing to concentrate on.
Printing Included Check Prints on the Elegoo Saturn 2 8K
Check prints permit 3D printer producers to display the printer’s strengths. Having the prints pre-sliced is a little bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, the producer can select one of the best settings for the printer, however alternatively, the producer is making a guess in regards to the particular resin that new customers shall be utilizing to provide the check prints. In typical Elegoo vogue, the check print that comes with the Saturn 2 is a pair of rooks.
With a few of Elegoo’s earlier printers, this guessing has yielded softer prints that had been typically gouged with the spatula upon elimination. It seems that the corporate has elevated the publicity time with the newest check prints, so it takes a bit longer, however the mannequin is much less more likely to be broken.
Printing the check prints is fairly easy. Simply insert the USB reminiscence stick into the USB port on the appropriate aspect of the printer, choose the Print choice from the principle menu, open the “ELEGOO SATURN 2 Rook Mannequin for Printing Check” folder, and choose the Rook Check Print Mannequin. There’s additionally an STL of the mannequin if you need to strive slicing it your self with Chitubox.
Getting ready Recordsdata for Printing with Chitubox
The very first thing you’ll need to do after getting Chitubox Fundamental put in is so as to add a brand new printer within the software program. The present model on the time of this writing already has the Saturn 2 as an choice, making setup a breeze. One factor it would be best to examine is the publicity occasions on the resin you can be utilizing. I ended up needing to extend the publicity time fairly a bit for the water washable resin as a result of the default values left the resin a bit too comfortable.
After you might have your printer all arrange, you possibly can load a mannequin to slice. Slicing with a resin printer is kind of a bit completely different from slicing for a conventional FDM printer. Because the mannequin is printed the wrong way up and is printed used liquid resin, there are extra issues you want to consider akin to drainage holes, the burden of the merchandise you’re printing so it doesn’t fall off the construct plate, and even the place the helps connect in order that when they’re eliminated, you don’t take away delicate particulars.
For the primary mannequin, I went with the Tower of Pi to point out fundamental slicing. This one is pretty easy because it doesn’t have any giant strong sections, but it surely additionally has quite a lot of element making it an ideal demonstration of a resin printer.
To get your mannequin ready, it would be best to place the mannequin at an angle. Inserting fashions at an angle makes it a lot simpler to take away them from the construct platform with out harm within the course of. It additionally offers extra floor space for helps to carry on so the mannequin is much less more likely to fall throughout printing.
Begin by opening up the file that you just want to print. You may open the Rotate panel on the left aspect by clicking the Rotate button. In case your mannequin just isn’t upright, you possibly can first get it oriented accurately utilizing the controls. As soon as it’s upright, discover the axis that corresponds to the longer aspect of the construct platform and click on +45° or -45° to position it at a forty five diploma tilt so as to add helps. You may at all times regulate this angle to your liking, however I discovered the lean buttons had been fairly handy.
Beneath the Helps tab on the appropriate aspect of the display screen, you possibly can have Chitubox mechanically generate helps. For this mannequin, I discovered the default settings to be adequate and added helps just for gadgets above the construct platform by clicking on the +Platform button. After urgent the button, it would take about 10 seconds or so for the helps to be generated.
As soon as the construct helps are in place, you possibly can return to the Settings tab and click on on the Slice button. This may slice the mannequin. As soon as it’s sliced, a Save button will seem, which can mean you can save the sliced file onto the USB stick that got here with the printer.
As soon as it’s saved, you possibly can eject the reminiscence stick out of your pc and plug it into the printer. On the printer, simply go to the Print choice from the menu and select the mannequin. It ought to present up simply because it appeared in Chitubox.
Printing a Bust on the Elegoo Saturn 2 8K
To check printing a bust, I made a decision to go along with a mannequin of an Elf Archer Bust as a result of the size match properly on this printer and I needed to see how the small print got here out. Chitubox has a pleasant characteristic that lets you hole out the mannequin. It additionally has a characteristic to mean you can add drain holes so as to rinse out any extra resin from inside the top.
To start out with, I loaded my mannequin into Chitubox Professional simply as described above and received it sitting at an angled orientation. I oriented with the face pointing away from the construct platform in order that there could be fewer helps on the face.
I clicked on the Scale button to get to the size controls and elevated the size to the utmost utilizing the Scale to suit button. Then I backed it off by about 10% so as to go away room for the helps.
I clicked on the Hole button on the prime, which lets you set the thickness of the outer shell. I elevated the worth to 3mm as a result of the defaults are a bit on the skinny aspect. I then added a single giant drainage gap on the underside of the bust utilizing the Dig Gap software.
The outlet will principally aid you out when washing and cleansing your mannequin as most extra resin will go away the mannequin as it’s printed. Chitubox may even mechanically generate a plug that you need to use to fill the outlet after washing, although chances are you’ll select to only delete this.
After this, it’s only a matter of producing helps like with the primary mannequin and printing it out.
After you have completed printing, you possibly can wash the within of the mannequin out utilizing the drain gap. I observed that helps had been generated contained in the mannequin via the outlet, however I simply left them. Whereas cleansing my print, I used to be a bit too keen with eradicating the helps and ended up breaking the hair and chipping the face, however in any other case the standard of the print turned out excellent.
Printing Detailed Fashions on the Elegoo Saturn 2 8K
For an in depth check print, I went with a mannequin referred to as Crimson Dragon that includes a winged dragon. This mannequin was a bit too giant for this printer on the full dimension, so I selected Scale to suit, which got here out to round 75% or the unique dimension. I didn’t hassle to hole the within as a lot of the bigger options weren’t excessively huge and in consequence, no drainage holes had been vital. The principle factor to be careful for on an in depth mannequin like that is making certain the helps are in a spot the place eradicating them doesn’t trigger you to by accident harm the print.
Washing and Curing on the Elegoo Saturn 2 8K
After printing, the mannequin will nonetheless seemingly have some leftover resin on it and, to get a resin print to look its greatest, it would be best to clear it.
To clean the fashions, I used Elegoo’s largest Wash and Treatment station, the Mercury X bundle. Though this was designed with the unique Saturn and Saturn S in thoughts, which have barely smaller construct volumes, I discovered the construct platform nonetheless match into the tank. The one situation I had was with among the taller prints bottoming out.
As a result of I used a water washable resin, I emptied the isopropyl alcohol from the rinse tank right into a bucket to be used at a later time and changed it with faucet water.
What labored properly for me was to start out off by washing the merchandise within the water first after printing, then take away the helps whereas they had been nonetheless comfortable. After that, I dipped it in water briefly and used the comb included with the water washable resin to loosen up any extra resin residue. I gave it one other rinse within the rinse tank in hopes that the water would now have the ability to get into the nooks to assist take away any extra resin. After letting the merchandise utterly dry, I then cured it and this prevented any white residue from forming on the prints, which might occur even with the water washable resins.
Cleansing Up After a Failed Print on Elegoo Saturn 2 8K
Prints can and ultimately do fail even on resin printers, although I didn’t expertise any failed prints on the Saturn 2 myself. Whether or not it occurs resulting from help constructions which can be unable to help the mass or any variety of different issues, you continue to could have a multitude to wash up earlier than you possibly can print once more.
It’s best to start out by eradicating the mannequin above the resin tank. I discovered that utilizing the metallic spatula on the construct plate labored fairly properly. The explanation you need to take away the mannequin first is to keep away from dripping any resin onto the LCD display screen, which could be very tough, if not unattainable to take away as soon as hardened.
After that, run a tank clear cycle via the printer’s menu, which can expose your entire backside layer of the tray to UV mild and create a strong mass of any little items which will have damaged off of the failed print. You could contemplate including a chunk of eliminated help from a earlier print to at least one nook first to make elimination of the mass simpler.
As soon as that’s full and you’ve got eliminated the hardened resin, you must empty the resin tank. The plastic spatula works properly to help with this. Emptying the resin first lets you examine the FEP movie as properly. If it will get too broken, chances are you’ll want to switch it earlier than persevering with.
Additionally, you will need to confirm that any stray resin didn’t get on the surface of the resin tray in order that it doesn’t find yourself getting onto the LCD display screen when positioned again onto the printer, which may find yourself curing there. Although the LCD is scratch resistant, you’ll nonetheless need to be extraordinarily cautious in the event you did have any resin remedy there, which is why it’s best to keep away from it within the first place.
You should utilize some isopropyl alcohol to assist clear any surfaces that resin will get onto and paper towels to wipe it dry. You could need to go away any failed prints exterior to dry within the solar and harden or you possibly can place them in a remedy chamber in the event you like.
Backside Line
It is a very polished machine that produces prints of phenomenal high quality. Throughout your entire time I used to be testing it, I had no failed prints. In case you are searching for a mid-sized 3D resin printer or you want to print in a excessive stage of element, you actually can’t go mistaken with this printer.
One other printer that’s in an analogous finances vary that you could be additionally need to try is the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8k with an much more spectacular decision of twenty-two microns, however with the tradeoff being a smaller print quantity. If you would like one thing with a smaller footprint and you want Elegoo, chances are you’ll contemplate going with the Elegoo Mars 3. In case you are searching for a bigger construct quantity, chances are you’ll need to contemplate having a look on the Elegoo Jupiter. Nevertheless, if you’d like this stage of element and construct quantity collectively, the Saturn 2 8K is difficult to beat.
