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3D Printer opinions

SotoSoto Posts: 1,450
in The Commons

Hi.

I am considering buying my first 3D Printer in the next days. The complicated part, is there are 100s of options.

Narrowing it down, I decided I want resin instead of filament. I also want to print medium size things, like in the attached photo.

So far, the Eleego Saturn has my attention. 

Now, I wonder if someone has an opinion about it, or knows better options or whatever.

Thanks!

Comments

  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 14,713
    edited August 2021

    Have you checked YouTube for reviews and unboxings? You can get a ton of info watching those. Sadly I don't know much about them. My son does cause he was in STEM at school and regularly used one. Whenever I make a big purchase like that I watch all teh reviews I can find to see what the pro's and con's are.

    Post edited by frank0314 on
  • Matt_CastleMatt_Castle Posts: 3,010

    Hellboy said:

    So far, the Eleego Saturn has my attention. 

    I haven't personally used the Elegoo Saturn, but it is like my Photon Mono SE in that it's a monochrome printer based on ChiTu firmware.

    In the general category, you're looking in, your serious rivals are the Photon Mono X and Phrozen Sonic Mighty 4K, which both have slightly bigger build volumes than the Saturn - the Mono X is the tallest, the Mighty 4K is somewhere between the two in Z height, but is a little bigger in the X and Y axes (albeit at a slight and largely unnoticeable compromise in pixel density).

    Unless you're extraordinarily picky though, I don't think you'll be disappointed with anything with reputable reviews in that sort of range; it's usually a case of minor features and such that separate them - some of which aren't actually that useful. For example, some printers do have things like the ability to load prints via WiFi and the like (rather than relying on USB), but that's kind of a non-feature in my opinion; you still need to check the vat and build plate are clear from the last print, and that the vat has enough resin in it, the right resin in it, and it's all been stirred to make sure it hasn't separated out. When you've got to be able to do a whole load of checks, and extract the last print from the machine manually anyway, being able to start the printer from another room is kind of pointless. Okay, there's perhaps a small perk that the printer can tell you when it's done via a phone app or something, but they'll give you a pretty accurate time estimate anyway, so you could just set that as an alarm if you've really got to rush prints through the machine.

  • SotoSoto Posts: 1,450

    Matt_Castle said:

    Hellboy said:

    So far, the Eleego Saturn has my attention. 

    I haven't personally used the Elegoo Saturn, but it is like my Photon Mono SE in that it's a monochrome printer based on ChiTu firmware.

    In the general category, you're looking in, your serious rivals are the Photon Mono X and Phrozen Sonic Mighty 4K, which both have slightly bigger build volumes than the Saturn - the Mono X is the tallest, the Mighty 4K is somewhere between the two in Z height, but is a little bigger in the X and Y axes (albeit at a slight and largely unnoticeable compromise in pixel density).

    Unless you're extraordinarily picky though, I don't think you'll be disappointed with anything with reputable reviews in that sort of range; it's usually a case of minor features and such that separate them - some of which aren't actually that useful. For example, some printers do have things like the ability to load prints via WiFi and the like (rather than relying on USB), but that's kind of a non-feature in my opinion; you still need to check the vat and build plate are clear from the last print, and that the vat has enough resin in it, the right resin in it, and it's all been stirred to make sure it hasn't separated out. When you've got to be able to do a whole load of checks, and extract the last print from the machine manually anyway, being able to start the printer from another room is kind of pointless. Okay, there's perhaps a small perk that the printer can tell you when it's done via a phone app or something, but they'll give you a pretty accurate time estimate anyway, so you could just set that as an alarm if you've really got to rush prints through the machine.

    Thanks for the info!

    I just saw the Phrozen Sonic Mighty 4K in my country at the same price of the Elegoo Saturn plush shipping. But buying from a third party would also leave me without any warranty. I guess I'll narrow it down between them and hope for the best XD

    Thank you!

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