Fauxhammer actually loves the ACF film on the Saturn 3 ultra, I've said this before and I'll say it again, there is a quality difference occuring in the film somwhere. Even if it truly is the case that Aorita3D are the only manufacturers.
Kinda, he doesn’t love it. He just thinks it’s actually surprisingly good compared to all the other ACF films he tried, but even showed the quality is so much more crisp with nFEP.
I am completely new to 3d printing and I got the Saturn 3 Ultra. It has been... a journey. I cannot say how much is due to me being a complete noob and how much due to th eproblems that you mentioned, but many of the buts that you say, I also said myself (and as a noob!). Things like, "Am I stupid or is the only viable way to move the thing up to remove the vat is to go to manual, put 50 mm and press it 3 times?". My first calibration went wrong, because I did it in the wrong order. That was my fault: I unscrewed, then lifted until the paper felt with some resistance, then screwed them. Apparently, you have to screw them before you do the paper test, and the paper. The paper, by the way, wtf. They could have put a bigger paper. It is so hard to try to move around to see if there is any resistance bcause it is almost of the size of the top plate, and I fear to use anything else because I think that the thickness of the paper is important. Anyway. I was using the cones of calibration to test my abslike v2 grey resin, and I managed to get a print at 3 seconds of exposure, but it was overexposed. So I tried 2 seconds, and now it was.. fine? Like the failed cone failed and the success cone succeded, but the print looked so much worse than the other one. And here is where the "fun" begins: I am making all these changes of exposure time in chitubox and sending them via wifi. For some reason, when I try 2.5s, chitubox changes the rise distance from 3 mm to -1. I didn't notice at first, so I was very surprise when the print which was supposed to be in the middle of the other two turned out to be by far the worst. But that was only the first problem. Somehow, after 5 failed prints and using the feature of cleaning the resint tank (which has already consumed like half of my bottle), I noticed that there was still something in the vat. I clean the vat and there it is: There is a hole in the center of the vat. The whole doesn't seem to be a puncture hole, but rather a burnt hole. And there is also a "burnt" mark in one of the corners. I think that the one time chitubox set the rise distance to -1, the print burnt the acf or something. In summary, my second day of 3d printing was spent buying a new pack of acf films to be able to keep calibrating. Yay...
I see that you have a full document about starting. I will try yours, since it seems that other methods are not meant for idiots like me. I hope your method is fool proof!
Your story here feels like the norm. This is why I created my guide. It's way more than just calibration. It's trying to help you get into the correct mind. More than anything it's workflows to help you keep your printing runnin great. How I level, prep, clean, calibrate and print are all part of a system that's designed for the best results.
Grear video, but one note on bearings, ballscrew nuts, and ballscrews: Ballscrews are rarely perfectly straight. So to avoid binding you can't fully constrain the ballscrew. You have to have some X/Y movement allowance of the ballscrew or ballscrew nut without allowing slop in the Z movement of the ballscrew nut or the ballscrew itself. So on the Anycubic they would need to have a DAC at the ballscrew nut, or they run the risk of binding, especially at the top of the movement. I can't tell if they do for sure, but it looks like they don't. The other approach is the Elegoo approach of allowing the ballscrew a little X/Y movement at the top of the movement. So looking at the two approaches to the top, the Elegoo is less likely to bind and might be the more technically correct solution. But that is just my educated guess from looking at the video of the two. I don't have either yet, but should have a Saturn 3 Ultra 12k here any day now. :)
Fauxhammer released a review on this printer yesterday where he concludes that acf is good, which is contrary to his previous point. I would love your thoughts on that. Other than that, great review. I like that you discuss a bit about the build quality of the printer
He doesn't conclude that ACF is good, he concludes that on the S3U, his ACF film was showing vastly diminished texturing from the other printers with ACF, but with no repeat tests or anything (since you can't get ACF)
I got this one for my farm. This printer is AMAZING. The build quality is amazing and yeah, ACF does hit the detail a little bit, but for larger prints, it is insanely fast and that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I do have a vat equipped with nFEP but I've never had a job that actually required that level of detail. The "buts" in the video are, IMO, extremely minor.
New to the resin side of printing I started with the Saturn 3 Ultra, I am still in the learning stages, I just paid the price for ACF replacements :( . Is NFEP worth crossing over to once this supply runs out? I am not as much about speed as I am with a failure rate and quality output.
@J3DTech Yup, he seems to have excellent prints; what causes the improvement is to be determined. Can it be a different source or change in the acf film or that the light strength/sharpness is lower etc ...
I just watched his video. First I hope to some day match his production quality. But I can say with 100% certainty that AA Does work in this printer, I worked directly with Snarky and and Snarky was testing the Saturn 3 not the Ultra. I also spent over a week in the Elegoo forms, helping many many people with this printer and having them help me create this video and turn by running some prints and test for me and showing me the results. The ACS film does still leave the cross hatching but it is better on this printer then the Anycubic due to the upgrades lighting engine, screw and rail. But you can see I have macro pics in this review that clearly show the difference or AA on and off, ACF on and off.
@@TheAndrian463I ran anti-aliasing tests with snarky arts. AA does work on the ultra and I also ran direct comparison results with ACF versus nFEP and I can tell you that the ACF does still leave marks. The Ultra does have a much better light engine which does create higher quality prints compared to other 12K printers. But you will still always get better quality when you replace the ACF with anything as you get to see in my video I do provide evidence under a macro lens.
Got my Saturn 3 ultra came in three days ago. I have had zero success with printing. 6-7 fails, nothing has stuck to my plate. I’ve leveled it every time before I start a print and no luck. Any idea what may be going on? Starting to think I should have just bought another Saturn 8k
Did you test your Z offset with the calibration part? This seems to be the one flaw of this printer. The faster lift speed can make it harder for that first layer to get going. The good part is working with others and my own experience once you get that sorted it works great. And this is a process I recommend you do on all others for the best results and highest success rates. See my Guide linked in the description, look for the chapter in Build Plate Calibration print. You're looking to check the level and set the Z-offset.
I've been having problems with my non-ultra s-3 and parts of prints not sticking to the buildplate. I'm going to look through your videos for the solution you briefy mentioned in this video on how to properly zero the buildplate with those test prints. Thanks!
So how good is the AA Compared to the mighty 8k? The mighty 8k has exceptional AA and was thinking of getting this printer but I need AA to work to the point of minimal voxels on smooth surfaces.
AA is a strange thing, it can depend on the printer, the slicer and the settings. I don't have a MIghty 8k to run a test on so I can post the results. But in the descriptopn I did post the HD pics of my tests. AA and details I think that the difference very good. But, HD AA and a 12K printer will take a LONG time to slice and require that you have an good PC.
Thanks for the reply. I use siraya tech navy grey which responds to AA well. Which printer out of all the ones you’ve tested has the best AA as a general statement.
@@J3DTech Love the model. May i ask how you did the amazing gold? I think i would try to drybrush or airbrush gold over black but however you did it it looks stunning.
Its just guilding wax, use a back primer, then a white glove to apply it. A lot like dry brusning. Just use a rubber glove under the white one. @@Dedrael81
@@Dedrael81 This stuff, put it on thin. www.amazon.com/Pebeo-766507US-Gliding-King-Gold/dp/B07Q1MGPV7/ref=mp_s_a_1_6_sspa?crid=1Q910R3MVD8AZ&keywords=gilding+wax&qid=1707056741&sprefix=guilding+wa%2Caps%2C144&sr=8-6-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfbXRm&psc=1
I've just noticed it's not got the fan holes at the side's now like on the saturn 2! Whare is the vents round the back only now as apose to each side for cooling? I get blasted with the fan air when sit next to it so might be a welcome change haha!
Thought I was experienced in Resin printers but I have learned something new with your build comparison, Absolutely fantastic video analysis and please keep doing this style and format. Please make 1) Your recommended buys both Resin FDM 2) Settings & Calibration video
I don't know much about FDM and I do talk about my favorite resin like mad in my guide. Sirayatech Navy Gray + 10% Tenacious obsidian black. I do plan on making the calibration video but it's.. well I'm still learning and I want to make sure it's as factual as possible.
Of course, D.! (This is Rick P.) I've been busy digging up and replacing my irrigation but want to go back to printing and painting some more now. Your videos and guides are the best! @@J3DTech
@@hothmobile100 Yep, I know who you are. I'll never forget a good friend. Even if you're busy with life. I have to do the same. I almost lost my entire driveway to rain. Guess that's what I get for living next to a lake on clay.
Are the exposure times the same with nfep and acf? I was getting some really good and fast prints with ACF but since I've damaged it I would like to try nfep. What speed reduction would you recommend in comparison to acf? Is it like 10% or is it closer to 50%?
For my resin they were but you always want to relevel and calibrate. For speed ACF only lets you pull faster all other speeds are not affected by the film. I pull at 45mm/m - 100mm/m on the first stage 200mm/m - 300mm/m on the 2nd Burn in layers should always be very slow.
Thanks for the vid. And thanks for posting the link to your guide. The leveling process w the multiple pieces was interesting. I’m gonna have to go back to the vid and listen to the resin discussion again to make sure I understood it correctly. Actually this vid was timely for us. Our current resin printers are no longer supported, but we were able to get quite a few years out of them and their “old” technology 🙃. Anyways we’re looking for replacement printers for our Solus’ and have been looking at the various Saturns to likely use in conjunction w/ Lychee. Side note, so far I’m pretty impressed w Lychee’s response to my inquiries, so +1 for them, so far 😜. Had kinda written the Ultra off because of the use of ACF (for easier/faster print/film release?). The big appeal of the Ultra wasnt its speed, but it’s use of a 4point mount for the build plate. Had those on the Solus’ and prefer this design (if well done) over the ball mounts we’ve sampled. QUESTION 1: was the replacement FEP you used the “Siraya Tech NFEP Film - A4 Size (210 X 297mm)”? Just wanting to make sure the size works w the S3 Ultra. QUESTION 2: how long have you been using the Saturn U? Rough number of prints on it so far? Thanks again for the vid.
I have another video called "All you need to know to get started with 3D printing". In this video I cover how to use the build plate calibration parts in more detail. But in the guide I also have a description and instructions. The nFEP I used as a no brand that I just purchased off Amazon. In reality, all of these sheets only come from a couple factories in the world. So far I've done the hawk girl model. I had to print her wings twice due to an update in the model and about 2-3 times as many calibration parts as you had seen in the video. I printed pretty continuously on it for about 2 weeks.
@@J3DTech Thanks for the fast reply. Yeah all things (washers, refrigerators) are all pretty much each made in a couple of diff factories, my fav example is Maytag after they got bought out. I’ll check out your other vid for the calibration etc, admittedly I kinda skipped it due to the title as we’ve been resin printing since before Formlabs was a twinkling in someone’s eye 😉. So a little too cocky on my part 😜 I thought the Siraya was maybe a bit steep @10usd a sheet, but we’d been paying $5usd a sheet for the Solus’. So given the size diff, didn’t think too much of it.
@@jessefurqueron5555 It's ok it really was meant for new people into 3D printing. However a lot of the methods I teach are new even to experienced users. Maybe I should have made a better title.
Maybe edit it into a new vid to focus it down on the methods related to the latest large format resin printers? That’d give you a twofer. Anyways I’ll check it out in a bit Thanks!
you said it wrong. but everyone does. I'm shocked I've only just seen this great video just now. Faux, like Foe. like Faux-Leather, FauxHammer = FoeHammer ;)
Ahh crap I am sorry about that. I'm afraid I can also tell my brain this is how you say it but when the camura kicks in I turn into an idiot. On the 10th take I'm sure I'll say it correctly next time 🤣
So being the same file type as the saturn 2 can we use lychee saturn 2 settings for it just now while we wait for the next update that'll probably be a while since 5.2.2 update to include mono 2 etc has just been done really?
As one of those "nobody bought it" owners of the M3 Premium I am SO disappointed that not only did they discontinue it but they don't support it either so getting a replacement LCD screen for it is nearly impossible and while I've managed to find one for now, next time it's likely to be an expensive paperweight. I'm hoping that this works out better.
@@J3DTech I can accept them making a business decision to stop making the printer itself. Personally I think it was the wrong choice because it's an amazing printer in my opinion but that's their call. But to completely abandon their customers when it comes to even a consumable part? That's crappy. I liked Anycubic prior to that but now that trust and loyalty are shot. My only hope is that some 3rd party decides to pick up the slack but that's doubtful. I did manage to find a screen for about $250 including shipping to the US but the lead time is nearly 2 months and I'm concerned that come shipping time I'm going to get a "sorry not available" notice. I've been in touch with the seller and they assure me they'll have it so I'm staying hopeful. I got burned a number of years back on an FDM company that promised great things and delivered a half working sub-par piece of junk (M3D's Promega) and now have a $1k monument to failure sitting in the corner of my shop.
@@J3DTech Im also one of those "nobody bought it", recently one mate from the forums of anycubic has share that the replacement is the elegoo screen of the saturn 2 8K, "but" with some little detail on the X axis when you replace it doesnt fill all the gap needed so it needs to be properly center with the black tapes.
Hello! With the Saturn 4 ultra being $10 more than the 3 ultra, is it worth buying? The tilt and bells and whistles are attractive, but loss of build height isn’t. Is tilt + nfep going to be that much better than ACF? What are your thoughts
How do I level this printer, I'm having a horrid time with adhesion. J3d appreciate your video but is there a specific ultra guide for levelling (I have seen your generic resin printing guide but you mention in the video there some tricks for this printer but no link to it)
Thats ridiculous lol, how is the screw gonna wobble without being supported at the top? Its got linear guides and the thing has to be moving at very fast rapids for that thing to be doing any wobble.
You say that but then I could send you pictures of two EPAX 10 8k printers that at the time cost $1200 pet. You will see two screws moving like a salsa dance party.
Yes I do! I also include a non-affiliated link of all the tools I use at the bottom of my guide. www.amazon.com/dp/B075SLTY8B?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
The majority of the smells are from VOC's. a HEPA + Charcoal filter will get the printing fumes close in line with e.g running a gas stove. The point is you don't run a gas stove next to you for 8 hours a day, so still keep exposure limited. Sticking it in a side room with an air purifier/ HEPA+Charcoal filter and coming back an hour or so after it's finished printing and the air quality should be absolutely fine
My ACF ended up having a tear so I moved to PFA (Saturn 2/3). What TSMC settings would you recommend so I can still print relatively fast ? I had 90/320 and 320/90 previously (Elegoo 8k resin).
Not sure the Saturn 2 can do 320 you can always test that. But 90/250+ should be fine. I run mine at 45/250 200/70 with 2s light off delay it's a bit slow but gives me great results
@@J3DTech Sorry I meant my S3U ACF developed a tear so I used a Saturn 2 PFA film to replace the ACF. So wondering what speeds I should run since I have changed ACF to PFA on S3U
I love my mini 8ks but wanted a bigger plate and when the mighty 8k showed up with broken lcd figured let me try this.. Still think I want a mighty @@J3DTech
I've not long got the saturn 2 I love it the 1 filter is perfect all you need I and thinking of this saturn 3 as a second but the anycubic m5s I Don't know what to go for! The saturn 2 does the same doesn't raise all the way but easy enough to raise it yourself with 2 clicks! I've never seen my tower rails shift unlike my Anycubics the mono 2 especially is bad!
Castable resins require slow lift speeds. Considering how many people are buying the new ultras for jewelry coupled with a the acf fiasco shows elegoo really has no clue about their customers needs. Why would you make the printer go 100mm/min minimum? So stupid
I don't think it was intentional. Given that I've been working with them and testing different from where packages and it's a bit of a struggle to get it right.
Heyo, so I am really curious to hear what you think about adding PTC heaters and a temp controller to the bottom of the main plate to heat the build area and the vat to 30*C. The spot I kept my printer in my house had a lot of temp variation, and on a long 24hr+ print it would sometimes fail from it. On my original Saturn it worked wonders to stabilize the print temps and kept everything way more consistent even with a 10 degree variation. I'd really like to see someone more experienced try it. Also cool hobby you picked up! We used to work together once upon a time. Still have the asset tag on the squirrel. T:00024 S:L33T
I do remember that squirrel 🐿️. Running a heater is great I've tested several and strangely my favorite is an egg heater off of Amazon followed by the vat heater. In my guide Linked in the description, go to the bottom and I have both listed with pros and cons. Always, reach out if you need anything.
It was using the 2 resins I tested I would think water washable or ECO resins will struggle with this. It also took me a bit longer to calibrate than normal.
Do you have any chance to do a review of the Mars 4 Ultra? Since it uses ACF, same linux based OS + goo file format as the Sat3Ultra it might have the same lower and upper speed limits like the 120mm/m lower limit which would affect its performance if someone decides to chance to NFEP by choice or lack of stock of the ACF film.
I wish I could, I don't have one and Elegoo does not send me hardware. Everything I have and do, is at my own expense with no monotonization or sponsorship.
@@J3DTech Just an update. In the end I bought a Mars 4 Ultra during Black Friday as an upgrade to my old Phrozen Mini 4k. I'll keep my Sat 2 and skip the Sat3U and see what comes next gen. I felt it was a bigger upgrade from the former ones than the later ones. As for the lower limit with the Mars 4 Ultra, I made a test with a print file with 60mm/min speeds (equal to 1mm/s) and 20mm distances, if it respected that speed it would take 20secs up and 20s down. From the recorded video and a chronometer on the background. It took roughly 13.3 secs to travel that 20mm up, same 13.3secs down. That means 1.5mm/s or a lower speed limit of 90mm/min.
@@kamui004 I think this issue maybe more common then we think. I've not really tested all the printers out there but I bet we will see this is why Slicerse are not as accurate as they should be. I also wonder if this is why there was an old "Dead Zone" that older 3D printers talk about from 50mm/m-100mm/m Maybe these order printers would default to a faster speed. I've been testing the S3U firmware that just came out and it still has issues. 500mm/m is slower then 400mm/m, 30mm/m - 55mm/m = the same speed. Always fun!
I have a Mars 4 Max I still need to open but I feel I would need to compair the Ultra to the 8ks. So at this time I would not know what one I would recomend over the other.
Spray them black then using a white glove with a latex glove under them. Using a gold wax you use dry brushing methods. Guilding WAX is what you're after
Thanks for your video and sharing your thoughts mate, much appreciated...I prefer build quality over features. I'm still frustrated that I can't buy a brand new M3 from a reputable company...I'd get one in a heart beat if I could. I find the info on the build plate leveling very interesting...I levelled mine using the included paper (which is thicker than standard A4 printing paper) and just did the very basic paper method and it printed perfectly first go...and I've done several prints now without failure or problem...I will track down your build plate levelling calibration tool though and run it just to see what happens and if it indicates if any improvement is possible. The other thing I found very interesting is your mention of the speed limitations...is this factory limitation imposed on both lift and retract speeds for both bottom and normal layers...I have my bottom layer lift speed set at 10mm/m and 40mm/m for normal layer lift speed...if I understand you correctly, the printer will overide the sliced setting and force a 120mm/m speed for both? Also, I either read or watch somewhere than the Anycubic M5 and M5S have factory settings that overide the slicers AA settings, which I am really glad Elegoo seem not to have done, I really feel that full control of AA should remain with the user.
Thank you! In my testing and others I've interacted with the speed limit is a thing. Very strange... The Saturn 3 none ultra .goo won't do AA using Lychee or Chitubox. I'm not sure on the M5s and AA settings as I don't have one. It would be good to confirm however.
Cool review, just got mine, only printed the rook test, it came out good, will be testing it soon with my models and will try to tune in the settings. I did notice there is some resonance sound from the fans, think it may be bc of the metal frame, will measure the sound next time it prints. What settings do you recommend for quality? Using Siraya Fast resin.
Thank you! I ended up pulling the light intensity down to 80%. Because the speed limits, it doesn't matter if you try to set something below 120 mm a minute it's going to just do that. So for now you're stuck with that. Because of this you need to really make sure that you're burning layers and your leveling is good cuz it's just going to rip the print off of the FEP. So after that I just calibrated to the boxes of calibration getting all the pillars after switching out the ACF film to NFEP
Thank you! I ended up pulling the light intensity down to 80%. Because the speed limits, it doesn't matter if you try to set something below 120 mm a minute it's going to just do that. So for now you're stuck with that. Because of this you need to really make sure that you're burning layers and your leveling is good cuz it's just going to rip the print off of the FEP. So after that I just calibrated to the boxes of calibration getting all the pillars after switching out the ACF film to NFEP
@@J3DTechI was asking about the sound but now that u mention it how do u reduce the light intensity? Can't see it in the printer menu, is it in Chitubox?
@@TheIcemanModdeler As far as the sound goes, it is a bit loud and the only way to fix this would be to put sound dampening foam inside the chassis where you're not going to disrupt any of the operations of the system. The other thing I'm considered doing with a few of my printers is upgrading the fans. To Noctua.
Dennis Wang has a good layer line test. I could make a video on that. Show off the difference of a $1200 printer and how it makes more issues than a $600 or $500 printer.
Nice review. I'm in the market for a new printer and I'm currently trying do decide between this one or the GKtwo. I prefer build quality and reliability over features and speed. However, the heated vat in the GKtwo makes that being at the top of my list at the moment.
I've not printed on the Gktwo but I've played with one for a bit. I was not impressed. Overall it's a good idea but a lot of cut corners all over the place. Not to say these $500 printers don't also do this. But they are also not near the price of that printer and do get a perspective pass on some of it. The M3-PREMIUM with a $60 egg heater installed is vastly better than the Gktwo from what I saw and seen. This puts the ultra a close 2nd.
@@J3DTech I see, thank you for that information. I looked through your guide but couldn't find anything about a DIY heating in there. I'm not sure what kind of egg heater you are referring to.
@@HavasiP This section, and look under "Greatly Improve Print Quality and Success Rate" docs.google.com/document/d/1Z8fkzOxEgI9sOTwDKI6CeblpnuP4V8ayYVwZrYGmo44/edit#bookmark=id.f7x19c30uvoc
Great video! If you could include a list of links or one link to a list of all of your calibration print models that'd be a great resource for everyone. Thanks!
It's interesting that you did such a thorough review, but didn't show "HawtGirl" after printing, washing and curing, but before painting. If a reviewer wants to show how good they [hopefully that was the right pronoun?] are at sanding, prepping, priming and painting that's great, but for showing how good the printer is, a painted model (especially at that level of finishing/painting you showed) shows nothing at all except that you can prep and paint a model quite well, and that the printer completed the print without obvious egregious disfigurement. Whether the washed and cured yet 'unfinished' model is really excellent, or is just ok or worse, you just managed to skillfully or even just unknowingly hide behind your seemingly excellent finishing skills that you needed to show off. Good to see you read different online slicer [in addition to Lychee's echo chamber, and you also forgot to mention the fact that you work for Lychee] and 3D printer [besides Elegoo and Anycubic's] community discussions and incorporate new (to you) and more correct information and methods that you learn [without attribution, of course] in your videos. At least that's one way of 'helping the community'. Finally, please try to acknowledge that there are other, better, printer companies out there making far superior printers than Elegoo and Anycubic with far better price/performance than them even if the superior printers cost a bit more initially - and one of the reasons those superior printers are obscured is that people like you (and others with far bigger audiences than you have) are usually not only vastly ignorant of anything but superficiality and incorrect or at best incomplete 'common knowledge' [which is pushed, including by you], but also generally refuse or don't even know to say something as simple and true as "These printers might succeed in inconsistently making some resin prints with plenty of effort, are utterly misengineered cheaped-out minimally viable products - DON'T BUY". If you who pose as 'experts' had done that, it's likely that better printers would be more well-known, in demand, and actually purchased by 'newbies' instead of the cheap crap machines, and companies like Anycubic wouldn't 'terminate' the until then one reasonably properly made attempt at a properly constructed printer [show the 'premium' light source, a disgusting 'UV LEDmatrix' FFS which by the way is the one major and only serious problem with the M5S, not the ACF ], which at the price it came out at (and went out at), one could by a printer that wasn't just a first attempt but has been and is an actually superior printer across the board. The fact that you can casually say something (true) pointing to a disgusting important not-fit-for purpose defect without batting an eye, "It doesn't have [extreme, horrendous] Z-flex like [all of the] other [Elegoo] printers" [pointed out in detail and proven extensively by Jan Mzàrek, years and years ago, for example], just boggles the properly informed mind, but unfortunately is utterly common amongst these kinds of '3D printing experts' and fanbois. This video does get a thumbs up for your pursuit of [your recently acquired] important knowledge and presentation of it in passing regarding full plate calibration testing, but next time talk about how important this distributed test also is to usefully seeing and taking into account UV light uniformity inconsistency which is far superior to wasting time with nearly useless for the task garbage like "the Cones" that you used to push until you left 'FlipNewbiesTheBird Foundries', if one uses proper calibration pieces like Dennys Wang's [look him up on youtube and learn properly] little support and overhang test piece spread about the build plate, in addition to yours that you showed in this video, assuming you didn't mess up the dimensions for it like you did in your 'Tesseract' aka 'Cubes' aka 'Boxes', etc.
Sorry for not including the pre-paint pics, I did mean to but simply forgot. I had to rush the editing of this video to a single night as I'm leaving to China tonight for a Printer thing. I did add a link with all the HD pictures of all the prints. I also feel that showing a "Model" is not a good way to show off a printer. This is why I made and showed the HD Cube test. I'm not sure I fully understand your 2nd paragraph. It's true I work for Lychee but this was not a video about Lychee or Calibration. I also own my own official business named J3D-Tech. However in the description I do with my title show that I do. There are a few things about the M5s but as I don't own one, I won't comment directly. But why do you think I made this video? I would not recomend using my Build Plate Calibration test for UV light uniformity. I did address this in a way by saying, hey these light engines are better! When I made my Calibraion video, I'll be sure to mention this topic. For testing uniformity I would suggest printing Boxes of Calibration. or Cubes or whatever, I don't care what you call it. Print it and measure them against each other. This will do for normal layers what the Build Plate Calibration does for Burn in layers. This is because anything close to the burn in and transition will make any test null and void. You also NEED precision for this test. It can't be a subjective test at all! Meaning any type of stress test for this will almost always give you false positives. I'm aware of one mistake I did make on on Boxes of Calibration. It was on a very very old version that went out on TFF. One of the raft measuring spots was off. Something that never affected the use of the tool or anyway I teach to use it and was quickly resolved. Is there another issue I'm not aware of?
Hey @J3DTech, I thought it was an awesome video from a newbies POV and addressed a lot of things in a simple to understand manner that a new person to the hobby wouldn’t necessarily know to look for, and CERTAINLY doesn’t get well addressed in advertising and marketing for the printers, even on the manufacturers page. Example, that build plate screw thing. On a Saturn 2, seems reasonable enough, but that one for some reason seems way shorter! No idea why they’d shorten it, and you’ll never see it mentioned on Elegoo’s page, but I appreciate you bringing up minor details like that. Keep em coming!
@@J3DTech Hey, sorry for the delay in getting back to you, and thanks for your thoughtful response. You're a good dude looking for the best printing techniques leading to the best results and even better, to share the information with as many people doing 3D resin printing as possible. I'm trying to point you in directions that will help you achieve this worthy objective, sorry if I seem abrasive, but I'm trying to jolt people out of wrong, useless and even counter-productive avenues leading to at best frustration. When I point out things like the Lychee position, it's not a "put-down", I sincerely think it would be good if you let people know that (as you might know first-hand, lots of unfortunates will see the tips and info you present and say "who does he think he is? how does he know?, etc.) When I point out the design error in the "boxes", it's so you can fix it [the inner dimensions of the 6mm box are wrong], and I presume that you have access to the CAD file and not just an STL, so you can check the inner dimensions of the boxes yourself, easily - and if your CAD dimensions are correct, than the STL was generated badly [not your fault and a common, known problem]. When I point out that certain tips you've adopted recently [like increased wait before cure times on every layer] have been presented elsewhere, it's because assuming you derived that (and other) improvements independently, there are extensive explanations and demonstrations with photos, videos, measurements, analysis and Q&A elsewhere that you almost certainly would be interested in looking at [assuming you didn't know or haven't already]. In any case, what you do is appreciated, as well as your very approachable style, keep up the good work!
@@retromodernart4426 interesting I didn't build them in cad. But the under boxes should be 0.04mm off. 0.02mm per a side. I export them then load them back into my program to do a final check for any issues. I'll give them all a check again just to be sure. I did consider stating that I work for Lychee for the clout but in the end I want to keep my two worlds a little bit separate. I always appreciate any help and issues found, thank you and please keep it up. I don't exist in a vacuum. Publishing content on the open Internet is to invite conversation and even debate.
Fauxhammer actually loves the ACF film on the Saturn 3 ultra, I've said this before and I'll say it again, there is a quality difference occuring in the film somwhere. Even if it truly is the case that Aorita3D are the only manufacturers.
Kinda, he doesn’t love it. He just thinks it’s actually surprisingly good compared to all the other ACF films he tried, but even showed the quality is so much more crisp with nFEP.
Cheers on the tip about replacing the ACF film with nFEP 👍I'll have to order some screen replacements for my vat and try them out
I am completely new to 3d printing and I got the Saturn 3 Ultra.
It has been... a journey. I cannot say how much is due to me being a complete noob and how much due to th eproblems that you mentioned, but many of the buts that you say, I also said myself (and as a noob!). Things like, "Am I stupid or is the only viable way to move the thing up to remove the vat is to go to manual, put 50 mm and press it 3 times?".
My first calibration went wrong, because I did it in the wrong order. That was my fault: I unscrewed, then lifted until the paper felt with some resistance, then screwed them.
Apparently, you have to screw them before you do the paper test, and the paper.
The paper, by the way, wtf. They could have put a bigger paper. It is so hard to try to move around to see if there is any resistance bcause it is almost of the size of the top plate, and I fear to use anything else because I think that the thickness of the paper is important.
Anyway. I was using the cones of calibration to test my abslike v2 grey resin, and I managed to get a print at 3 seconds of exposure, but it was overexposed.
So I tried 2 seconds, and now it was.. fine? Like the failed cone failed and the success cone succeded, but the print looked so much worse than the other one.
And here is where the "fun" begins:
I am making all these changes of exposure time in chitubox and sending them via wifi.
For some reason, when I try 2.5s, chitubox changes the rise distance from 3 mm to -1.
I didn't notice at first, so I was very surprise when the print which was supposed to be in the middle of the other two turned out to be by far the worst.
But that was only the first problem.
Somehow, after 5 failed prints and using the feature of cleaning the resint tank (which has already consumed like half of my bottle), I noticed that there was still something in the vat.
I clean the vat and there it is: There is a hole in the center of the vat. The whole doesn't seem to be a puncture hole, but rather a burnt hole. And there is also a "burnt" mark in one of the corners.
I think that the one time chitubox set the rise distance to -1, the print burnt the acf or something.
In summary, my second day of 3d printing was spent buying a new pack of acf films to be able to keep calibrating. Yay...
I see that you have a full document about starting. I will try yours, since it seems that other methods are not meant for idiots like me. I hope your method is fool proof!
Your story here feels like the norm. This is why I created my guide. It's way more than just calibration. It's trying to help you get into the correct mind. More than anything it's workflows to help you keep your printing runnin great.
How I level, prep, clean, calibrate and print are all part of a system that's designed for the best results.
Grear video, but one note on bearings, ballscrew nuts, and ballscrews:
Ballscrews are rarely perfectly straight. So to avoid binding you can't fully constrain the ballscrew. You have to have some X/Y movement allowance of the ballscrew or ballscrew nut without allowing slop in the Z movement of the ballscrew nut or the ballscrew itself. So on the Anycubic they would need to have a DAC at the ballscrew nut, or they run the risk of binding, especially at the top of the movement. I can't tell if they do for sure, but it looks like they don't. The other approach is the Elegoo approach of allowing the ballscrew a little X/Y movement at the top of the movement.
So looking at the two approaches to the top, the Elegoo is less likely to bind and might be the more technically correct solution. But that is just my educated guess from looking at the video of the two. I don't have either yet, but should have a Saturn 3 Ultra 12k here any day now. :)
I'll give the Ultra a closer look but I don't think it can move as much as the Saturn. I'll be at Anycubic tomorrow. I will ask them about this.
@@J3DTech nice! :)
Fauxhammer released a review on this printer yesterday where he concludes that acf is good, which is contrary to his previous point. I would love your thoughts on that. Other than that, great review. I like that you discuss a bit about the build quality of the printer
He doesn't conclude that ACF is good, he concludes that on the S3U, his ACF film was showing vastly diminished texturing from the other printers with ACF, but with no repeat tests or anything (since you can't get ACF)
I got this one for my farm. This printer is AMAZING. The build quality is amazing and yeah, ACF does hit the detail a little bit, but for larger prints, it is insanely fast and that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I do have a vat equipped with nFEP but I've never had a job that actually required that level of detail. The "buts" in the video are, IMO, extremely minor.
New to the resin side of printing I started with the Saturn 3 Ultra, I am still in the learning stages, I just paid the price for ACF replacements :( . Is NFEP worth crossing over to once this supply runs out? I am not as much about speed as I am with a failure rate and quality output.
If quality is your goal the nFEP is what you want.
Nice review and good info as always, thank you sir
I'm always worried I'm leaving off a lot of information but hopefully I shared enough.
But now Fauxhammer loves ACF. So do I, with a little AA which I use for everything I print.
Yeah? I've been in China for a week what have I missed?
@J3DTech Yup, he seems to have excellent prints; what causes the improvement is to be determined. Can it be a different source or change in the acf film or that the light strength/sharpness is lower etc ...
I just watched his video. First I hope to some day match his production quality.
But I can say with 100% certainty that AA Does work in this printer, I worked directly with Snarky and and Snarky was testing the Saturn 3 not the Ultra.
I also spent over a week in the Elegoo forms, helping many many people with this printer and having them help me create this video and turn by running some prints and test for me and showing me the results.
The ACS film does still leave the cross hatching but it is better on this printer then the Anycubic due to the upgrades lighting engine, screw and rail. But you can see I have macro pics in this review that clearly show the difference or AA on and off, ACF on and off.
@@TheAndrian463I ran anti-aliasing tests with snarky arts. AA does work on the ultra and I also ran direct comparison results with ACF versus nFEP and I can tell you that the ACF does still leave marks. The Ultra does have a much better light engine which does create higher quality prints compared to other 12K printers.
But you will still always get better quality when you replace the ACF with anything as you get to see in my video I do provide evidence under a macro lens.
It's a shame M3 Premium is discontinued. Thank you for the video, I love these episodes, very informative.
Yes once mine die of old age. I won't really enjoy 3D printing as much.
🙁@@J3DTech
@@J3DTech btw, will you be reviewing Photon Mono M5s?
@@koroshghanbarzadeh1360 I won't as I don't have this printer. But I made this video because of it.
You really came up with a good one. Bringing the M3 first for comparison.
Thank you!
Got my Saturn 3 ultra came in three days ago. I have had zero success with printing. 6-7 fails, nothing has stuck to my plate. I’ve leveled it every time before I start a print and no luck. Any idea what may be going on? Starting to think I should have just bought another Saturn 8k
Did you test your Z offset with the calibration part?
This seems to be the one flaw of this printer. The faster lift speed can make it harder for that first layer to get going.
The good part is working with others and my own experience once you get that sorted it works great.
And this is a process I recommend you do on all others for the best results and highest success rates.
See my Guide linked in the description, look for the chapter in Build Plate Calibration print.
You're looking to check the level and set the Z-offset.
I've been having problems with my non-ultra s-3 and parts of prints not sticking to the buildplate. I'm going to look through your videos for the solution you briefy mentioned in this video on how to properly zero the buildplate with those test prints. Thanks!
That's the best place to start. But also make sure that you update the firmware. Major speed issues resolved with the newest version.
great review dude!
We support the use of the word of chonky
So how good is the AA Compared to the mighty 8k? The mighty 8k has exceptional AA and was thinking of getting this printer but I need AA to work to the point of minimal voxels on smooth surfaces.
AA is a strange thing, it can depend on the printer, the slicer and the settings.
I don't have a MIghty 8k to run a test on so I can post the results. But in the descriptopn I did post the HD pics of my tests. AA and details I think that the difference very good.
But, HD AA and a 12K printer will take a LONG time to slice and require that you have an good PC.
Thanks for the reply. I use siraya tech navy grey which responds to AA well. Which printer out of all the ones you’ve tested has the best AA as a general statement.
Your hawkgirl is amazing and a masterpiece!
Thank you
@@J3DTech Love the model. May i ask how you did the amazing gold? I think i would try to drybrush or airbrush gold over black but however you did it it looks stunning.
Its just guilding wax, use a back primer, then a white glove to apply it. A lot like dry brusning. Just use a rubber glove under the white one. @@Dedrael81
@@J3DTech Thx for your answer. Never heard guilding wax before, will surly give it a try.
@@Dedrael81 This stuff, put it on thin. www.amazon.com/Pebeo-766507US-Gliding-King-Gold/dp/B07Q1MGPV7/ref=mp_s_a_1_6_sspa?crid=1Q910R3MVD8AZ&keywords=gilding+wax&qid=1707056741&sprefix=guilding+wa%2Caps%2C144&sr=8-6-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfbXRm&psc=1
I've just noticed it's not got the fan holes at the side's now like on the saturn 2! Whare is the vents round the back only now as apose to each side for cooling? I get blasted with the fan air when sit next to it so might be a welcome change haha!
I did not even notice that good ketch
Thought I was experienced in Resin printers but I have learned something new with your build comparison, Absolutely fantastic video analysis and please keep doing this style and format. Please make
1) Your recommended buys both Resin FDM
2) Settings & Calibration video
I don't know much about FDM and I do talk about my favorite resin like mad in my guide. Sirayatech Navy Gray + 10% Tenacious obsidian black.
I do plan on making the calibration video but it's.. well I'm still learning and I want to make sure it's as factual as possible.
Great Video as always
Your videos are really good, keep it up!
Thank you again for your support!
Of course, D.! (This is Rick P.) I've been busy digging up and replacing my irrigation but want to go back to printing and painting some more now. Your videos and guides are the best! @@J3DTech
@@hothmobile100 Yep, I know who you are. I'll never forget a good friend. Even if you're busy with life.
I have to do the same. I almost lost my entire driveway to rain. Guess that's what I get for living next to a lake on clay.
My Ultra arrives today. 😍
I'm in talks with Elegoo about the speed limits as well hopefully I'll have an official response soon.
@@J3DTechDid you hear anything back?
@@thedorklylionchannel415 I did I have a beta firmware that makes it better but not a full fix. I hope to get another one to test soon.
Are the exposure times the same with nfep and acf?
I was getting some really good and fast prints with ACF but since I've damaged it I would like to try nfep. What speed reduction would you recommend in comparison to acf? Is it like 10% or is it closer to 50%?
For my resin they were but you always want to relevel and calibrate.
For speed ACF only lets you pull faster all other speeds are not affected by the film.
I pull at 45mm/m - 100mm/m on the first stage 200mm/m - 300mm/m on the 2nd
Burn in layers should always be very slow.
I'm confused, were you able to slow the speed down past factory settings and if so, how? Thanks for the info
I was with a bit of code provided to me from Elegoo, it's been posted on their discord.
Thanks for the quick reply!@@J3DTech
Thanks for the vid. And thanks for posting the link to your guide. The leveling process w the multiple pieces was interesting. I’m gonna have to go back to the vid and listen to the resin discussion again to make sure I understood it correctly.
Actually this vid was timely for us. Our current resin printers are no longer supported, but we were able to get quite a few years out of them and their “old” technology 🙃. Anyways we’re looking for replacement printers for our Solus’ and have been looking at the various Saturns to likely use in conjunction w/ Lychee. Side note, so far I’m pretty impressed w Lychee’s response to my inquiries, so +1 for them, so far 😜.
Had kinda written the Ultra off because of the use of ACF (for easier/faster print/film release?). The big appeal of the Ultra wasnt its speed, but it’s use of a 4point mount for the build plate. Had those on the Solus’ and prefer this design (if well done) over the ball mounts we’ve sampled.
QUESTION 1: was the replacement FEP you used the “Siraya Tech NFEP Film - A4 Size (210 X 297mm)”? Just wanting to make sure the size works w the S3 Ultra.
QUESTION 2: how long have you been using the Saturn U? Rough number of prints on it so far?
Thanks again for the vid.
I have another video called "All you need to know to get started with 3D printing". In this video I cover how to use the build plate calibration parts in more detail.
But in the guide I also have a description and instructions.
The nFEP I used as a no brand that I just purchased off Amazon. In reality, all of these sheets only come from a couple factories in the world.
So far I've done the hawk girl model. I had to print her wings twice due to an update in the model and about 2-3 times as many calibration parts as you had seen in the video. I printed pretty continuously on it for about 2 weeks.
@@J3DTech Thanks for the fast reply. Yeah all things (washers, refrigerators) are all pretty much each made in a couple of diff factories, my fav example is Maytag after they got bought out. I’ll check out your other vid for the calibration etc, admittedly I kinda skipped it due to the title as we’ve been resin printing since before Formlabs was a twinkling in someone’s eye 😉. So a little too cocky on my part 😜
I thought the Siraya was maybe a bit steep @10usd a sheet, but we’d been paying $5usd a sheet for the Solus’. So given the size diff, didn’t think too much of it.
@@jessefurqueron5555 It's ok it really was meant for new people into 3D printing. However a lot of the methods I teach are new even to experienced users. Maybe I should have made a better title.
Maybe edit it into a new vid to focus it down on the methods related to the latest large format resin printers? That’d give you a twofer. Anyways I’ll check it out in a bit
Thanks!
you said it wrong. but everyone does. I'm shocked I've only just seen this great video just now.
Faux, like Foe. like Faux-Leather, FauxHammer = FoeHammer ;)
Ahh crap I am sorry about that. I'm afraid I can also tell my brain this is how you say it but when the camura kicks in I turn into an idiot. On the 10th take I'm sure I'll say it correctly next time 🤣
So being the same file type as the saturn 2 can we use lychee saturn 2 settings for it just now while we wait for the next update that'll probably be a while since 5.2.2 update to include mono 2 etc has just been done really?
Anyone have a lonk for setting adjustments when using an nFep with the ultra? Thanks to whoever links a post or explanation 😊
My settings were 99% the same. UV exposure changed by 0.1s. This is less than what temps will make.
As one of those "nobody bought it" owners of the M3 Premium I am SO disappointed that not only did they discontinue it but they don't support it either so getting a replacement LCD screen for it is nearly impossible and while I've managed to find one for now, next time it's likely to be an expensive paperweight. I'm hoping that this works out better.
Its one of my fears, out of all my printers is still my favorate to use. When I'm using any other printer I honesly don't enjoy the hobby as much.
@@J3DTech I can accept them making a business decision to stop making the printer itself. Personally I think it was the wrong choice because it's an amazing printer in my opinion but that's their call. But to completely abandon their customers when it comes to even a consumable part? That's crappy. I liked Anycubic prior to that but now that trust and loyalty are shot. My only hope is that some 3rd party decides to pick up the slack but that's doubtful. I did manage to find a screen for about $250 including shipping to the US but the lead time is nearly 2 months and I'm concerned that come shipping time I'm going to get a "sorry not available" notice. I've been in touch with the seller and they assure me they'll have it so I'm staying hopeful. I got burned a number of years back on an FDM company that promised great things and delivered a half working sub-par piece of junk (M3D's Promega) and now have a $1k monument to failure sitting in the corner of my shop.
@@J3DTech Im also one of those "nobody bought it", recently one mate from the forums of anycubic has share that the replacement is the elegoo screen of the saturn 2 8K, "but" with some little detail on the X axis when you replace it doesnt fill all the gap needed so it needs to be properly center with the black tapes.
@@tonystarkitl Good to know, I'll keep that in mind for when my LCD goes out.
Hello! With the Saturn 4 ultra being $10 more than the 3 ultra, is it worth buying? The tilt and bells and whistles are attractive, but loss of build height isn’t. Is tilt + nfep going to be that much better than ACF? What are your thoughts
I ordered one and will do a review once I get it for now it does seem good but not sure till I can get my hands on it.
@@J3DTech fair enough! Thank you haha
How do I level this printer, I'm having a horrid time with adhesion. J3d appreciate your video but is there a specific ultra guide for levelling (I have seen your generic resin printing guide but you mention in the video there some tricks for this printer but no link to it)
I’m having the same issue I’ve had nothing stick to the plate and leveled it every time before a print.
Same
Thats ridiculous lol, how is the screw gonna wobble without being supported at the top? Its got linear guides and the thing has to be moving at very fast rapids for that thing to be doing any wobble.
You say that but then I could send you pictures of two EPAX 10 8k printers that at the time cost $1200 pet. You will see two screws moving like a salsa dance party.
PFA is the same as NFEP right? Can only find PFA film on the elegoo site. Thanks for the review great work!
They are different, nFEP is what will print with better clarity but you can't print these new ludicrous speeds.
So were did you get nFEP film for the saturn when elegoo only sells something called PFA for saturn 3? @@J3DTech
@J3D Tech - Would you happen to have a link to the tool you are using for removing prints from your build plate?
Yes I do! I also include a non-affiliated link of all the tools I use at the bottom of my guide.
www.amazon.com/dp/B075SLTY8B?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
@@J3DTechThank you very much for the fast reply!
Can you write the link of the model?
You can also get it on their paterion
cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/b3dserk-november-term-hawkgirl-sculpture-1-6-ready-for-printing
does m3 max has same good rail system like m3 premium?
Those filters mostly just reduce the smell and not the VOCs
I've not even noticed that.
The majority of the smells are from VOC's. a HEPA + Charcoal filter will get the printing fumes close in line with e.g running a gas stove. The point is you don't run a gas stove next to you for 8 hours a day, so still keep exposure limited. Sticking it in a side room with an air purifier/ HEPA+Charcoal filter and coming back an hour or so after it's finished printing and the air quality should be absolutely fine
@@SirProdiglewhat HEPA + charcoal filter do you recommend? Are you referring to the one included?
Loved the video! Question. Can you post a link or state where you can purchase the nFEP film for this printer? Thanks in advance!
Amazon.
My ACF ended up having a tear so I moved to PFA (Saturn 2/3). What TSMC settings would you recommend so I can still print relatively fast ? I had 90/320 and 320/90 previously (Elegoo 8k resin).
Not sure the Saturn 2 can do 320 you can always test that.
But 90/250+ should be fine.
I run mine at 45/250 200/70 with 2s light off delay it's a bit slow but gives me great results
@@J3DTech Sorry I meant my S3U ACF developed a tear so I used a Saturn 2 PFA film to replace the ACF. So wondering what speeds I should run since I have changed ACF to PFA on S3U
@@kinghuzi Yep I understand and the speeds I posted are what is recommended
What you think about regular Saturn 3?
I would never buy it, has the matrix lighting engine, the ball joint, all around weaker construction for almost the same price
@@J3DTech wow was not expecting its that bad :D thanks for the insight. which one you think has best value of current generation? Mars 4 Ultra?
🤌 great review always a joy
Going through your videos now... Legit just printed the boxes of calibration on the ultra as its 1st print
Its a great printer with a few.. funny aspsects once you get them all worked out you should get really good results.
I love my mini 8ks but wanted a bigger plate and when the mighty 8k showed up with broken lcd figured let me try this.. Still think I want a mighty
@@J3DTech
I've not long got the saturn 2 I love it the 1 filter is perfect all you need I and thinking of this saturn 3 as a second but the anycubic m5s I Don't know what to go for! The saturn 2 does the same doesn't raise all the way but easy enough to raise it yourself with 2 clicks! I've never seen my tower rails shift unlike my Anycubics the mono 2 especially is bad!
Castable resins require slow lift speeds. Considering how many people are buying the new ultras for jewelry coupled with a the acf fiasco shows elegoo really has no clue about their customers needs. Why would you make the printer go 100mm/min minimum? So stupid
I don't think it was intentional. Given that I've been working with them and testing different from where packages and it's a bit of a struggle to get it right.
Heyo, so I am really curious to hear what you think about adding PTC heaters and a temp controller to the bottom of the main plate to heat the build area and the vat to 30*C. The spot I kept my printer in my house had a lot of temp variation, and on a long 24hr+ print it would sometimes fail from it. On my original Saturn it worked wonders to stabilize the print temps and kept everything way more consistent even with a 10 degree variation. I'd really like to see someone more experienced try it.
Also cool hobby you picked up! We used to work together once upon a time. Still have the asset tag on the squirrel. T:00024 S:L33T
I do remember that squirrel 🐿️.
Running a heater is great I've tested several and strangely my favorite is an egg heater off of Amazon followed by the vat heater.
In my guide Linked in the description, go to the bottom and I have both listed with pros and cons.
Always, reach out if you need anything.
@@J3DTechThat would be an interesting video, a comparison and some "how to" when it comes to DIY vat heating.
Great video, thanks. Is it able to maintain dimensional accuracy the increased strain of larger prints with high lift speeds?
It was using the 2 resins I tested I would think water washable or ECO resins will struggle with this.
It also took me a bit longer to calibrate than normal.
Wait, what? I got m3 last Christmas. It’s awesome.😮
Do you have any chance to do a review of the Mars 4 Ultra? Since it uses ACF, same linux based OS + goo file format as the Sat3Ultra it might have the same lower and upper speed limits like the 120mm/m lower limit which would affect its performance if someone decides to chance to NFEP by choice or lack of stock of the ACF film.
I wish I could, I don't have one and Elegoo does not send me hardware. Everything I have and do, is at my own expense with no monotonization or sponsorship.
@@J3DTech Just an update. In the end I bought a Mars 4 Ultra during Black Friday as an upgrade to my old Phrozen Mini 4k. I'll keep my Sat 2 and skip the Sat3U and see what comes next gen. I felt it was a bigger upgrade from the former ones than the later ones. As for the lower limit with the Mars 4 Ultra, I made a test with a print file with 60mm/min speeds (equal to 1mm/s) and 20mm distances, if it respected that speed it would take 20secs up and 20s down. From the recorded video and a chronometer on the background. It took roughly 13.3 secs to travel that 20mm up, same 13.3secs down. That means 1.5mm/s or a lower speed limit of 90mm/min.
@@kamui004 I think this issue maybe more common then we think. I've not really tested all the printers out there but I bet we will see this is why Slicerse are not as accurate as they should be. I also wonder if this is why there was an old "Dead Zone" that older 3D printers talk about from 50mm/m-100mm/m Maybe these order printers would default to a faster speed.
I've been testing the S3U firmware that just came out and it still has issues. 500mm/m is slower then 400mm/m, 30mm/m - 55mm/m = the same speed. Always fun!
Do You have any opinion about mars 4? Vs mini 8ks?
I have a Mars 4 Max I still need to open but I feel I would need to compair the Ultra to the 8ks. So at this time I would not know what one I would recomend over the other.
@@J3DTech yeah I meant mars 4 ultra to 8ks. Anyway in Europe is easier to get hands on elegoo.
can you share how you finished those prints?
Spray them black then using a white glove with a latex glove under them.
Using a gold wax you use dry brushing methods.
Guilding WAX is what you're after
God dammed... now I want a m3 premium... sninf.
I purchased 2 just to make sure I could keep them going. 😄
I hate you now... but still love you... Don't know what to do!!! hahaah XD @@J3DTech
Thanks for your video and sharing your thoughts mate, much appreciated...I prefer build quality over features. I'm still frustrated that I can't buy a brand new M3 from a reputable company...I'd get one in a heart beat if I could.
I find the info on the build plate leveling very interesting...I levelled mine using the included paper (which is thicker than standard A4 printing paper) and just did the very basic paper method and it printed perfectly first go...and I've done several prints now without failure or problem...I will track down your build plate levelling calibration tool though and run it just to see what happens and if it indicates if any improvement is possible.
The other thing I found very interesting is your mention of the speed limitations...is this factory limitation imposed on both lift and retract speeds for both bottom and normal layers...I have my bottom layer lift speed set at 10mm/m and 40mm/m for normal layer lift speed...if I understand you correctly, the printer will overide the sliced setting and force a 120mm/m speed for both?
Also, I either read or watch somewhere than the Anycubic M5 and M5S have factory settings that overide the slicers AA settings, which I am really glad Elegoo seem not to have done, I really feel that full control of AA should remain with the user.
Thank you!
In my testing and others I've interacted with the speed limit is a thing. Very strange... The Saturn 3 none ultra .goo won't do AA using Lychee or Chitubox.
I'm not sure on the M5s and AA settings as I don't have one. It would be good to confirm however.
wow i didnt know the M3 Premium is discontinued til now smh lol. i actually like this one.
It's by far my favorite
Cool review, just got mine, only printed the rook test, it came out good, will be testing it soon with my models and will try to tune in the settings. I did notice there is some resonance sound from the fans, think it may be bc of the metal frame, will measure the sound next time it prints. What settings do you recommend for quality? Using Siraya Fast resin.
Thank you! I ended up pulling the light intensity down to 80%. Because the speed limits, it doesn't matter if you try to set something below 120 mm a minute it's going to just do that. So for now you're stuck with that.
Because of this you need to really make sure that you're burning layers and your leveling is good cuz it's just going to rip the print off of the FEP.
So after that I just calibrated to the boxes of calibration getting all the pillars after switching out the ACF film to NFEP
Thank you! I ended up pulling the light intensity down to 80%. Because the speed limits, it doesn't matter if you try to set something below 120 mm a minute it's going to just do that. So for now you're stuck with that.
Because of this you need to really make sure that you're burning layers and your leveling is good cuz it's just going to rip the print off of the FEP.
So after that I just calibrated to the boxes of calibration getting all the pillars after switching out the ACF film to NFEP
@@J3DTechI was asking about the sound but now that u mention it how do u reduce the light intensity? Can't see it in the printer menu, is it in Chitubox?
@@TheIcemanModdeler I use lychee slicer, in that it's called Light Intensity I set it to 80% and I was able to get better results doing this.
@@TheIcemanModdeler As far as the sound goes, it is a bit loud and the only way to fix this would be to put sound dampening foam inside the chassis where you're not going to disrupt any of the operations of the system.
The other thing I'm considered doing with a few of my printers is upgrading the fans. To Noctua.
slicer software not finding wifi printer
What software are you using?
Awesome review! and awesome print of Hawk girl. How did you paint it? :)
I sprayed her black then used gold Guilding WAX and you just buff it on.
make layer lines test based on rails system
Dennis Wang has a good layer line test. I could make a video on that. Show off the difference of a $1200 printer and how it makes more issues than a $600 or $500 printer.
would be great if u also do it@@J3DTech
Nice review. I'm in the market for a new printer and I'm currently trying do decide between this one or the GKtwo. I prefer build quality and reliability over features and speed. However, the heated vat in the GKtwo makes that being at the top of my list at the moment.
I've not printed on the Gktwo but I've played with one for a bit. I was not impressed. Overall it's a good idea but a lot of cut corners all over the place. Not to say these $500 printers don't also do this. But they are also not near the price of that printer and do get a perspective pass on some of it.
The M3-PREMIUM with a $60 egg heater installed is vastly better than the Gktwo from what I saw and seen. This puts the ultra a close 2nd.
@@J3DTech I see, thank you for that information. I looked through your guide but couldn't find anything about a DIY heating in there. I'm not sure what kind of egg heater you are referring to.
@@HavasiP This section, and look under "Greatly Improve Print Quality and Success Rate"
docs.google.com/document/d/1Z8fkzOxEgI9sOTwDKI6CeblpnuP4V8ayYVwZrYGmo44/edit#bookmark=id.f7x19c30uvoc
A thermalvatband converts all your vats to heated.
Great video! If you could include a list of links or one link to a list of all of your calibration print models that'd be a great resource for everyone. Thanks!
All the links and instructions on how to use them are found in my guide. That is linked, but I'll make some shortcuts as well.
@@J3DTech Thank you! The guide is amazing by the way. It’s been a while since I’ve looked at it so I didn’t know you had the info there.
M5s or saturn 3 ultra? Help me decide
If they update the firmware to remove the speed limit the Ultra is the best printer
Print quality has to be most important closely followed by ease of use.
Exactly
Try a information gktwo
I think its pronounced Hawt-Girl
I'll never buy anycubic ever again
It's interesting that you did such a thorough review, but didn't show "HawtGirl" after printing, washing and curing, but before painting. If a reviewer wants to show how good they [hopefully that was the right pronoun?] are at sanding, prepping, priming and painting that's great, but for showing how good the printer is, a painted model (especially at that level of finishing/painting you showed) shows nothing at all except that you can prep and paint a model quite well, and that the printer completed the print without obvious egregious disfigurement.
Whether the washed and cured yet 'unfinished' model is really excellent, or is just ok or worse, you just managed to skillfully or even just unknowingly hide behind your seemingly excellent finishing skills that you needed to show off.
Good to see you read different online slicer [in addition to Lychee's echo chamber, and you also forgot to mention the fact that you work for Lychee] and 3D printer [besides Elegoo and Anycubic's] community discussions and incorporate new (to you) and more correct information and methods that you learn [without attribution, of course] in your videos. At least that's one way of 'helping the community'.
Finally, please try to acknowledge that there are other, better, printer companies out there making far superior printers than Elegoo and Anycubic with far better price/performance than them even if the superior printers cost a bit more initially - and one of the reasons those superior printers are obscured is that people like you (and others with far bigger audiences than you have) are usually not only vastly ignorant of anything but superficiality and incorrect or at best incomplete 'common knowledge' [which is pushed, including by you], but also generally refuse or don't even know to say something as simple and true as "These printers might succeed in inconsistently making some resin prints with plenty of effort, are utterly misengineered cheaped-out minimally viable products - DON'T BUY". If you who pose as 'experts' had done that, it's likely that better printers would be more well-known, in demand, and actually purchased by 'newbies' instead of the cheap crap machines, and companies like Anycubic wouldn't 'terminate' the until then one reasonably properly made attempt at a properly constructed printer [show the 'premium' light source, a disgusting 'UV LEDmatrix' FFS which by the way is the one major and only serious problem with the M5S, not the ACF ], which at the price it came out at (and went out at), one could by a printer that wasn't just a first attempt but has been and is an actually superior printer across the board. The fact that you can casually say something (true) pointing to a disgusting important not-fit-for purpose defect without batting an eye, "It doesn't have [extreme, horrendous] Z-flex like [all of the] other [Elegoo] printers" [pointed out in detail and proven extensively by Jan Mzàrek, years and years ago, for example], just boggles the properly informed mind, but unfortunately is utterly common amongst these kinds of '3D printing experts' and fanbois.
This video does get a thumbs up for your pursuit of [your recently acquired] important knowledge and presentation of it in passing regarding full plate calibration testing, but next time talk about how important this distributed test also is to usefully seeing and taking into account UV light uniformity inconsistency which is far superior to wasting time with nearly useless for the task garbage like "the Cones" that you used to push until you left 'FlipNewbiesTheBird Foundries', if one uses proper calibration pieces like Dennys Wang's [look him up on youtube and learn properly] little support and overhang test piece spread about the build plate, in addition to yours that you showed in this video, assuming you didn't mess up the dimensions for it like you did in your 'Tesseract' aka 'Cubes' aka 'Boxes', etc.
Sorry for not including the pre-paint pics, I did mean to but simply forgot. I had to rush the editing of this video to a single night as I'm leaving to China tonight for a Printer thing.
I did add a link with all the HD pictures of all the prints. I also feel that showing a "Model" is not a good way to show off a printer. This is why I made and showed the HD Cube test.
I'm not sure I fully understand your 2nd paragraph. It's true I work for Lychee but this was not a video about Lychee or Calibration. I also own my own official business named J3D-Tech. However in the description I do with my title show that I do.
There are a few things about the M5s but as I don't own one, I won't comment directly. But why do you think I made this video?
I would not recomend using my Build Plate Calibration test for UV light uniformity. I did address this in a way by saying, hey these light engines are better! When I made my Calibraion video, I'll be sure to mention this topic. For testing uniformity I would suggest printing Boxes of Calibration. or Cubes or whatever, I don't care what you call it. Print it and measure them against each other. This will do for normal layers what the Build Plate Calibration does for Burn in layers. This is because anything close to the burn in and transition will make any test null and void. You also NEED precision for this test. It can't be a subjective test at all! Meaning any type of stress test for this will almost always give you false positives.
I'm aware of one mistake I did make on on Boxes of Calibration. It was on a very very old version that went out on TFF. One of the raft measuring spots was off. Something that never affected the use of the tool or anyway I teach to use it and was quickly resolved. Is there another issue I'm not aware of?
Hey @J3DTech, I thought it was an awesome video from a newbies POV and addressed a lot of things in a simple to understand manner that a new person to the hobby wouldn’t necessarily know to look for, and CERTAINLY doesn’t get well addressed in advertising and marketing for the printers, even on the manufacturers page.
Example, that build plate screw thing. On a Saturn 2, seems reasonable enough, but that one for some reason seems way shorter! No idea why they’d shorten it, and you’ll never see it mentioned on Elegoo’s page, but I appreciate you bringing up minor details like that.
Keep em coming!
Can you list these superior printers? Genuinely interested
@@J3DTech Hey, sorry for the delay in getting back to you, and thanks for your thoughtful response.
You're a good dude looking for the best printing techniques leading to the best results and even better, to share the information with as many people doing 3D resin printing as possible.
I'm trying to point you in directions that will help you achieve this worthy objective, sorry if I seem abrasive, but I'm trying to jolt people out of wrong, useless and even counter-productive avenues leading to at best frustration.
When I point out things like the Lychee position, it's not a "put-down", I sincerely think it would be good if you let people know that (as you might know first-hand, lots of unfortunates will see the tips and info you present and say "who does he think he is? how does he know?, etc.)
When I point out the design error in the "boxes", it's so you can fix it [the inner dimensions of the 6mm box are wrong], and I presume that you have access to the CAD file and not just an STL, so you can check the inner dimensions of the boxes yourself, easily - and if your CAD dimensions are correct, than the STL was generated badly [not your fault and a common, known problem].
When I point out that certain tips you've adopted recently [like increased wait before cure times on every layer] have been presented elsewhere, it's because assuming you derived that (and other) improvements independently, there are extensive explanations and demonstrations with photos, videos, measurements, analysis and Q&A elsewhere that you almost certainly would be interested in looking at [assuming you didn't know or haven't already].
In any case, what you do is appreciated, as well as your very approachable style, keep up the good work!
@@retromodernart4426 interesting I didn't build them in cad. But the under boxes should be 0.04mm off. 0.02mm per a side.
I export them then load them back into my program to do a final check for any issues.
I'll give them all a check again just to be sure.
I did consider stating that I work for Lychee for the clout but in the end I want to keep my two worlds a little bit separate.
I always appreciate any help and issues found, thank you and please keep it up. I don't exist in a vacuum. Publishing content on the open Internet is to invite conversation and even debate.