In regards to modifying the homing sensor, it's come to my attention since publishing this video that Elegoo customer support actually has a gcode file they can send you to achieve the same outcome. So if your new Saturn/Mars printer fails auto leveling please contact support first, and failing that try Geek Detours method (link in video description), and as a last ditch you can try the mod in this video. There is A LOT to cover here so I've gone ahead and chapterized this video so you can easily find the most relevant or interesting sections if you don't fancy sitting through the entire thing. I do of course encourage a full viewing! This video goes DEEP, and gets under the skin of the new S4U and its little brother , and we even take a look at some of the problems this machine and others like it are facing, and how to overcome them. 00:00:00 - Intro and Overview 00:04:27 - Careful, this lens cap will fight you 00:06:28 - Let's talk about heaters 00:14:12 - Fume Extraction 00:15:57 - Firmware 00:27:29 - Setting up a Calibration print 00:29:39 - Comparing the internal hardware 00:35:21 - Numbering the test models 00:39:08 - Let's talk about why tilt release is really cool 00:43:53 - Build plate drainage model (highly recommend this) 00:44:59 - THE MOST SATISFYING TANK CLEAN I'VE EVER DONE HOLY SHIT 00:46:14 - Trying out a new part removal tool 00:47:44 - Let's talk about the bib 00:49:48 - Jay3DTech Boxes of Calibration 00:58:01 - First print results 01:02:37 - Testing recovery on power loss 01:03:48 - Second print results 01:04:28 - The issues with "Auto levelling" 01:12:34 - What do you do if Auto Levelling fails?! 01:16:19 - Closer look at all the prints 01:21:16 - Testing the new Elegoo Mini Heater in cold weather 01:24:18 - Final thoughts
Sigmastar SSD2020 i think this is the arm chip (brain ) behind eleegoo saturn 4 ultra and bg256 is a type of sram ,dram or eeprom. Thank you for this great video👍👍👍👍
@@OnceinaSixSide I destroyed my first FEP because I just couldn't give fails off - and I didn't have any supports because I hadn't made anything yet. Super excited to not need to keep a piece of supports floating around in between printing sessions.
Maybe try using a slightly heavier card stock? It looked like you had a bit of fuss and had to stick your hand down in the resin. Maybe something like a playing card?
Thanks for the video. My submission for the print removal tool shootout: painters tool! It's rigid but flexible, the blade is beveled but not super sharp, and it's got a pointy bit on one end if you need to wedge it under a fussy raft.
Just got my Ultra a couple days ago. Love this machine! I can say that putting a flex plate on the build plate is 100% the way to go. I only remove the flex plate, which means I never remove the build plate after each print. So the issues that are particular to this build plate being messy I simply don't have. I previously owned a Saturn 2 with Whambam flex plates, so I was able to buy a new magnet from Whambam and continue to use the two flex plates I already had. The Ultra also allows you to simply run a bit of Gcode on the printer to adjust for the added height of the flex plate and magnet. Previously you had to print a little space and screw that into the plate mechanism. That's gone. You just put a Gcode file on a USB, load it up, and it automagically adjusts the printer for the flex plate and magnet height. So far this thing is a deam.
@@fluxcapacitor If you sand up the surface of the flex-plate, it'll stick just fine. Just make sure that the etched plate is well cleaned with IPA before sticking the magnet on, and do the same with the flex plate after sanding to get any metal dust off.
@@Averell64 I'm working with a Saturn 2, rather than the 4 Ultra, but there's no real need. The plate itself doesn't need to come out of the machine, you can just peel off the flex plate and after getting the prints off - which is much easier - I give it a wipe down with some ipa and pop it back in.
There is a small print on cults that is a spacer to allow the power cable to go out the back while still being able to hook up the ventilation. If you search Saturn 4 it will come up.
Just got the Saturn 4 and my biggest gripe is the way the build plate handle is shaped..... so uncomfortable to hold in a gloved hand. Elegoo needs to taper this thing the opposite way! From the build plate it needs to go from thin to thick not the other slippery way around! Love the video's man you have really helped me on this journey!
I've had mine for a couple days now, and I've found the bib is actually pretty handy for drainage if you put the plate on it sideways so that it overhangs back into the vat. The "bolt sheath" bits are almost exactly as wide as the top bib lip, so it's fully supported while it drains and you just have a tiny bit of resin clinging to one edge after that.
Printer does what it sets out to do, but the mucking around with the build plate is a definite no for me. Oh and If Elegoo Social are reading this, tell your sales team to allow direct sales to NZ, because right now your sole distributor is over charging like crazy for anything branded with Elegoo, and never has any resin in stock, even if it wasn't stupid expensive
Mate I cannot second this harder about sales in NZ. The pricing is wild, and for an exclusive distributor it's insane. Having 0 non-overpriced Elegoo options ONLY drives people to other companies.
As a novice self taught programmer yes the calibration feature would probably relatively simple to code in the grand scheme. However i wouldn't be shocked if anycubic has some kinda of patent on the function being built into the printer itself. Maybe elegoo has made its function different enough to finally bypass the patent. And the extra charge is to recoup the rnd to justify new patent. And if you think that sounds stupid i would remind you we live in a world in which a spinning icon is the symbol of loading because atari patented minigames in loading screens like 40 years ago.
I dunno, that seems a stretch. Its just changing what the pixels are doing on an LCD, and given these are all Chinese made products where historically IP doesn't mean shit.. I'm dubious that it's an IP problem. Given my experience now complaining about printers and requested improvements; they just don't care/aren't interested in making the effort.
These are all chinese companies. Patents mean absolutelly jack shit. Also you can get around pattents in a way or other if you want to. It is not a thing in all printers because they did not tried to implement it yet. Like autoleveling was not imidiatly implemented in sla and fdm printers.
30:00 Yeigh! Love to see inside! Hi there James! Oh, about entering the numbers for the exposure calibration - it’s a bit annoying until you understand it doesn’t let you cross up or down with other existing values, right! Cheers, mate!
TLDR: 1. Use UV cure time to get the Boxes to fit 2. Use 2s light off delay (Wait before Print)! 3. Don't lift more then 6mm! Why waste time? 4. Don't retract super fast, respect your Mini, love your Mini! >>Once boxes fit
I have had my saturn 4 ultra. I made a long handle scraper on my A1 that fits in between the posts and i use that to scrape the majoriety of resin off into the vat before i remove the build plate from machine.
I will admit that I got excited over the promise of auto leveling. Though after learning how it works and the drawback, oh boy do I wish I never asked for this.
For people who can't get the gardening trays in the right size, you can get aluminum quarter baking sheets, which I think is somewhat standardized for baking.
Awesome to see some respect thrown J3D’s way. His guide is absolutely great work and he’s been a North Star for my printing journey for sure. Alongside you of course 😊
I know J3D is also talking to Elegoo about adding a Z offset adjustment via software. So hopefully that yields results. So we don’t have to manually modify our machines
Another addendum. I asked on Lychee about the pillars tensile, and he said he needs to update it. Here is the response he gave me though which may help! TLDR: 1. Use UV cure time to get the Boxes to fit 2. Use 2s light off delay (Wait before Print)! 3. Don't lift more then 6mm! Why waste time? 4. Don't retract super fast, respect your Mini, love your Mini! >>Once boxes fit
In terms of cleaning the build plate. I got mine with the cleaning station. If you fill that all the way up, you can sit your build plate in there on one of it's short sides. Turn the cleaner on for a few minutes and your build plate is clean. It does hold on internally to a bit of the metho or what you are using to clean, but that drains right out. Especially if you are done with printing for the day, just set it upside down over night and it's done!
I've been having a good time with my Saturn 4 Ultra (so far.) It's been working like a champ for me. Messing with the build plate hasn't been too much trouble, and the drip bracket you linked looks like a good addition. Thanks as always for a detailed look. Keep up the great work!
For the shit build plate, I would tighten the bolts, IF NOT possible, i will add a split washer at the top. (file it down if needed) This is how we can manually level the plate.
Glad you liked the paper L tank clean method, thanks for the shout out :) Great video, thanks for sharing all your thoughts and experiences. I'm glad you've given exposure to J3D Tech, his printing guide is fucking awesome and I also like his calibration piece. I agree with the build plate and auto level comments, I much prefer a standard build plate (with the 4 x bolts not the ball joint) and to me, auto level is a gimmick that is just not needed, great for FDM printers, but just not needed for resin printers...using J3D Tech's method of levelling from his guide (leveling the build plate in the vat with resin in it) is perfect. I do it once and don't need to do it again and it has always worked perfectly for me. I am also not a fan of these new tilting beds, I just think it is another mechanical cog in the wheel that introduces a number of things that can go wrong, cause problems, or break. I think the Elegoo Saturn 3 Ultra is the best printer that company has made, its build quality is excellent with components their other printers don't have and it has the 4 bolt build plate and a non-tilting bed...I fucked the ACF right off and replaced it with nFEP and it is a dream machine.
01:04:28 It seems that you didn't watch Geek Detour's video before doing your own. He demonstrated a successful, simple way to manually tune each spring tension of the autoleveling plate during a dry print, so that every loose piece of paper becomes perfectly squished between the screen and the build plate, in every area. And he shared a clever trick to easily "save" the correct setting mechanically. So yes, "manual leveling" is somehow possible on the Saturn 4 Ultra, and that in no way implies having to do anything as complicated as what you've tried in vain the other way around.
You missed the part where I addressed that first thing before I stated I was curious if a homing sensor mod would work as well lol It's also come to my attention since publishing this video that Elegoo has a gcode file they're issuing through support which achieves the same result. So.. hurray for options 🥳
@@OnceinaSixSide Sorry, English is not my primary language an I may indeed have missed that passage. I am interested in that G-code file, what does it do exactly? Because some people on forums say that the Saturn 4 Ultra does not remember correctly the zero position after zeroing… which means that the sheets papers (in case of a dry print) starts well clamped, perfectly sandwiched between the screen and the build plate, then they become loose again in a couple of seconds afterward!
The trick is not to run them at the same time. Extraction is invaluable because you can clear the fumes before you open up your printer to get your prints. Agree though, heated vat with a band is better.
I use the bib every time (when I remember) and it's handy. You don't want resin getting down in the machine. And before I remove the build plate, I use a silicone scraper to scoop the resin that pools on the top side of the plate and let it fall back into the vat.
I know others have already mentioned it, but I'll add- there are ways to modify the z offset using gcode. Wambam has a file floating around to alter it for the flex plates (they were slamming the screen and triggering the sensor). Should be able to do the opposite, without messing with the homing sensor. Lots of people saying 'Just give me a manual adjust plate' or 'ill rig it for manual adjust'. Unfortunately I don't think it's possible/a good idea. Maybe on the S4, but not something you want to do on the Ultra. The margin for error with the tilting vat, in terms of repeatable positioning, somewhat forces the need for this style of spring bed. If you were to 'fix the plate', then the bed decided to sit slightly higher, you'd have issues....
Good info, I wish I knew about the gcode before as it could be used as a workaround versus the physical mod I made to the homing sensor 😅 In regards to a fixed and manual leveled build plate it would be completely possible and fine here. The LCD thanks to the clever and simple design of the mechanical tilt is rock solid in the up position. Check out the Prusa SL1s
@@OnceinaSixSideComing from the machinist/engineer world, I wouldn't trust that tilt mechanism with a 10 foot pole😂. My ultra only got here a few days ago so haven't delved into it yet, but I plan on putting an indicator on the LCD to get some numbers. If they show repeatability I'll eat my words 👍
So i really enjoy your long form videos like this as well as the shorter mini printing videos. Helll, i even like the sponsored videos. Keep up the great work. Ever thought of doing a second channel where you used the minis and terrain in tabletop games?
It's crazy what a game changer that dumb little spatula thing is. I had picked up 4 or 5 different scrappers that were all problematic. Then i watch a J3D video where he mentioned that thing, and i ordered it out of desperation. I it the best cheapest upgrade ive ever picked up.
Labeling test prints is SUPER easy in 3D Builder if you have a PC. Load the STL, find Emboss (either edit or object), type, set your extrusion, and done. For removal, a thin palette knife from an art store is perfect.
I'm an engineer, 99% of the time I do not require extreme levels of accuracy from a consumer level 3D printer. I only make basic fit test models, actual, proper functional prototyping is strictly for CNC or the tolerances would be massively off.
Some observations about this machine having used it for 2 weeks. I'm also in Sydney so temperature is the same factor. 1) magnetic build plate doesnt work with the tilt function, it causes the print to slide. 2) The calibration function is not intuative. 3) You can change the speed setting mid print i.e. start the print in standard mode then move it to fast after the initial layers print. 4) The spout is aweful on the resin vat. 5) If you heat up your resin the machine keeps it warm while running, as long as the machine is on it keeps my resin at between 25 and 30 degrees C in 5-10 degree ambient temp
Thank you for bringing the auto leveling and compression issues into the review. Elegoo have sent me a gcode file that adjusts the thresholds for auto levelling, and a second plate, because the plate was off kilter. It still has the issue, and they're not really doing much to help... I've burned through 3 release films in a week because the low layer supports keep getting pushed into the film at the "high" spots! I also print a lot directly on the plate (flat bases, volume orders, worked fine on my old Mars), and this is causing no end of headaches right now. Elegoo support basically taps out at "don't print on the plate lol" with no acknowledgment of the problem 😔
Oof thats rough. IMO you need to buy another printer with manual leveling that you can tune the Z-offset on. I'm keen to know more about the gcode file they sent you.. Is it essentially allowing you to adjust the distance the build plate moves after it hits the homing sensor? If that can be customized that means we can skip the whole physical mod I did at the end of this video.
@@OnceinaSixSide I've done some tinkering myself and I've got a list of parameters that the printer uses... The gcode that they sent me initially just alters the parameters for the auto levelling - From the looks of it, it alters the amount of pressure that's required on the plate to say "This is level now"... The one they sent made the compression issues go into overdrive though! There are settings to alter the z offset in there from what I can see, but I've not played with those yet. Happy to share the files so you can have a run through. It's really frustrating, when this printer works it's *phenomenal*, but "on plate" printing is just proving near impossible
G'day ol son.....love the vid..yes its long form but you really covered a lot of ground. this is my first vid ive seen after joining your Patreon and discord. im poor but got a brand new Nova3d Whale 2, its basic and easy to learn on. I generally dont have much issue with leveling as its almost the same as any older FDM with leveling nobs. with the heater i had to build my own which is programable and uses the same parts that are in the heaters you showed today, but mine cab go to 100c if i wanted. i found a video online in feb 2023 that showed how to get the parts, print the housing, and assemble. it works great and i can set min and max temp and it will shut off once at temp😁 from a m8 Downunder...but up in Brissy🙃
I tihnk the autolevel-buildplate-thingie, is due to the lever action of the fep - I have a feeling that there is a non-zero change that the surface will be at the exact same spot after every cycle, like it would be for a static glass surface
best removal tool I've is from the Amerivault set, specifically the one that looks like cake icing spatula. Soft corners with a nice sharp edge to get under rafts and nice and flexi blade with a good reach. The pallet knife style spatula's like that I've not had great luck with, don't get under the rafts that well in my experience without modifications.
@@OnceinaSixSide Looks like they are some sort of amazon rebranding outfit. Might only be available under that name in the US. I think you can make one just as good out of a 5" cake decorating or icing spatula(what they are called in the US at least) if you filed or ground a dull edge on the tip.
Thanks for such a comprehensive rundown on the printer! Very interesting and I'm so on the fence about buying this. I'm curious how much a flex plate would make the printer better to work with, as you wouldn't have to interact so much with the build plate as you say.
@OnceinaSixSide really important point! Those 'axed' settings are super useful to still have access too. I was having issues with the parts near the z screw not peeling fully on burn in layers. I simply added a lift height with Lychee slicer for only those burn in layers and BAM never had a failure again. While I highly doubt the lift height for normal layers are going to be useful other than for say some of the weird rubber resins it's a real shame for Chitubox to remove them completely.
probably because big preorder, the QC is become super lacking, I got saturn 4 ultra and a bit of journey 1. first machine I got crack cover, leveling issue on the printer, print wont stick 2. I got replacement from the seller, when I was checking the machine, the touch screen has lot of line like notebook, so they got me something from warehouse 3. 3rd machine, got home and there line in the middle of the lcd, and I use it to print, there vertical line on the print model where the line in lcd are with or without antialiasing, after that first I remove the vat, I notice hair line crack on the screen, I assume because the auto leveling, there no debris on the filter resin from the vat, vat screw not over tighten and no pressure has been apply at all to the lcd except by the machine itself I haven't heard anything from elegoo and the seller, it's 10 hours drive back and forward to the place, I'm guessing they gonna blame on human error, and if I got replacement LCD myself, I still afraid of auto level might not calibrated well and crack the new lcd too, I never experience this kinda problem years of printing resin, all my old anycubic doesn't have any problem at all.
30:07 - "Remove after washing" LOL. QC on point! I'd love a calibration print system where you specified a single time value, (say, +1s) and you would get printe +2s, +1s, -1s, -2s from the time specified in the model. That way you only have to plug in a single value.
5:39 the sensor seems to be a load cell on the arm, so any forces from the screen and built plate transmitted into the arm would be sensed by it. But since the cap was lodged on the back of the carriage where the linear rail and z-screw go, there's no way the load cell would pick it up.
Side thing, but if you designed an attachment point for the fume extraction, you could also make a custom holder for the heater that is vented (or modify the stock one) so you can have both.
Lmao yeah sadly that title was not getting the clicks I hoped! I had a chuckle when I thought of it, which often serves me well when picking titles but sometimes it completely flops.
Oh I just got to the part where you put an Anycubic built plate on an Elegoo printer on your magnets video. In this Elegoo Saturn 4 ultra video you talk about how you don't like the auto level... Could we regain height and just use a manual leveling bed? Could be worth looking into and trying. 😁 Also installing a wham bam magnet plate would be great and if you have to adjust the homing trigger to account for the added build plate height.
No need :) Elegoo have a gcode file they can send you if you contact customer support, and it will modify your Z-offset to compensate for the thickness of the magnet and flex plate.
Great videos. Just received mine after struggling with an M5s that I am convinced was just a lemon (after 2 previous Anycubic models that had been fine). So far the Saturn 4 ultra has been brilliant. Calibration tool is awesome and prints have been fast and great detail. The reduced settings, such as speed, makes it simpler too.
Enjoy watching your videos as you have a different approach than most which is refreshing. Only gripe I have is that your videos are quite dark and its sometimes difficult to see things, especially when the whole machine that you are reviewing is black, definitely would be nicer to get some lighting at the front to see things clearly.
Thanks for the feedback! It's actually a contrast issue 💀 The machine is well lit, and if I expose any higher I blow out my skin and look like a ghost lmao so I'm currently exploring background options to increase the contrast when looking at very dark products like this because believe me it bothers me too!
Pro tools does resin calibration without the faff and you can label each exposure test with the exposure value - not convinced they've made it a lot easier yet!
Great stuff, and yes, please make the video about print removal tools. I need something that's as effective as whatever that thingy you have is in my life!
as someone that just wants to open print and paint, this is more attractive to me. the clean up sucks but i also just leave the plat on an angle for a long time. time is not a issue for me personally.
Greetings from Tasmania. Thanks for such a detailed video. Stayed and watched for all of it and learnt alot. Am thinking its time for an upgrade from my sonic mini 4k to print larger models now. 🙏🏿
Great video, a friend has pre-ordered it as his first 3d printer, so fingers crossed his doesn't have any QC issues and doesn't have any issues with the auto leveling. Based on your video I think Elegoo could release a manually leveled build plate and a firmware update to allow for manual adjustments for leveling. So for those who want to stick with manual leveling they have that option or if the auto leveling is broken Elegoo can offer the manual solution as a 'fix'(hopefully fully covered as a replacement part under warrenty or something).
I was quite hyped with tilt release but with this video i'm a lot nerveus with the bed user experience, im indecided if i wait for the global launch of this machine or go for a saturn 3 and wait for a manual level with tilt release
A recommendation. I just got mine in this past weekend but after seeing everyone kind of struggling with bed adhesion I got a whambam xtr magnetic build plate. It makes everything much easier.
I will say as someone who for a while had their printer out in the garage, where it can get pretty cold here in the pacific north west, and had to frequently go outside to check if a print had even worked in the first place due to a lovely game of musical problems (had the old first gen photon for a while, was a nice entry at the time but I was rapidly becoming aware of how dated it was becoming. One minute its the calibration, the next it's the temperature, then it's the calibration again for some odd reason, then my film got scratched up. just a whole fun time near the end), I would actually have enjoyed having a camera to save myself the trouble of a walk outside when the print was good. Now does it need to be a base feature? no, honestly I think it would better serve as an accessory, and honestly one can cobble together their own setup with a cheap wi-fi connected camera or a baby monitor. But definitely a case by case usefulness. Sad the auto-leveling is not as useful as the companies probably hoped it would be, but at this point I'm fine with just having a spring loaded two bolt or the 4 bolt free leveling on that Anycubic mono. At least it's not the one bolt ball joint I suffered through for a while. Based on this video and other's, I'll probably be looking at the mono 5s as a new printer, but sadly my current housing situation doesn't really give the ability to get a new printer yet. I don't have the space to either have it out of the way or properly vent a resin printer right now, and I don't want to do the same garage setup I had with my first printer when I get home from college. Too many evenings going out in the cold to then learn a new issue occurred and I not have to do a whole cleaning job to try and troubleshoot later.
Important note on resume on power outage: the longer it takes to resume printing, the harder it is for new layers to stick to older layers. So if a few hours have passed, and you weren't there because you went to sleep or been doing something else, expect a failure.
Levelling is super easy on my Mars 4 ultra, I don’t understand why they’ve gone down this route and made a resin collection plate!! I’ve been strongly considering the Saturn 4 but I hate the thought of all that plate cleanup… really want that tilting vat though!
It is a pain! Maybe not so much if you just stick to one resin until your next machine upgrade, you'll just need a bit of extra care and patience for the pooling/dripping - otherwise the tilt is cool but imo not necessary!
Levelling is the number one thing I see new users blame pretty much any print failure on. A print fails, and their first assumption is levelling issue, and the first thing they do is re-level. From that perspective, I can see auto-levelling as an extremely attractive feature - for those users it seems like its going to solve a huge number of their issues. But i'm in the same boat as you - I've never had an issue levelling, and once my plate is level I usually don't have to re-level for months. Frankly, I trust myself to level a plate manually more than I trust an auto-levelling system to not fail.
I love your videos! Definitely a lot to consider with the fancy new printers. The Sunlu ABS-Like is currently my favourite resin. The Toughness, at least in my environment, has to be cured within a couple hours or it'll become gummy, brittle, and de-laminate details. Thanks for bringing Jay3DTech across our radar! I've got a few applications beyond minis that I'd like to print for, so getting a better grasp on and better dimensional accuracy out of my printer is valuable! I also print a lot of bases flat on the build plate because l a z y. I prefer dealing with the elephant's foot over sanding bottoms flat. I have struggled with leveling my Mars 2 Pro properly on multiple occasions, and it's actually for that precise reason (oddly enough) that I'm extra worried about the tradeoffs and potential pitfalls of "self-leveling" build plates. Plus, I genuinely despise the extra mess and resin waste the Saturn 4 build plate design creates. Also still peeved that only the Ultra has the exposure range finding tool. I think, for my preferences, the Saturn 4 range will be a pass for me if I decide to upgrade soon.
Thanks! You should check out my base pack 😁 they're presupported and print beautifully, but the trade off here is a little extra time and material in exchange for not having to sand the elephant's foot.
You can also do the tank cleaning by using some broken off supports. Put the flat bottom on the FEP, expose and voila! Paper looks like it works great though, that's new to me as well
To get everything out of the boxes of calibration you really need a (preferably) digital caliper. Also the strings/pillars straighten themselves out as the part cures properly, speaking of which, I'm quite sure you can improve the chances of them printing properly by fiddling with the "wait before print" and lift/retract speed settings!
I see, yeah for me and I suspect many folks who are into resin 3D printing for the purpose of printing miniatures this is one or two steps too many. Friction is the enemy here, and asking people to also have a set of calipers on hand, and to dive deeper than just normal layer exposure value when it technically inst required, is just over complicating it imo. The less friction and the less ambiguity in a calibration process the better.
@@OnceinaSixSide That is perfectly understandable! Doesn't help that a good pair or calipers can easily cost you upwards of few hundred dollars. I personally still use Cones for miniature printing but for more serious engineering projects where dimensional accuracy is needed boxes is my go to.
You don't need digital calipers at all, if the fit is snug, you're with in 0.04mm of accuracy. If they wiggle, you can add UV exposure time. If they are hard to fit, you're suffering from accuracy. You can lower UV exposure time or add light off delay. Once you get your resin dialed in, you're good for life.
Some of us like to print bases flat on the plate. So that is a big issue. One thing you should look into, it looks like there are more bolts with caps over them on that build plate. Is it possible to adjust those to lock the plate into that state of compression like other newer style build plates?
I got a brewer's belt because of your heater video. Turns out it worked TOO well, I had prints warping and failing. Turns out it was heating the resin to about 35C. I'm also in winter in NZ. just got the Saturn 4 ultra, Turns out after the printer runs for 20 minutes, the resin get heated to about 26C, which is just about the ideal printing temp for the elegoo abs like resin I'm using.
Leveling isn't that big of an issue for me. Have a few printers and don't mind leveling them. This auto level thing seems to add a lot more moving parts and failure points unnecessarily. And I don't get failed levels ever. If I have to worry about the system failing to level correctly, I don't want it.
I haven't gotten to try my S4U yet but I will probably only use it for miniatures or statues and use a filament printer for prototyping and cosplay. I'm not too worried about the self leveling problems. However this is my first resin printer so I hope my experience is good.
Great video. Here have done some fdm printing. And wondering which machine you would recommend? Also one suggestion, if you can increase the lighting a little that would help with viewing experience.
I think for a 10" it's either the M5s Pro or the Saturn 4 Ultra. Or for 6", it's gotta be Photon Mono II or Saturn 5 Ultra. I personally recommend dipping your toe into resin printing with a 6" machine - the user experience is better with smaller machines, and it gets worse the larger you go.
The printer should have had an adjustable vat, and solid build plate, as per the printer they copied the Prusa SLS/SLS1. The only reason i have bought this printer was for the moving Vat, which has been fantastic on the Prusa SLS1. I agree that the build plate is the main issue that i can see with this printer.
Be sure to include a good quality paint scraper in your comparison video. My SV-08 came with one of those spatulas and it seems to have its uses but I do prefer the sharp-but-not-too-sharp paint scraper since it is very tough and can be used as a jack hammer on very tough prints, plus is dead simple to clean up. I agree that the build plate design is problematic, but if you print job after job using the same resin, there is no compelling reason to clear the build plate. Still a problem with handling between jobs, but as you mentioned, a tray will simplify that quite a bit. It does spill a lot of resin and for the first time I've found myself recovering some of it between jobs. My resin of choice? Sunlu ABS-like. Using super-clean rinse methods and air drying before curing, I've never had such great results.
100% not too big a deal if never changing our resin, just extra messy vs other build plates but completely manageable with a little extra care and patience.
In regards to modifying the homing sensor, it's come to my attention since publishing this video that Elegoo customer support actually has a gcode file they can send you to achieve the same outcome. So if your new Saturn/Mars printer fails auto leveling please contact support first, and failing that try Geek Detours method (link in video description), and as a last ditch you can try the mod in this video.
There is A LOT to cover here so I've gone ahead and chapterized this video so you can easily find the most relevant or interesting sections if you don't fancy sitting through the entire thing. I do of course encourage a full viewing! This video goes DEEP, and gets under the skin of the new S4U and its little brother , and we even take a look at some of the problems this machine and others like it are facing, and how to overcome them.
00:00:00 - Intro and Overview
00:04:27 - Careful, this lens cap will fight you
00:06:28 - Let's talk about heaters
00:14:12 - Fume Extraction
00:15:57 - Firmware
00:27:29 - Setting up a Calibration print
00:29:39 - Comparing the internal hardware
00:35:21 - Numbering the test models
00:39:08 - Let's talk about why tilt release is really cool
00:43:53 - Build plate drainage model (highly recommend this)
00:44:59 - THE MOST SATISFYING TANK CLEAN I'VE EVER DONE HOLY SHIT
00:46:14 - Trying out a new part removal tool
00:47:44 - Let's talk about the bib
00:49:48 - Jay3DTech Boxes of Calibration
00:58:01 - First print results
01:02:37 - Testing recovery on power loss
01:03:48 - Second print results
01:04:28 - The issues with "Auto levelling"
01:12:34 - What do you do if Auto Levelling fails?!
01:16:19 - Closer look at all the prints
01:21:16 - Testing the new Elegoo Mini Heater in cold weather
01:24:18 - Final thoughts
Sigmastar SSD2020
i think this is the arm chip (brain ) behind eleegoo saturn 4 ultra and bg256
is a type of sram ,dram or eeprom. Thank you for this great video👍👍👍👍
that chips just a programmable gate array
Hello from the Atlan Forge team! Thank you so much for featuring us! Iam thrilled beyond belief that you like my support work!
Hey hey! Thank you so much for your support of the channel, it means so much to me and I'm thrilled to be sharing your excellent creations here :D
@@OnceinaSixSide aww. You guys are so cute together. But seriously, love the collab, it's awesome.
@@OnceinaSixSide get a room, you guys.
Those minis are so cool, thank for the contribution.
The paper tank clean is game changer
Right!?
@@OnceinaSixSide I destroyed my first FEP because I just couldn't give fails off - and I didn't have any supports because I hadn't made anything yet. Super excited to not need to keep a piece of supports floating around in between printing sessions.
Maybe try using a slightly heavier card stock? It looked like you had a bit of fuss and had to stick your hand down in the resin. Maybe something like a playing card?
Thanks for the video.
My submission for the print removal tool shootout: painters tool! It's rigid but flexible, the blade is beveled but not super sharp, and it's got a pointy bit on one end if you need to wedge it under a fussy raft.
I am so mad I'm watching this video a month late and just now stumbling upon this tip. You should clip it and make it a short!!
I really like these long-format videos because you really dive into great, USEFUL details on them. I'm glad you do both long and short formats.
Thank you good sir 🤘🍻
Just got my Ultra a couple days ago. Love this machine! I can say that putting a flex plate on the build plate is 100% the way to go. I only remove the flex plate, which means I never remove the build plate after each print. So the issues that are particular to this build plate being messy I simply don't have.
I previously owned a Saturn 2 with Whambam flex plates, so I was able to buy a new magnet from Whambam and continue to use the two flex plates I already had. The Ultra also allows you to simply run a bit of Gcode on the printer to adjust for the added height of the flex plate and magnet. Previously you had to print a little space and screw that into the plate mechanism. That's gone. You just put a Gcode file on a USB, load it up, and it automagically adjusts the printer for the flex plate and magnet height.
So far this thing is a deam.
Thanks for the head up. What i need to write in the Gcode?
Don't you have sticking issues on the material of the flex plate compared to the laser-etched metal build plate?
@@fluxcapacitor If you sand up the surface of the flex-plate, it'll stick just fine. Just make sure that the etched plate is well cleaned with IPA before sticking the magnet on, and do the same with the flex plate after sanding to get any metal dust off.
Do you just not clean the build plate then if you don’t remove it?
@@Averell64 I'm working with a Saturn 2, rather than the 4 Ultra, but there's no real need. The plate itself doesn't need to come out of the machine, you can just peel off the flex plate and after getting the prints off - which is much easier - I give it a wipe down with some ipa and pop it back in.
OMG the review is here. I'm so excited to see it I've had mine for 3 weeks and have been loving it so far
There is a small print on cults that is a spacer to allow the power cable to go out the back while still being able to hook up the ventilation. If you search Saturn 4 it will come up.
Just got the Saturn 4 and my biggest gripe is the way the build plate handle is shaped..... so uncomfortable to hold in a gloved hand. Elegoo needs to taper this thing the opposite way! From the build plate it needs to go from thin to thick not the other slippery way around!
Love the video's man you have really helped me on this journey!
Can't say how badly I wanted this review from you!
I've had mine for a couple days now, and I've found the bib is actually pretty handy for drainage if you put the plate on it sideways so that it overhangs back into the vat. The "bolt sheath" bits are almost exactly as wide as the top bib lip, so it's fully supported while it drains and you just have a tiny bit of resin clinging to one edge after that.
Printer does what it sets out to do, but the mucking around with the build plate is a definite no for me. Oh and If Elegoo Social are reading this, tell your sales team to allow direct sales to NZ, because right now your sole distributor is over charging like crazy for anything branded with Elegoo, and never has any resin in stock, even if it wasn't stupid expensive
Mate I cannot second this harder about sales in NZ. The pricing is wild, and for an exclusive distributor it's insane. Having 0 non-overpriced Elegoo options ONLY drives people to other companies.
Omg man please in NZ elegoo pleasee
Can't agree more in some cases double the price. I've ordered in Oz, then picked it up when on my way home.
As a novice self taught programmer yes the calibration feature would probably relatively simple to code in the grand scheme. However i wouldn't be shocked if anycubic has some kinda of patent on the function being built into the printer itself. Maybe elegoo has made its function different enough to finally bypass the patent. And the extra charge is to recoup the rnd to justify new patent. And if you think that sounds stupid i would remind you we live in a world in which a spinning icon is the symbol of loading because atari patented minigames in loading screens like 40 years ago.
I dunno, that seems a stretch. Its just changing what the pixels are doing on an LCD, and given these are all Chinese made products where historically IP doesn't mean shit.. I'm dubious that it's an IP problem. Given my experience now complaining about printers and requested improvements; they just don't care/aren't interested in making the effort.
These are all chinese companies. Patents mean absolutelly jack shit. Also you can get around pattents in a way or other if you want to. It is not a thing in all printers because they did not tried to implement it yet. Like autoleveling was not imidiatly implemented in sla and fdm printers.
30:00 Yeigh! Love to see inside! Hi there James! Oh, about entering the numbers for the exposure calibration - it’s a bit annoying until you understand it doesn’t let you cross up or down with other existing values, right! Cheers, mate!
Oh man, sure the software features could be on both printers. It’s a marketing positioning of the features.
Right?! So frustrating 😂
TLDR:
1. Use UV cure time to get the Boxes to fit
2. Use 2s light off delay (Wait before Print)!
3. Don't lift more then 6mm! Why waste time?
4. Don't retract super fast, respect your Mini, love your Mini!
>>Once boxes fit
This is a terrific walk through of the main points of that long doc I read from you some time ago. Thank you!
Good shit, thanks for that! I'll have to revisit this again some time
I have had my saturn 4 ultra. I made a long handle scraper on my A1 that fits in between the posts and i use that to scrape the majoriety of resin off into the vat before i remove the build plate from machine.
I will admit that I got excited over the promise of auto leveling. Though after learning how it works and the drawback, oh boy do I wish I never asked for this.
For people who can't get the gardening trays in the right size, you can get aluminum quarter baking sheets, which I think is somewhat standardized for baking.
Awesome to see some respect thrown J3D’s way. His guide is absolutely great work and he’s been a North Star for my printing journey for sure.
Alongside you of course 😊
I know J3D is also talking to Elegoo about adding a Z offset adjustment via software. So hopefully that yields results. So we don’t have to manually modify our machines
Another addendum. I asked on Lychee about the pillars tensile, and he said he needs to update it.
Here is the response he gave me though which may help! TLDR:
1. Use UV cure time to get the Boxes to fit
2. Use 2s light off delay (Wait before Print)!
3. Don't lift more then 6mm! Why waste time?
4. Don't retract super fast, respect your Mini, love your Mini!
>>Once boxes fit
In terms of cleaning the build plate. I got mine with the cleaning station. If you fill that all the way up, you can sit your build plate in there on one of it's short sides. Turn the cleaner on for a few minutes and your build plate is clean. It does hold on internally to a bit of the metho or what you are using to clean, but that drains right out. Especially if you are done with printing for the day, just set it upside down over night and it's done!
I've been having a good time with my Saturn 4 Ultra (so far.) It's been working like a champ for me. Messing with the build plate hasn't been too much trouble, and the drip bracket you linked looks like a good addition. Thanks as always for a detailed look. Keep up the great work!
@ 43:00 as a Saturn 3 owner, I love the comment about not needing this printer if you already have one.
For the shit build plate, I would tighten the bolts, IF NOT possible, i will add a split washer at the top. (file it down if needed) This is how we can manually level the plate.
Glad you liked the paper L tank clean method, thanks for the shout out :) Great video, thanks for sharing all your thoughts and experiences. I'm glad you've given exposure to J3D Tech, his printing guide is fucking awesome and I also like his calibration piece. I agree with the build plate and auto level comments, I much prefer a standard build plate (with the 4 x bolts not the ball joint) and to me, auto level is a gimmick that is just not needed, great for FDM printers, but just not needed for resin printers...using J3D Tech's method of levelling from his guide (leveling the build plate in the vat with resin in it) is perfect. I do it once and don't need to do it again and it has always worked perfectly for me. I am also not a fan of these new tilting beds, I just think it is another mechanical cog in the wheel that introduces a number of things that can go wrong, cause problems, or break. I think the Elegoo Saturn 3 Ultra is the best printer that company has made, its build quality is excellent with components their other printers don't have and it has the 4 bolt build plate and a non-tilting bed...I fucked the ACF right off and replaced it with nFEP and it is a dream machine.
That was a KILLER tip! (Get it? Mack Bolan the Executioner? Killer? Never mind, I'll show myself out)
@@TapCat AHahahaha, I totally get it :)
01:04:28 It seems that you didn't watch Geek Detour's video before doing your own. He demonstrated a successful, simple way to manually tune each spring tension of the autoleveling plate during a dry print, so that every loose piece of paper becomes perfectly squished between the screen and the build plate, in every area. And he shared a clever trick to easily "save" the correct setting mechanically. So yes, "manual leveling" is somehow possible on the Saturn 4 Ultra, and that in no way implies having to do anything as complicated as what you've tried in vain the other way around.
You missed the part where I addressed that first thing before I stated I was curious if a homing sensor mod would work as well lol
It's also come to my attention since publishing this video that Elegoo has a gcode file they're issuing through support which achieves the same result. So.. hurray for options 🥳
@@OnceinaSixSide Sorry, English is not my primary language an I may indeed have missed that passage. I am interested in that G-code file, what does it do exactly? Because some people on forums say that the Saturn 4 Ultra does not remember correctly the zero position after zeroing… which means that the sheets papers (in case of a dry print) starts well clamped, perfectly sandwiched between the screen and the build plate, then they become loose again in a couple of seconds afterward!
Heater and extraction means you throw away all the warm you are making. Blockoff-mounting plate is actually a good thing.
That's exactly what I was thinking. That's why a vat built-in heater is the best option IMHO
The trick is not to run them at the same time. Extraction is invaluable because you can clear the fumes before you open up your printer to get your prints.
Agree though, heated vat with a band is better.
Using a cheap stylus for these trash touchscreens can help
I use the bib every time (when I remember) and it's handy. You don't want resin getting down in the machine. And before I remove the build plate, I use a silicone scraper to scoop the resin that pools on the top side of the plate and let it fall back into the vat.
I know others have already mentioned it, but I'll add- there are ways to modify the z offset using gcode. Wambam has a file floating around to alter it for the flex plates (they were slamming the screen and triggering the sensor). Should be able to do the opposite, without messing with the homing sensor.
Lots of people saying 'Just give me a manual adjust plate' or 'ill rig it for manual adjust'. Unfortunately I don't think it's possible/a good idea. Maybe on the S4, but not something you want to do on the Ultra. The margin for error with the tilting vat, in terms of repeatable positioning, somewhat forces the need for this style of spring bed. If you were to 'fix the plate', then the bed decided to sit slightly higher, you'd have issues....
Good info, I wish I knew about the gcode before as it could be used as a workaround versus the physical mod I made to the homing sensor 😅
In regards to a fixed and manual leveled build plate it would be completely possible and fine here.
The LCD thanks to the clever and simple design of the mechanical tilt is rock solid in the up position.
Check out the Prusa SL1s
@@OnceinaSixSideComing from the machinist/engineer world, I wouldn't trust that tilt mechanism with a 10 foot pole😂. My ultra only got here a few days ago so haven't delved into it yet, but I plan on putting an indicator on the LCD to get some numbers. If they show repeatability I'll eat my words 👍
Well keep me posted! I'm curious to hear your results
So i really enjoy your long form videos like this as well as the shorter mini printing videos. Helll, i even like the sponsored videos. Keep up the great work.
Ever thought of doing a second channel where you used the minis and terrain in tabletop games?
It's crazy what a game changer that dumb little spatula thing is. I had picked up 4 or 5 different scrappers that were all problematic. Then i watch a J3D video where he mentioned that thing, and i ordered it out of desperation. I it the best cheapest upgrade ive ever picked up.
I'd be super interested in a comparison in pull forces between this and the non-ultra. To investigate if the tilt allows for less/lighter supports
Labeling test prints is SUPER easy in 3D Builder if you have a PC. Load the STL, find Emboss (either edit or object), type, set your extrusion, and done. For removal, a thin palette knife from an art store is perfect.
I'm an engineer, 99% of the time I do not require extreme levels of accuracy from a consumer level 3D printer. I only make basic fit test models, actual, proper functional prototyping is strictly for CNC or the tolerances would be massively off.
Some observations about this machine having used it for 2 weeks. I'm also in Sydney so temperature is the same factor. 1) magnetic build plate doesnt work with the tilt function, it causes the print to slide. 2) The calibration function is not intuative. 3) You can change the speed setting mid print i.e. start the print in standard mode then move it to fast after the initial layers print. 4) The spout is aweful on the resin vat. 5) If you heat up your resin the machine keeps it warm while running, as long as the machine is on it keeps my resin at between 25 and 30 degrees C in 5-10 degree ambient temp
I have the ultra 3 and ultra 4 - I wish elegoo would allow you to order the ultra with a green hood - looks so nice
I got one too! Mine just showed up monday. I had to buy mine though
Good to see the bunny's making an apperance.
Thank you for bringing the auto leveling and compression issues into the review. Elegoo have sent me a gcode file that adjusts the thresholds for auto levelling, and a second plate, because the plate was off kilter. It still has the issue, and they're not really doing much to help... I've burned through 3 release films in a week because the low layer supports keep getting pushed into the film at the "high" spots! I also print a lot directly on the plate (flat bases, volume orders, worked fine on my old Mars), and this is causing no end of headaches right now.
Elegoo support basically taps out at "don't print on the plate lol" with no acknowledgment of the problem 😔
Oof thats rough. IMO you need to buy another printer with manual leveling that you can tune the Z-offset on. I'm keen to know more about the gcode file they sent you.. Is it essentially allowing you to adjust the distance the build plate moves after it hits the homing sensor? If that can be customized that means we can skip the whole physical mod I did at the end of this video.
@@OnceinaSixSide I've done some tinkering myself and I've got a list of parameters that the printer uses... The gcode that they sent me initially just alters the parameters for the auto levelling - From the looks of it, it alters the amount of pressure that's required on the plate to say "This is level now"... The one they sent made the compression issues go into overdrive though!
There are settings to alter the z offset in there from what I can see, but I've not played with those yet. Happy to share the files so you can have a run through.
It's really frustrating, when this printer works it's *phenomenal*, but "on plate" printing is just proving near impossible
@@winstano I would love to check out that gcode file and have a play with it :D Do you mind sending it over in an email?
media@onceinasixside.com
@@OnceinaSixSide Done :)
G'day ol son.....love the vid..yes its long form but you really covered a lot of ground. this is my first vid ive seen after joining your Patreon and discord. im poor but got a brand new Nova3d Whale 2, its basic and easy to learn on. I generally dont have much issue with leveling as its almost the same as any older FDM with leveling nobs. with the heater i had to build my own which is programable and uses the same parts that are in the heaters you showed today, but mine cab go to 100c if i wanted. i found a video online in feb 2023 that showed how to get the parts, print the housing, and assemble. it works great and i can set min and max temp and it will shut off once at temp😁 from a m8 Downunder...but up in Brissy🙃
Thanks! And stoked to hear you're getting on well with the Nova's leveling.
Man, I do NOT miss liquid resin 3d printing!
I dropped the build plate on my Saturn 3 Ultra. It bent one of the corners just slightly. I decided to give it a go, it was still level.
Hot water is great for getting stubborn builds off the build plate
I tihnk the autolevel-buildplate-thingie, is due to the lever action of the fep - I have a feeling that there is a non-zero change that the surface will be at the exact same spot after every cycle, like it would be for a static glass surface
Let's GOOOO so excited to watch this!
Live in Texas, that is typical winter temps for us too. Hitting 0C aka 32F or lower causes mass panic!
That’s a mild everyday Winter temperature here in Alaska 🤣 I am always astonished how much people freak out when it’s not thaaaaat cold yet 😂
Excellent and very in depth for a first impressions video. Keep up the good work!!!
Thanks, will do!
best removal tool I've is from the Amerivault set, specifically the one that looks like cake icing spatula. Soft corners with a nice sharp edge to get under rafts and nice and flexi blade with a good reach. The pallet knife style spatula's like that I've not had great luck with, don't get under the rafts that well in my experience without modifications.
I can't find this, do you mind sharing more information?
@@OnceinaSixSide Looks like they are some sort of amazon rebranding outfit. Might only be available under that name in the US. I think you can make one just as good out of a 5" cake decorating or icing spatula(what they are called in the US at least) if you filed or ground a dull edge on the tip.
Thanks for such a comprehensive rundown on the printer! Very interesting and I'm so on the fence about buying this. I'm curious how much a flex plate would make the printer better to work with, as you wouldn't have to interact so much with the build plate as you say.
Great review, and as tempted as I am, I love my Saturn 2, so will probably wait for the Saturn 5 or 6.
Have my eyes on centauri for next year ATM.
@OnceinaSixSide really important point! Those 'axed' settings are super useful to still have access too. I was having issues with the parts near the z screw not peeling fully on burn in layers.
I simply added a lift height with Lychee slicer for only those burn in layers and BAM never had a failure again. While I highly doubt the lift height for normal layers are going to be useful other than for say some of the weird rubber resins it's a real shame for Chitubox to remove them completely.
probably because big preorder, the QC is become super lacking, I got saturn 4 ultra and a bit of journey
1. first machine I got crack cover, leveling issue on the printer, print wont stick
2. I got replacement from the seller, when I was checking the machine, the touch screen has lot of line like notebook, so they got me something from warehouse
3. 3rd machine, got home and there line in the middle of the lcd, and I use it to print, there vertical line on the print model where the line in lcd are with or without antialiasing, after that first I remove the vat, I notice hair line crack on the screen, I assume because the auto leveling, there no debris on the filter resin from the vat, vat screw not over tighten and no pressure has been apply at all to the lcd except by the machine itself
I haven't heard anything from elegoo and the seller, it's 10 hours drive back and forward to the place, I'm guessing they gonna blame on human error, and if I got replacement LCD myself, I still afraid of auto level might not calibrated well and crack the new lcd too, I never experience this kinda problem years of printing resin, all my old anycubic doesn't have any problem at all.
Damn!
30:07 - "Remove after washing" LOL. QC on point!
I'd love a calibration print system where you specified a single time value, (say, +1s) and you would get printe +2s, +1s, -1s, -2s from the time specified in the model. That way you only have to plug in a single value.
That's how the Anycubic printers do it. Set a base value, then it automatically adds say .25 to the rest
5:39 the sensor seems to be a load cell on the arm, so any forces from the screen and built plate transmitted into the arm would be sensed by it. But since the cap was lodged on the back of the carriage where the linear rail and z-screw go, there's no way the load cell would pick it up.
Side thing, but if you designed an attachment point for the fume extraction, you could also make a custom holder for the heater that is vented (or modify the stock one) so you can have both.
The title have changed, it's not the film anymore :(.
Craked one when I show the length of the video though :D
Lmao yeah sadly that title was not getting the clicks I hoped! I had a chuckle when I thought of it, which often serves me well when picking titles but sometimes it completely flops.
Yes Open source the code!
Oh I just got to the part where you put an Anycubic built plate on an Elegoo printer on your magnets video. In this Elegoo Saturn 4 ultra video you talk about how you don't like the auto level... Could we regain height and just use a manual leveling bed? Could be worth looking into and trying. 😁
Also installing a wham bam magnet plate would be great and if you have to adjust the homing trigger to account for the added build plate height.
No need :) Elegoo have a gcode file they can send you if you contact customer support, and it will modify your Z-offset to compensate for the thickness of the magnet and flex plate.
Great videos. Just received mine after struggling with an M5s that I am convinced was just a lemon (after 2 previous Anycubic models that had been fine). So far the Saturn 4 ultra has been brilliant. Calibration tool is awesome and prints have been fast and great detail. The reduced settings, such as speed, makes it simpler too.
Ah bummer you must have got one of the ones I talked about during the auto levelling section 😥 Glad to hear the S4U is working out for you!
Enjoy watching your videos as you have a different approach than most which is refreshing. Only gripe I have is that your videos are quite dark and its sometimes difficult to see things, especially when the whole machine that you are reviewing is black, definitely would be nicer to get some lighting at the front to see things clearly.
Thanks for the feedback! It's actually a contrast issue 💀 The machine is well lit, and if I expose any higher I blow out my skin and look like a ghost lmao so I'm currently exploring background options to increase the contrast when looking at very dark products like this because believe me it bothers me too!
just commenting to support my fellow auzzie!
Pro tools does resin calibration without the faff and you can label each exposure test with the exposure value - not convinced they've made it a lot easier yet!
I've never actually come across anyone else who enjoys SUNLU ABS-Like. It's literally the only thing I print with.
Just ordered me some. Elegoo water washable prints nice, but man is it brittle.
Great stuff, and yes, please make the video about print removal tools. I need something that's as effective as whatever that thingy you have is in my life!
as someone that just wants to open print and paint, this is more attractive to me. the clean up sucks but i also just leave the plat on an angle for a long time. time is not a issue for me personally.
Thanks for the videos mate ive just pre ordered this printer.
Can't wait, I have two arriving very soon. my email says they are in transit and i'm super hyped.
Greetings from Tasmania. Thanks for such a detailed video. Stayed and watched for all of it and learnt alot. Am thinking its time for an upgrade from my sonic mini 4k to print larger models now. 🙏🏿
The Saturns are a great range to look to for a mid-size printer. Highly recommend Anycubic's M5S printers too!
just did some tests for my ultra it seems my leveling is good , thank goodness
Mines gonna be here tomorrow, pretty excited. Also, the best part of your videos will always be the babbits at the end. They're so cute and fluffy.
Happy printing!
Great video, a friend has pre-ordered it as his first 3d printer, so fingers crossed his doesn't have any QC issues and doesn't have any issues with the auto leveling.
Based on your video I think Elegoo could release a manually leveled build plate and a firmware update to allow for manual adjustments for leveling. So for those who want to stick with manual leveling they have that option or if the auto leveling is broken Elegoo can offer the manual solution as a 'fix'(hopefully fully covered as a replacement part under warrenty or something).
That would be excellent but they probably won't 😅
I was quite hyped with tilt release but with this video i'm a lot nerveus with the bed user experience, im indecided if i wait for the global launch of this machine or go for a saturn 3 and wait for a manual level with tilt release
A recommendation. I just got mine in this past weekend but after seeing everyone kind of struggling with bed adhesion I got a whambam xtr magnetic build plate. It makes everything much easier.
Great idea! Flex plates fucking rock
Right as I was about to sleep
Mfw when your winters are 50-60deg F and I pop shorts on when it gets above 20deg F 😂
I will say as someone who for a while had their printer out in the garage, where it can get pretty cold here in the pacific north west, and had to frequently go outside to check if a print had even worked in the first place due to a lovely game of musical problems (had the old first gen photon for a while, was a nice entry at the time but I was rapidly becoming aware of how dated it was becoming. One minute its the calibration, the next it's the temperature, then it's the calibration again for some odd reason, then my film got scratched up. just a whole fun time near the end), I would actually have enjoyed having a camera to save myself the trouble of a walk outside when the print was good. Now does it need to be a base feature? no, honestly I think it would better serve as an accessory, and honestly one can cobble together their own setup with a cheap wi-fi connected camera or a baby monitor. But definitely a case by case usefulness.
Sad the auto-leveling is not as useful as the companies probably hoped it would be, but at this point I'm fine with just having a spring loaded two bolt or the 4 bolt free leveling on that Anycubic mono. At least it's not the one bolt ball joint I suffered through for a while.
Based on this video and other's, I'll probably be looking at the mono 5s as a new printer, but sadly my current housing situation doesn't really give the ability to get a new printer yet. I don't have the space to either have it out of the way or properly vent a resin printer right now, and I don't want to do the same garage setup I had with my first printer when I get home from college. Too many evenings going out in the cold to then learn a new issue occurred and I not have to do a whole cleaning job to try and troubleshoot later.
Is it safe to assume that the tilting vet helps with suction? Or is that something that still needs to be carefully considered by adding holes?
Amazing thank you, what layer height did you use when calibrating? 0.02?
Default 0.05
Important note on resume on power outage: the longer it takes to resume printing, the harder it is for new layers to stick to older layers. So if a few hours have passed, and you weren't there because you went to sleep or been doing something else, expect a failure.
Interesting idea!
no issue at all with autolevelling - the guy you referred to must have a defective unit
Yep, absolute lemon.
BABE WAKE UP, DICE MAN!
@uriskofthefae *nervously sips coffee*
@@christiangruening352 Good, don't be like Dice Man, don't drink the resin
Levelling is super easy on my Mars 4 ultra, I don’t understand why they’ve gone down this route and made a resin collection plate!!
I’ve been strongly considering the Saturn 4 but I hate the thought of all that plate cleanup… really want that tilting vat though!
It is a pain! Maybe not so much if you just stick to one resin until your next machine upgrade, you'll just need a bit of extra care and patience for the pooling/dripping - otherwise the tilt is cool but imo not necessary!
Levelling is the number one thing I see new users blame pretty much any print failure on. A print fails, and their first assumption is levelling issue, and the first thing they do is re-level. From that perspective, I can see auto-levelling as an extremely attractive feature - for those users it seems like its going to solve a huge number of their issues.
But i'm in the same boat as you - I've never had an issue levelling, and once my plate is level I usually don't have to re-level for months. Frankly, I trust myself to level a plate manually more than I trust an auto-levelling system to not fail.
I love your videos! Definitely a lot to consider with the fancy new printers.
The Sunlu ABS-Like is currently my favourite resin. The Toughness, at least in my environment, has to be cured within a couple hours or it'll become gummy, brittle, and de-laminate details.
Thanks for bringing Jay3DTech across our radar! I've got a few applications beyond minis that I'd like to print for, so getting a better grasp on and better dimensional accuracy out of my printer is valuable!
I also print a lot of bases flat on the build plate because l a z y. I prefer dealing with the elephant's foot over sanding bottoms flat. I have struggled with leveling my Mars 2 Pro properly on multiple occasions, and it's actually for that precise reason (oddly enough) that I'm extra worried about the tradeoffs and potential pitfalls of "self-leveling" build plates. Plus, I genuinely despise the extra mess and resin waste the Saturn 4 build plate design creates. Also still peeved that only the Ultra has the exposure range finding tool. I think, for my preferences, the Saturn 4 range will be a pass for me if I decide to upgrade soon.
Thanks! You should check out my base pack 😁 they're presupported and print beautifully, but the trade off here is a little extra time and material in exchange for not having to sand the elephant's foot.
The drip tray sucks cause it's hard to clean resin out the the letters that say ELEGOO.
In this case, if you label, better di it A, B, C and D. Does not interfere with the numbering used by Elegoo
Great idea!
Hell yeah, Thanks @mackbolan1733! Going to use that paper trick now
I'm pretty sure the WLNX17 is driving the LCD
You can also do the tank cleaning by using some broken off supports. Put the flat bottom on the FEP, expose and voila! Paper looks like it works great though, that's new to me as well
That was his go to before he was thankful the paper meant he didn't have to keep any support pieces around.
@MikeyBCook missed that part, thanks! I do indeed have a pile of old supports haha.
To get everything out of the boxes of calibration you really need a (preferably) digital caliper.
Also the strings/pillars straighten themselves out as the part cures properly, speaking of which, I'm quite sure you can improve the chances of them printing properly by fiddling with the "wait before print" and lift/retract speed settings!
I see, yeah for me and I suspect many folks who are into resin 3D printing for the purpose of printing miniatures this is one or two steps too many. Friction is the enemy here, and asking people to also have a set of calipers on hand, and to dive deeper than just normal layer exposure value when it technically inst required, is just over complicating it imo. The less friction and the less ambiguity in a calibration process the better.
@@OnceinaSixSide That is perfectly understandable! Doesn't help that a good pair or calipers can easily cost you upwards of few hundred dollars. I personally still use Cones for miniature printing but for more serious engineering projects where dimensional accuracy is needed boxes is my go to.
You don't need digital calipers at all, if the fit is snug, you're with in 0.04mm of accuracy.
If they wiggle, you can add UV exposure time. If they are hard to fit, you're suffering from accuracy. You can lower UV exposure time or add light off delay.
Once you get your resin dialed in, you're good for life.
You need to try mixing SUNLU ABS-Like and Toughness. I do 3:1 and its amazing.
Great idea, I may just do that!
Some of us like to print bases flat on the plate. So that is a big issue. One thing you should look into, it looks like there are more bolts with caps over them on that build plate. Is it possible to adjust those to lock the plate into that state of compression like other newer style build plates?
I got a brewer's belt because of your heater video. Turns out it worked TOO well, I had prints warping and failing.
Turns out it was heating the resin to about 35C. I'm also in winter in NZ. just got the Saturn 4 ultra, Turns out after the printer runs for 20 minutes, the resin get heated to about 26C, which is just about the ideal printing temp for the elegoo abs like resin I'm using.
Leveling isn't that big of an issue for me. Have a few printers and don't mind leveling them. This auto level thing seems to add a lot more moving parts and failure points unnecessarily. And I don't get failed levels ever. If I have to worry about the system failing to level correctly, I don't want it.
I haven't gotten to try my S4U yet but I will probably only use it for miniatures or statues and use a filament printer for prototyping and cosplay. I'm not too worried about the self leveling problems. However this is my first resin printer so I hope my experience is good.
You could modify your extraction adaptor to allow the power lead for the heater to pass thru.
Good plan!
Great video. Here have done some fdm printing. And wondering which machine you would recommend? Also one suggestion, if you can increase the lighting a little that would help with viewing experience.
I think for a 10" it's either the M5s Pro or the Saturn 4 Ultra. Or for 6", it's gotta be Photon Mono II or Saturn 5 Ultra. I personally recommend dipping your toe into resin printing with a 6" machine - the user experience is better with smaller machines, and it gets worse the larger you go.
The printer should have had an adjustable vat, and solid build plate, as per the printer they copied the Prusa SLS/SLS1. The only reason i have bought this printer was for the moving Vat, which has been fantastic on the Prusa SLS1. I agree that the build plate is the main issue that i can see with this printer.
Be sure to include a good quality paint scraper in your comparison video. My SV-08 came with one of those spatulas and it seems to have its uses but I do prefer the sharp-but-not-too-sharp paint scraper since it is very tough and can be used as a jack hammer on very tough prints, plus is dead simple to clean up.
I agree that the build plate design is problematic, but if you print job after job using the same resin, there is no compelling reason to clear the build plate. Still a problem with handling between jobs, but as you mentioned, a tray will simplify that quite a bit. It does spill a lot of resin and for the first time I've found myself recovering some of it between jobs. My resin of choice? Sunlu ABS-like. Using super-clean rinse methods and air drying before curing, I've never had such great results.
100% not too big a deal if never changing our resin, just extra messy vs other build plates but completely manageable with a little extra care and patience.
Holy God 1hr+ video. You beast.
I think it's sovol printers that come with palette knives
I tried to tell Elegoo about the consequences of having no z-offset function… they said “layer compression is inevitable anyway”
Hmmm…