ELEGOO Saturn 8K MSLA Resin 3D Printer, UV Resin Photocuring
ELEGOO Saturn 8K MSLA Resin 3D Printer, UV Resin Photocuring Printer with 10-Inch 8K Monochrome LCD, Matrix UV Light Source, 219x123x210mm³ Large Printing Size
From the brand
ELEGOO provides user-friendly 3D printers with premium quality and outstanding service.
Brand Vision:Create the future
With the help of programming and 3D printing technology, we can create almost anything-ELEGOO provides geeks with key to a new world
We believe 3D printing technology is the key to innovating and creating a future with endless possibilities.
| Dimensions: | 556.26 x 533.4 x 312.42 cm; 13.6 Kilograms |
| Manufacture: | ELEGOO |
| Dimensions: | 556.26 x 533.4 x 312.42 cm; 13.6 Kilograms |
| Origin: | China |
Anything you can think of and model you can now ‘print’! Err what? Yup. If you’re a child of the 60s and 70s, this stuff is pure magic.
This instance of a resin printer is fabulous. High resolution and just press the button and wait. I’ve come from a ‘traditional’ filament printer and this resin jobbie addresses all the shortcomings of those. In my experience, once the build plate is levelled it’s print and forget.
I’m a little concerned about the toxicity of the non-cured resin (look at the label, it’s all dead fish and trees), but if you keep your wash water in a bucket and then let it cure in the sun, at least you’re then dumping cured resin rather than fish killing goo.
I keep resin in the tank at all times so I’m good to go and have made a lightproof fabric cover to minimise any stray UV doing it’s thing.
Still getting the hand of effective support addition (I use the Chitubox slicer) but that’s not really the printer, it’s the software’s issue.
Dream and print, it’s the way.
I too had the first one delivered then after a few days a mark appeared on the screen. So I sent it back.
I tried a different brand printer in the meantime and print quality was awful. Not mentioning any brand, so sent this one back and ordered another Elegoo Saturn. Been working perfectly. Lowered the rise speed and retraction speed, and set the exposure to 4.0 for 8k Elegoo Resin and getting perfect results.
Well built machine, excellent prints, easy to clean, it easy to set up, hardest thing was learning how yo use the splicing software, when printing its very quite also very quick and the print quality is fantastic the amount of detail is unreal. But it very heavy. Well Impressed
I received this product and sadly it came broken. Customer support offered a few suggestions but sadly they didnt fix the issue. They then kindly sent me a new, working 3d printer. I’m over the moon with how it works and the ease of it compared to other 3d printers.
Was working great printed great prints 90% of the time then the lcd failed after a month of use and its almost impossible to claim warrenty or buy spare
Update:
Got in contact with customer service who couldn’t be more helpful in diagnosing the fault and getting me the replacement parts and instructions the guys were very helpful in getting the printer back up and running and printing agai
I recently purchased the ELEGOO Resin 3D Printer MSLA 8K and have been impressed with its incredible printing quality. The 10 inch 8K monochrome screen produces incredibly detailed prints with exceptional precision and accuracy.
The setup process was straightforward, and I was able to start printing within an hour of unboxing the printer. The touch screen interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate, making it simple to adjust the settings to achieve the desired results.
However, I have experienced some issues with print failures due to the resin not adhering to the build plate. This is likely due to the high printing speed, which can cause the resin to detach. I have found that slowing down the printing speed and adjusting the exposure time has helped to mitigate this issue.
Overall, the ELEGOO Resin 3D Printer MSLA 8K is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a printer with high-quality printing capabilities. While it may require some fine-tuning to get the best results, the end product is well worth the effort.
I wanted to step up to something bigger and the Saturn S was a perfect fit. Settled between the standard Saturn and the Saturn Pro the S model offers great value for money.
The print size compared to the old Mars is impressive, it only for printing larger prints it also enables you to print a lot more in a single print. At 196x122x210mm the print size is impressive.
The S model also has a built in charcoal filter which filters out a lot of the fumes from the printer and it really does cut the smell down a lot. I use this printer in an unventilated spare room and the filter really does seem to make a difference.
Print quality is excellent and once I sorted out my spare room to a reasonable background temperature I got some amazing prints.
Setup and leveling of the build plate is very straight forward. Cleaning of the vat is ok, and it is simple to ad and remove it. The only thing I don’t like is the usb slot o the side. The Mars had it on the rear which was also awkward. Why Elegoo can’t put it on the front I never know
This elegoo Saturn 3d printer is excellent. It’s easy to set up, and once you get your settings for supports and resin type in order this printer makes life pretty easy.
It’s quiet, consistent, easy to use and I have been able to just top up the resin tank after each print rather than empty it and have to clean it out.
Really can’t recommend it enough
Overall, the printer is easy to use and easy to setup. I were up and printing in no time.
However, I neglected to check if any resin was included. It wasn’t. I had the printer all setup and ready but no resin. Would be great if even a small amount of resin was included to test the printer and ensure its working. If you purchase this printer, get some resin too!
The printer’s output quality is absolutely stunning, anyone who has seen the prints has been astounded by the quality of the prints. I feels almost surreal that a small box you can put on a desk can create such high quality parts. So far it’s mostly been used for figurines of which it prints effortlessly.
The printer has one pain point. Getting prints off the bed is a nightmare and takes brute force. I highly recommend adding supports to every print so you don’t damage the print when trying to pry it off, supports with a little sled also make it easier to pry parts off. A magnetic flexible print bed would be a great addition.
Using resin for printing has been a bit of a learning curve, but hasn’t been too difficult to get used to. The hardest part is understanding how fragile small prints can be. A filament printer can produce stronger parts but with lower quality, while a resin printer can print excellent quality parts but they’re more fragile.
A resin printer is perfect for decorative prints such as figurines and I’d highly suggest getting one. I went for this model purely for the size of the print bed so I can print some large models, for figurines you don’t have to go for this size.
I’m assuming this is just bad luck but I purchased a Saturn2 to upgrade from a Mars 2. Within 2 weeks I had a faulty screen. Black lines across the lcd.
Returned. Decided to try the Saturn S instead. First test print I had a screaching and grinding sound from the motor as it lifted and lowered to cure.
Edit:
Returned the Saturn S. Unfortunately more issues (but this seems to be communication between courier and amazon).
Re ordered the Saturn 2 with courtesy discount for issued and first print has been successful.
Issues, but elegoo did try to fix asap and Im content with the resolution. Updated to 4*
I’ll be returning and very tempted to look at alternatives..
Shame as the 3 prints I got out the first saturn 2 were great.
One serious tip- Please, please ensure you buy a screen protector- the printer is a costly beast and accidents/spillages can occur (i’ve learned that lesson the hard way on old printer!). The printer comes with a basic tool kit and a USB stick- bin this as it’s junk.. invest in a decent brand USB key. I am using a scandisk mini-fit key and it works brilliantly. The supplied key has the slicing software (needed to convert models to a saturn friendly format) and a test print model. Printer is fully supported by Chitubox, so would recommend this, although the supplied version on the usb stick is well outdated.
Am i happy with the Saturn? Yes, although I did have some “tweaks” to work through prior to first use. The results are stunning from the outset- see the supplied pic 🙂 . I did need to update the firmware for it to work with the latest Chitubox slicing software, but that is an expected task as manufacturers often update/bug fix their products- just follow the extensive info on their website support page if unsure.
High recommended product- i am glad i upgraded to this!
I used this printer [and Elegoo’s Water Washable Photosensitive Resin] to print parts for 7mm scale buses and railway models. The print bed is big enough to allow one side of the lower or upper deck of a 190 mm long bus to be printed in one go. The supplied Chitubox slicing software makes this all very simple.
The quality of the print is at least as good as prints of similar items received from commercial print agencies previously. A commercial print agency might charge about 6-50 per cc of material used [taking into account delivery and tax] – with this machine the cost of home printing the same items comes down to about 0.04 per cc – In other words commercial printing costs about 162 times as much as printing at home.
The Elegoo Saturn S is not a terribly expensive machine and a couple of print runs may well save you the cost of the machine if hitherto you have been using commercial print agencies.
The only point I would make is that if you are printing pieces approaching the maximum capability, then the Elegoo Mercury Plus washing and curing station [designed for use with the smaller Mars printers] may not be big enough to cure them. I imagine that there is a larger Elegoo curing station designed for use with the Saturn series of printers but I have not yet needed one.
Overall, I am very impressed with the hardware and the associated included software.
ELEGOO Saturn 8K
Great resin printer, does exactly what it has to do.
Faced some issues with resin tank and bad printed model. But wow, what a great cutomer service ELEGOO has… I’ve heard somebody telling that ELEGOO has a great customer support, well they really do!
Fantastic service, they heard my pain about faulty resin tank, and fixed the problem. I’ve got a new replacement tank and a bottle of resin as compensation for bad print result.
I got this in adition to the smaller Elegoo Mars I have been using for a while. Print quality is good as expected, the print speed is good too and it’s easy to set up.
Two downsides I have found: Firstly, unlike the Mars, this one doesn’t have adjustable feet so if it needs levelling you need to improvise. Secondly, the larger hood and resin vat are much more cumbersume to handle. Some of this is of course just down to the bigger size, but I actually prefer the vat fixing screws on the Mars, which are fixed to the unit, rather than the vat-attached srews of the Saturn which can fall out when handling / cleaning the vats. Working with the Saturn, I also feel that at this size, an opening front door would be better than having to lift up the hood, which feels less of an issue on a smaller printer but at this size becomes awkward.
Having started out with the Elegoo Mars 2 Pro, this was a natural progression for me. The print quality is excellent, and the build volume is great for what I print. Setup is simple and it works pretty much right out of the box, all the necessary tools are provided.
I do suggest checking all the screws as a few on the rail were a bit loose so I tightened them up before turning it on.
I’ve printed a fair bit on it now and it’s still working perfectly, no issues.
This is a very capable machine, and despite the messy post processing and intermediate learning curve to get it working to its best, it is well worth the money and time investment as it produces parts that WOW my clients again and again.
We’ve printed heavy duty industrial parts, accurate fixtures and jigs, and beautiful character models on this printer.
The mercury wash and cure station is a game changer if you are able to get that too! Look into it.
Cheers,
James – Protogen 3D
Can’t fault the service, arrived next day.
Excitedly unboxed it, got it setup as per instructions, poured in the resin and ran the rook test file.
This was all easy, the thing is a breeze to set up and run so full marks there.
However, I noticed early on something didn’t feel right. Sure enough, of the two rooks that were meant to print, only one worked – the other failed early on. I know this kind of thing can often be down to bed level – despite me following the levelling instructions I know I’m new to this type of printing so assumed my error.
Then I noticed when moving the machine, it was rocking in the table – I could only get 3 of the 4 corner feet (non adjustable) to sit on a flat surface at any one time. The whole thing was warped.
This was visible, once I knew what I was looking for, from the front of the machine and is visible in the pics. The whole plate where the LCD sits was rising up toward one corner. Then I noticed a small but deep impact mark on the edge of the anodised aluminium has plate.
The box seems relatively intact, few light creases as you expect from anything couriered – but no sign of anything having had pierced it or hit it with such force to have caused that impact mark – nothing obvious that could have warped the whole machine.
So this has to be either a factory QC issue, or I was given a previously returned/used unit. I am going with the latter as I had noticed some marks that looked eerily like finger/hand marks all over the red cover…. unacceptable in any case, so its going back.
Pretty gutted tbh, the one rook that did completely print showed me what this machine is capable of, very fine detail light years ahead of what my Ender 3 could produce, but this particular unit would never be capable of anything dimensionally accurate with that frame distortion.
Alas now I am wary of buying another due to this issue, especially since it seems very possible I was sold a used unit as new, and am left with most of a kilo bottle of resin that cost me just shy of 30 quid….
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EDIT – REPLACEMENT PRINTER, SATURN S
Made a new order for a Saturn S. It has arrived absolutely flawless. Maybe I was just unlucky first time around! S**t – as they say – happens.
It is superb. Being used to fdm printing, the fine detail you can get from resin – even as a beginner – is next level!
I used an Ironman figure to test. It was meant to be printed around 170mm tall; I shrunk it to about 35mm just to see if it still captured detail. It did. Mind blowing. I could have painted this in alclad and used it as a Monopoly playing piece!
Things I’ve noticed so far – resin is pretty weak and brittle (Elegoo water washable) but this is to be expected. I have ordered some “ABS like” resin to try, hopefully that will give enough of an improvement in toughness. However, you shouldn’t expect resin prints to be particularly strong anyway. For me, it’s another tool in the box to be used alongside FDM – and good old fashioned fabrication – to achieve the end product. Another string to the bow!
But for larger more functional prints, I’ll be using FDM all the way still. This is for ornate and fine detail in my projected usage at least.
I’ll try and attach a pic of the Ironman figure – this is pretty much out of the box, and me being new to this form of printing. I’d imagine a lot of optimisation will come as I learn to get the best out of settings etc! He has lost a finger – my fault – it did actually print, but I was a bit heavy handed while washing
All in, very happy. Blown away in fact. Yes I had the initial issue, but it looks like that was bad luck. It happens. Move on!
Elegoo support was fantastic, this does require mentioning. I bypassed them on the return for the first printer because it was just apparent the whole thing was fundamentally borked. No amount of replacement parts was going to get it right. But they reached out to me offering help regardless! Great sign. I’ve also seen on user Facebook pages they are active and help to resolve problems straight away. Couldn’t ask for better service!
I’ve had my Saturn for around 9 months now and this review reflects many 100’s of hours of using it. Just like the Mars, the Saturn is incredibly straightforward to use; just add resin, add print file, print. No messing around for hours and hours trying to find the right settings. Of course you can tweak these (to your hearts content) to get ‘perfect’ prints, but things print pretty perfectly using stock settings. Resin printing itself is a little less straightforward that I imply here, you do need to give a fair amount of thought to creating supports but this will be true on any machine.
The Saturn, like the Mars, is nicely designed and well made. I first bought a Mars 2, which I also use almost daily, and was fearful until I received it that it would be a bit cheap and cheerful. Not so. Both printers are machined and manufactured to a very high standard using high quality materials, they are robust and I am expecting to get many years use out of both. I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to buy another Elegoo product.
A bit about aftercare. I’ve needed support from elegoo a couple of times over the last year and they have simply been excellent; they actually help, rather than brush you off or send you on a wild goose chase. Probably the best company in this respect that I’ve dealt with for years.
Last but not least, some tips;
– if you are undecided between a Mars and Saturn, go Saturn. You will use the extra capacity sooner than you think. I know I will be very, very tempted by the Jupiter when it becomes available.
– buy the wash and cure kit as well. It makes the end to end process much cleaner and is worth the extra cost
– resins are down to personal choice but my go-to is the elegoo ABS-like. I have tried a few others but return to this again and again because the end result is invariably excellent.
If you are going to upgrade from your Mars to this do not expect an easy transition there is much to learn and change from any small printer settings to make them work with the bigger printers which many prints in I’m still tweaking the settings now and then.
I’d say it kinda sucks too you don’t get a bracket to hold the plate at an angle once complete for the resin to drip in.
But for bulk printing and bugger items this is your machine
The build plate is large enough to scale up models and not lose quality or details. Larger models come out stunning. There’s plenty of free files available online to get yourself started. And the free ChituBox software is easy to use. Load a file, slice it, save it to the supplied (or your own) USB stick, pop it in the printer and off you go. Although the ChituBox Pro version costs $169 per year for a license, it is not a requirement, but the Pro does have much better tools included.There is free software available if you look for it.
In my opinion, resin printing provides much better quality over filament printing. No stepping or patterns on the print. Bear in mind resin requires patience (with ‘dialing in’ different resin settings), and requires additional purchases if you’re taking it seriously. I bought silicone mats (inert to resin), a Draeger face mask (resin fumes are dangerous), nitrile gloves (not vinyl or latex), UV protective safety glasses (NoCry), Elegoo’s “wash & cure” set, Isopropyl Alcohol (in 5l containers!), steel funnels (pouring filtered resin back into containers), spare “fep” (the clear sheet at the bottom of the resin container), the Elegoo mini extraction filters (seems small, but REALLY good at removing the majority of the fumes), plastic airtight boxes (for cleaning and storage), tonnes of spare kitchen roll. The list goes on… I now have an entire workbench dedicated to 3d printing. See photos.
Overall I’m still new to it. Prepare to have some failures along the way. And be super patient with removing any prints off the build plate, be gentle and protective over the LCD screen at the bottom (don’t get resin on it, or it’ll cure and then that bit of the screen won’t print anymore!), and don’t use a metal scraper to get rid of failed prints that have stuck to the sensitive and thin fep in the vat. Good luck!
Tips to get the best from your machine I’ve found so far with trial and error are:
Don’t put your printer near a window, drafts and sunlight can be a problem
When downloading the chutbox check resolution settings as they are incorrect( should be X:3840 Y:2400
I have found that using these settings after much testing( 6 bottles of 1kg resin) I don’t have anymore failed prints, ( these settings work on both Elegoo and anycubic Resin of all colours)
Settings-Print
Layer height: 0.03mm or 0.04mm (depending on detail)
Bottom Layer count :6
Exposure Time : 3 s
Bottom Exposure Time: 15s Max ( excellent build plate)
Light off:0
Bottom light off delay:0
Bottom Lift distance:8mm
Lifting Distance: 7mm
Bottom lift speed :40mm ( speed at which it removes print fromFEP)( too low won’t lift, to high will pull off)
Lifting speed: 120mm ( speed at which it lefts out of the tray)
Retract speed:180mm(speed going back down) to high and it will cause sloshing over the sides.
If using supports, I always add a skate raft and increase all raft settings by 10%
Last but not least angle your print at 35-45 degrees this should stop failed or warped printing.
Also buy either a spare FEP sheet pack or a screen cover to protect your LCD screen as you will get resin spills and over time it damages the screen. Do not scrap it off as it damages the film beneath.
I really do love this machine and can’t wait till May to purchase the Jupiter!
So, I will preface this with I had a bit of a teething issue with the screen but I had what was probably one of the best customer service from the support team. They got my issue sorted, help with trouble shooting, and ended up replacing the screen with no issues. They helped me through the process of getting it up and running. It was easy, pleasant, and just what the gold standard for service should have been.
As a new user of printers in general it was a bit of a learning curve and I do not think the saturn is the place to start as a first timer. Its good, and once you get it set up and dialed in it works like a dream. BUT as it is a bigger picture suction forces played a bit more of a role and I had to learn how to manage that. That isn’t a fault of the machine. Just something to note and you really want to dial your stuff in. I have printed plenty with it and I am happy i got it.
I saw a friend who is a product designer working with this machine. I was stunned by what he was able to do with it. Decided to buy one with no experience of 3d printing. It was a very steep learning curve and I made various mistakes – but the fastest way to learn is to do. Was making prints of mathematical models downloaded from free STL libraries within the week. One issue I had was not protecting the LCD screen. The FEP film was perforated during a print and leaked resin badly damaged the screen. After some online searching, I found this was a relatively common problem – you can buy a screen protector on Amazon. I wrote to Elegoo, they replied within a day and sent me a new screen. I changed the screen following the Youtube video guide. They are incredibly supportive of their customers. Can not recommend Elegoo enough.
Have been 3D printing for business since 2016 and have used several printers over that period, the elgoo saturn is a good price for a larger build volume and combined with something like Lychee slicer you can be printing quickly and cheaply with very little setup. the prints are sharp and highly detailed. Possibly only weakness is using FEP sheets as the base of the tank which is a double edged sword on the one hand it means after several prints cause clouding or damage, the sheet can be replaced cheaply (around 20-30 for 5 sheets) vs something like the solid plastic tanks Formlabs use that are 50 per tank. However on the negative the FEP got a pinhole damage mid print causing resin to leak onto the LCD panel and then get hardened onto the glass of the panel as the print continued. To their credit elgoo offered to replace the damaged components and were extremely helpful with this issue. but i would recommend keeping this in mind, 9/10 near perfect, needs a better tank base solution for that final point.
Edit: The replacement parts arrived in only 10 days! Easy to fit and test, the printer is working perfectly once again. I cannot fault Elegoo’s customer service.
I have 3 of these printers now, one from the pre-order and two from Amazon.
They’re not running non-stop but they have been well used, and they’ve been faultless. The quality of the prints they can produce is outstanding, and they are easy to use once properly dialled in. The majority of users on forums that report issues are those who have not done their homework or simply haven’t set the slicing parameters correctly for their machine. I use flex plates on all 3 of my Saturn’s and in my opinion they offer great benefits over printing directly to the build plate.
One of the Saturn’s – bought from amazon in January 2021 so now nearly 8 months old – has developed a fault with the LED array where several of the LEDs within one of the 3 blocks have failed. I contacted Elegoo’s EU Support by email and they sent me instructions on how to test the array and check the cabling. A quick email back to them and they are sending me the parts required to fix the printer!
If you check the forums on facebook or elsewhere on the web you’ll see this story repeated. It’s not that the machines have a high failure rate, but when they do fail Elegoo have been simply superb at: 1) answering customers messages (my response came next working day!), and 2) getting the problem sorted out! I have to say it’s a breath of fresh air when dealing with a company based on the other side of the planet…! It is in fact how it should be, and their competitors should take note – this is how you take care of customers and generate brand loyalty and repeat business.
Well done Elegoo. I am a customer for life.
If you are in the market for a resin printer at an affordable price with superb after-sales support you really can’t go wrong with an Elegoo Saturn – or an Elegoo anything!
Elegoo as always is setting the bar for quality and price when it comes to their brand of LCD printers, especially the Saturn with its 4K Mono Screen.
Printing at nearly 3 times the speed of their Mars Pro, and offering enough space to print like near any medium-sized FDM printer, the Saturn is both the baby and the big boy of my resin printers. Like all printers it takes some getting used to when it comes to organising your supports and models to avoid suction forces, failed prints etc. but the Saturn is pretty much plugged and play as long as you use Lychee automatic medium thickness & normal density supports, to begin with, but I recommend learning some basics about orientations and resin printing.
On top of this, Elegoo are unmatched for customer services, sending a free FEP sheet and now (8 months in) I had a torn FEP and it spilt and cured on my LCD screen during a print and there sending a new 4k LCD screen. Elegoo is like a good parent, supporting their idiotic children and cleaning up after their mistakes for the first year, so i’d recommend taking advantage of the help that is there!
I use my printer for commercial purposes as a design engineering agency so important things for me are accuracy and speed.
Set up and levelling took 2 minutes and so far after about 50hrs of printing haven’t had to re level it.
Used a variety of resins including the plant based material. You do need to know what you are doing as each resin is different, for example the plant based is good but much weaker than the ABS type and doesn’t stay in perfect form after heat or moisture.
I have used many types of printers including the form labs and I will go as far as to say this printer is better, because:
– it print each layer in one go through the led screen not a laser which means you can print massive amounts in the same amount of time. Whereas the form labs goes up massively whether horizontal or vertical area.
– the 4K screen means I honestly can’t see the pixel resolution and the build is so quick at 2.5s a layer I just use 50micron layers all the time which is awesome quality.
– Chitubox software is easy enough to use, just learn how to get the best from it as it takes some skill.
– resin price is super cheap, 40 a litre for this printer 150 for the formlabs.
– customer service is excellent, enquired about a new build tray, same day one was shipped!
Little tip is buy the cover to keep the UV off of it if near a window and the little odour fans they make work a treat to keep the smell down.
Excellent printer, will very likely get another one in the future!
The rest of the review is aimed at anyone that doesn’t already have a 3D printer.
This is a resin printer, not FDM (Plastic spools of Filament). It uses quite toxic liquid resins which you will need to buy. (Readily available on Amazon).
You will also need (for a start, and off the top of my head so this list will be incomplete) ….
Gloves, facemasks, resin/paint filters (Some supplied – but you will need more of each of these)
Eye goggles (You don’t want uncured resin in eyes, or on your skin for that matter)
UV curing station (possibly you could use the sunshine – but at some point you’ll want this, or make one)
Ventilated workspace – the resin fumes are unpleasant at best.
Sealed storage containers & Alcohol for washing parts – and a lot of it.
The above is just my thoughts – I would recommend plenty of googling and you tube visits to anyone that doesn’t understand resin printing to verify and complete the list above and to make sure it’s right for you. It’s not Print and Use, It’s nasty resin that needs to be cleaned/Washed after printing and then UV cured to make safe. I’m not saying don’t get one as your first 3D printer, I’m just saying know what your getting into first.
This printer has impressive resolution with its 4K monochrome display. Printed parts are pin sharp and dimensionally accurate. Print times are quick, with water soluble print liquid the curing is working well at between 2.5 to 3 seconds/layer.
I have past experience with industrial printers, previously purchasing and running large powder and large photopolymer 3D printers at an engineering design company. These physically giant machines were, back in their day, each over 120k new. They were the size of a large desk and we had to check the floor was strong enough before installation. And they weren’t cheap to run. The photopolymer Objet machine was 300/kg for build material. Need a new set of print heads? That’s an 8k outlay. Servicing? 1500 a year. Parts back then had to be painstakingly cleaned to remove the jelly support material using caustic and within an industrial pressure washer cabinet.
Fast forward ~10 years and we have a low cost, simple home device that can sit on a shelf, printing quietly all day long. Compared to the bulky machines I once worked with this Saturn delivers a higher resolution and at a fraction the cost to purchase and run. There is no laborious cleaning, just wash the parts in water or IPA and optionally cure further in sunlight or a UV cabinet.
I cannot recommend this machine highly enough, the print quality is amazing for any 3D printer. The fact it is priced so low is a bonus.
The two fans work well to keep heat down. When running long prints I checked to see if there is any warmth from the machine. On all the prints so far it runs very cold which is excellent to prolong the LCD life.
4K is an essential step up on larger printers like the Saturn because as print area increases the resolution also needs to go up for parts to remain detailed. Just like comparing HD video on a laptop vs HD video on a 55″ telly. The image looks far better on the laptop because the smaller screen has physically smaller pixels. It begins to look blocky on the big screen. Move up to 4K on a large telly and it looks great. The same applies to printing. The pixels (or ‘voxels’ when talking about 3D printed pixels) are physically larger when the print area grows on bigger machines like the Saturn so you also need to increase the resolution just to stay at the same print quality. This allows the much larger print area on the 4K Saturn to deliver the same physical pixel size as the smaller 2K Mars Pro.
The Saturn 4K LCD pixel size is 0.05mm in X and Y – which is under 2 thousandths of an inch. The sort of precision tolerance we’d specify at work on close fitting CNC machined parts. The chitubox software which comes with the Saturn gives various options to interpolate the XY image and further increase print quality (reading the Chitubox blog which goes into a lot of detail on settings it does this by a fancy dithering method to smooth edges).
The resolution in Z (build height) can be adjusted via the software since this is set by how far the build platform is raised each time. It can be set all the way down to 0.00125mm, assuming you are happy for print times to go through the roof. I’ve not found this necessary, it prints perfectly well with the standard print settings but it’s nice to know it’s there if required.
Like all newer UV cure machines, the Saturn has a monochrome LCD. This means the cure time for each layer is far faster than machines with a colour LCD. A colour LCD blocks more light so it takes around 8 seconds to cure a layer whereas a monochrome LCD can do the same in around 2 seconds. Since the LED UV lights are on for less time there is also less heat buildup and the LCD should last far longer too. Win win.
My machine did not come with the membership card mentioned in the listing. I spoke with Elegoo who confirmed the membership cards are being phased out. I guess the Amazon listing will soon be revised to reflect this. It also does not come with spare FEP film in the box though Elegoo have an offer for a few free FEP sheets on their Facebook page if you provide proof of purchase. For new users it would definitely be worthwhile ordering spare FEP sheets at the same time as the machine so you have these to hand should you manage to damage the original FEP while playing with the new machine.
When I first assembled the machine I had a problem with the build plate head, one of the threaded M6 holes which is used to pinch and lock the ball of the build plate was slightly oversize. Tightening the M6 bolt had a soft feel like the thread was about to strip. Elegoo technical support was excellent, a quick email to explain the problem and a replacement part is being promptly despatched.
As well as the standard chess piece which came out razor sharp we have printed little tank and soldier tokens with my son to make a board game. We have a 195W 1.2m sized laser cutter and we used this to make the wooden board having designed this together. The tokens were all 3D printed. It all came out perfectly. A few pictures are uploaded to show the print quality and results.
Definitely recommend the Saturn for anyone considering a high resolution 3D printer.
I had a few other issues and Elegoo were kind enough to sort them out – it took a long time with the current pandemic and shipping issues but they really did go above and beyond.
This printer doesn’t seem to have the same high quality that the Mars or Mars 2 have but overall I’m happy. The generous build volume is a godsend and it’s pretty reliable.
I’d say maybe 7/10 for the printer and 10/10 for Elegoo staff for helping me fix all the issues I faced.
This is my first 3D printer, been toying for ages with the idea and now I’ve dived in, this is great.
It is a solidly built piece of kit, operationally it’s easy and quiet. As sparse as the instructions are they are enough to get you up and running.
I use the Elegoo Saturn 3d Resin printer, with Elegoo water washable resin and a Elegoo Mercury wash and cure station and the full system works great.
Ive attached the demo rook print that worked 1st time no bother, then my 2nd print from a Free SLT file site, prepared using the supplied software and printed perfectly.
Early days but at present it fantastic.
ZUPDATE.
THE PRINTER IS GREAT. Handles all manner of complex designs. The print quality is way beyond my expectations.
The customer service team are fantastic, helpful and friendly.
The lcd screen did break(not overly concerned as i work in the glazing industrie and know how temperamental tempered glass can be)
however a quick chat to customer services and a new one was dispatched imideatley.
Fantastic company, fantastic product. Not the cheapest but good value for money.