Question for the 3D printer experts

[13doctorwho]

I am planning to get a resin 3D printer. I've narrowed it down to two I've been looking at on Amazon. I like what I've read about ANYCUBIC Photon Mono X 6K Resin 3D Printer and the Elegoo Saturn S 4K Resin 3D Printer.

ANYCUBIC Photon Mono X 6K

Elegoo Saturn S 4K

So what do you guys think? Do any of you have one of these? Which do you think would be better? I've never had my own printer so all opinions welcome!! Thank you.

 

[LoneWanderer]

I've had really awesome results with my Elegoo Saturn. I don't think you can go wrong between your selection of options though. They're both highly rated and perform wonderfully.

I would recommend getting to know a LOT about resin printing before jumping in though as you can save yourself a ton of hassle down the road by learning about things like bed leveling, FEP replacement processes, model support and orientation for printing, and curing practices.

Check out uncle jessy on youtube for quality content around all of those subjects. Have fun! It's a blast to learn and the detail you can get out of these machines are unmatched.

 

[masterjedi322]

I am, by no means, an expert, but I’ll offer what I’ve learned…

As mentioned, both AnyCubic and Elegoo make great printers. I have the AnyCubic Photon Mono X, the predecessor to the 6K machine, and has been a great machine. Some learning on my end for sure to get it printing consistently well, but that’s part of the fun (at least for me).

Another brand I’d encourage you to look at would be Phrozen.

Many of the printers share similar technologies and design, so you really can’t go wrong.

Sean

 

[DutchNibbles]

As others as said, both of these printers have been well received. I’m not sure if both are now unlocked from only using Chitubox slicer, but I think so.
Phrozen have just released the mighty 8K which could be worth looking at.

I would say to make sure you are considering health and safety. Resin is a serious substance, and resin printers should be used only in a space setup for them, but I’m sure you have done your research

Happy printing!

 

[Noeland]

I have an Anycubic Mono, and the machine is fantastic, the slicer that comes with it did not work for me. I ended up using the Lychee slicer for resin prints and that has been fantastic. Great program. It also "fixes" STL files that have holes in them, and you can resave the STL from Lychee slicer, which is a nice bonus.

 

[ssdesigner]

I've got the Saturn and I would recommend it. My tips would be:
1) Get Lychee day 1. It has support mirroring that will save you a lot of time. Chitubox still crashes and you'll lose work.
2) If you are a windows user, always open your STL files in Windows 3D viewer, let it repair them if it flags them, and then re-export them as stl files.
3) Get a flex plate and use something like this with yellow plastic blades to remove prints from the flex plate:

https://smile.amazon.com/MulWark-Multi-Purpose-Protective-Cleaning-Subfloor-2/dp/B07H32N1PV/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=AA7RP9BHPHBC&keywords=titan+razor+blade+scraper&qid=1652727587&sprefix=titan+raz%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExV1pTNUdBRUwyWUJBJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzMxMzgyRzdKWDlKV0dGMUs4JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAwMjQ1OTgyREVQSjEzMTlZU1BJJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[13doctorwho]

Wow, thank you all for the great information!! It's been really helpful.

 

[Noeland]

Yeah, seconded on the flex plates. They are so much less of a headache.

 

[ssdesigner]

Wow, thank you all for the great information!! It's been really helpful.

Happy to help! A couple more:

I have used this guys support settings in both chitubox and now lychee, and they have yet to fail on me. Highly recommend using these settings:

Here is the flex plate I went with. Combined with a yellow plastic razor blade scraper, it's super easy to remove prints:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KPM96C3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1