In 2020, Elegoo blew open the medium format resin 3D printer market with its Elegoo Saturn printer. Combining at the time new LCD technology, a much larger print volume, and an unbeatable starting price of $499, it quickly became the benchmark of a medium format resin 3D printer. Not letting its competition catch up, Elegoo released its Saturn 2 resin 3D printer in 2022 with an even more significant build volume and an extremely high-resolution 8K LCD display. However, it came with a considerable price increase of $699, and now Elegoo is not alone in this segment and is flanked by the Anycubic M3 Premium, Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K, and the Epax X10 8K. However, its greatest competition is itself, as Elegoo released the Saturn 8K, which combines the great 8K display in a smaller form factor and a lower price point of $599. We would happily recommend the Saturn 2 with its winning combination of ultra-high resolution and large build volume, while budget-conscious users would be just as well served with the cheaper Saturn 8K.
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Until 2020, resin 3D printers that could print anything larger than a tabletop miniature were out of reach of most hobbyists. This changed with the introduction of the Elegoo Saturn resin 3D printer. A medium format MSLA resin printer, it had a build volume that was substantially larger than its competitors, relatively easy to use, and came at an unheard price of $499. This quickly triggered a pricing war between manufacturers like Elegoo, Anycubic, EPAX, Phrozen, and Creality. This resulted in a massive win for consumers, and the market was flooded with affordable, larger, high-quality resin 3D printers.
With competitors quickly catching up to Elegoo, the manufacturer released the updated Saturn 2 resin 3D printer in the summer of 2022. They upgraded the impressive 4K LCD display to a larger, more capable 8K LCD display while integrating its charcoal air filter into the machine and increasing the print volume. However, Elegoo told rival manufacturers that it would not give up its lead over them.
The starting price of $699 is a substantial increase over the previous Elegoo Saturn. However, it undercut its competition by at least $100 with comparable offerings from Anycubic, Phrozen, and Epax.
Elegoo faces off against its peers of the Anycubic M3 Premium, the Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K, and the EPAX X10 8K. However, the most interesting competitor is its own Saturn 8K, which takes the older Saturn chassis and replaces its 4K panel with the new 8K panel while undercutting its own Saturn 2 offering by $100.
So, is the Saturn 2 a worthwhile successor to the original Saturn? Or are you better off purchasing one from its rivals or a previous generation Saturn? We’ll answer that question and more in our in-depth review of the Elegoo Saturn 2.
When looking for a resin 3D printer, you should never compromise on print quality, as that’s one of the main reasons you purchase a resin 3D printer! To test the Elegoo Saturn, we printed several figurines, robot models, houses, and a tower. The results were excellent across the board, with the Elegoo Saturn churning out some of the most highly detailed prints thanks to its 8K monochromatic LCD screen. The Saturn 2 scored an easy 9/10 for print quality.
Print quality isn’t the only thing to look out for. You want to make sure your printer is reliable enough for everyday use. For example, resin printers experience a great amount of suction force when the plate is lifted to the next position, and the larger the printer, the greater the force. Unfortunately, Elegoo does not have a system in place to reduce suction forces, and with a 10″ screen, this is amongst the biggest we have tested yet. As a result, users may see their prints near the center of the build plate break more often than prints on the edges. Printers such as the Prusa SL1 attempted to reduce this by tilting the resin vat, dramatically improving the system’s overall reliability. Formlabs Form 3 uses a laser unit to push the print to the next position gently. Hopefully, Elegoo can develop its own innovative solution for future models. However, you can’t argue with the price since the Elegoo Saturn 2 is one of the cheapest mid-size resin printers.
The cost-to-score ratio makes this printer an excellent choice for printing larger models than smaller printers, such as the Elegoo Mars 3. However, competitors such as the Anycubic M3 Premium, Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K, Creality Halot Sky, and the Elegoo Saturn 8K are also easily recommended with similar performance.
Overall Score
Ranked #8 of 10
SLA Printers
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The Elegoo Saturn 2 belongs to the medium format family of resin MSLA printers. These printers are well-known as scaled-up versions of the smaller desktop MSLA printers. Affordable, large print volume and capable of producing incredible amounts of detail, the Elegoo Saturn 2 is the perfect machine to make figurines, miniatures, and terrain for tabletop gaming.
With that in mind, we thoroughly tested the Saturn 2 against a gauntlet of test prints, placed it in a number of harsh printing environments, traveled high and low to the various communities, and more. To get a full view of its performance, we stacked it against its competitors, such as the Anycubic M3 Premium, Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K, Creality Halot Sky, and its own Saturn 8K.
While on paper, the Saturn 2 shares many similarities with its competitors, such as build plate size, screen resolution, and overall dimensions, the Saturn 2 sets itself apart with its integrated charcoal filter, a vent port in its lid, and a lower MSRP of $699.
This is a read that you do want to skip out on. This family of MSLA printers combines incredibly high resolutions with a comfortably large print volume. Due to the messy nature of resin 3D printers, choosing the wrong MSLA printer will lead to significant headaches from poor setup, print quality, and reliability. Not to mention the time and money wasted trying to fix and tune such a machine. We spent hundreds of hours testing the Elegoo Saturn 2, so you don’t have to. So keep reading to learn all the ins and outs of the Saturn 2 to see if this is the suitable medium format resin MSLA 3D printer for you.
Leveling the bed
The Elegoo Saturn 2 comes fully assembled from the factory and nearly ready to print straight from the box, with the only user intervention being to level the bed. The resin printer is well packaged with protective foam around the printer, build plate, and resin vat. Users should ensure the resin vat and build plate are free from any foam particles, as we found small particles around the resin vat from shipping. Users should also note that the resin vat has a protective film that is difficult to see and must be removed; otherwise, prints will fail.
Leveling the build plate to the LCD is the one thing users need to do before printing with the Elegoo Saturn. 2 All other budget-friendly resin printers require the user to level the build plate before use. Elegoo Saturn 2’s leveling process is identical to the original Saturn: there are two large hex screws that lock the build plate in place and must be tightened during the leveling process. This method is commonplace for Elegoo’s line of 3D printers. However, competitors such as Anycubic have released printers with a spring-loaded build plate, ensuring an adequately leveled build plate or 4-level screws found on printers like the Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K.
While the leveling mechanism of the Elegoo Saturn 2 is adequate, we do prefer the leveling system found on Anycubic’s or Phrozen’s line of printers.
Resin 3D printers’ main strengths are their print quality and ability to resolve extremely small details, which is dictated by the quality and resolution of their LCD screen. The original Saturn sported a high-resolution 4K display, allowing it to resolve details as small as 47um. The Saturn 2 is equipped with a larger, extremely high-resolution 8K display that can resolve details as small as 29um. We’ll be running an extensive array of tests to see if that translates to real-world improvements.
We tested the Saturn 2 in three major areas: ability to resolve detailed models, z height consistency, and consistent UV exposure across the whole build plate. One of the most common things for resin 3D printers to print are highly detailed figurines and models. We tested the Saturn 2’s ability to print detailed models by having it print several detailed figures, both large and small. When printing small details, the printer had absolutely no issues. With the Saturn 2 having no problems printing organic models, we also printed a mech model and figurine to test its ability to resolve more angular features. Again, the Saturn 2 had no issues printing each of these models, and the texture came out perfectly.
We later tested the Saturn 2’s ability to print tall objects and exaggerate any issues related to the z-stepper motor or the linear rail on the z-axis. Unsurprisingly the Elegoo Saturn 2 had no problems printing out the small details in the tower and showed no issues with z alignment thanks to its sturdy construction and dual linear rails on its z-axis.
The last test we printed was a series of detailed tiles across the Elegoo Saturn 2 to test how evenly the UV light is distributed across the build plate. If the light distribution is uneven, the details on the edge will look different compared to those in the middle. With such a large build surface, we were interested in how evenly lit the build area of the Saturn 2 truly is. Elegoo claims its UV light system ensures that UV exposure is uniform across its entire build area, and we found no difference between the tiles found on the edge and those found in the middle.
With the addition of the 8K LCD screen, we were eager to see if there was a discernible difference between the already great 8K LCD of the original Saturn versus the newer Saturn 2. Unfortunately, when printing with the standard grey resin, we could not see any discernible differences between the high-resolution 8K screen of the Saturn 2 and the lower 4K screen of the original Saturn. However, when we reprinted all the models alongside an even more detailed test model in Siraya Tech’s Navy Gray resin, we could see a minimal improvement in how sharp the details are in the Saturn 2 prints. This resin is marketed as “8K ready resin” for resin printers like the Saturn 2 in mind. This highlights that you’ll need an extremely detailed model and higher-quality resin to take advantage of the increased resolution of the latest generation of resin 3D printers.
The Elegoo Saturn 2 outputs excellent quality prints that set the benchmark for this generation’s medium format resin 3D printers.
The Elegoo Saturn 2 produces amazingly crisp and detailed prints. However, there are a few issues that users need to be aware of when using a larger resin 3D printer such as this.
Print Speed
When resin 3D printer manufacturers transitioned from RGB to monochromatic LCD display technology, it ushered in a wave of print benefits. Most notably, the speed of resin 3D printing. With RGB LCDs, each layer takes anywhere from 6-10s to cure; however, with a monochromatic LCD, that time drops to 2-3%. Every manufacturer, including Elegoo, marketed it as a 300%+ print speed increase, but they should have included that every layer also needed 7-10s to lift the build plate to the next position. This heavily reduced the total speed increase to around 30-50%. Users need to be aware that while the latest generation of resin 3D printers is fast, they are slower than manufacturers claim.
Build Size Suction Force Issues
Resin prints experience a great amount of suction force when the build plate is lifted to the next position. This force dramatically increases with build plate size, and the Elegoo Saturn 2 is amongst the biggest resin printers we have ever used. The suction force can damage supports and delicate parts or completely detach the print from the build plate. Higher-end machines like the Prusa SL1 attempt to reduce this by tilting the resin vat, whereas the commercial grade Form 3 uses the laser unit to push the print to the next position gently. Elegoo does not have a system in place to reduce suction forces, and as a result, users may see prints near the center of the build plate break more often than prints near the edges of the build plate.
Minimum Resin Levels
For resin printers to successfully complete a print, their resin vat must contain a minimum amount of resin that does not get consumed. As resin is much more expensive than filament, users must consider this when choosing a resin 3D printer. This isn’t too much of an issue with smaller resin printers as it only requires around 30mL to keep the resin vat at a minimum level. However, with larger resin printers, like the Elegoo Saturn 2, users must always keep around 150mL of resin in the vat due to how much bigger it is compared to smaller resin printers like the Mars 3. This can easily add to the cost of owning the Saturn 2, and users may feel the pain in their wallet if they use more expensive “8K ready” resins.
Charcoal Filter
The charcoal filter is a great quality-of-life feature on paper. By being integrated within the print volume, it can filter out any resin fumes before it has the chance to escape into where the printer lives. However, we found that the charcoal filter had little effect, as we could still smell resin fumes when the printer was in action. Users looking to reduce resin fumes would be much better served using the hose adapter mount on the lid and attaching a proper ventilation system.
The new generation of Saturn and Mars 3D printers differentiated themselves from the previous generation by adopting a more organic design language. Gone are the minimalist boxy lids, and in with curves and slopes of Saturn 2 and Mars 3. This is purely an aesthetic choice and does not affect the performance of the Saturn 2 3D printer in any way. However, we do prefer the previous generation’s minimalist boxy design. Fans of red and black color schemes would be happy to know that the same color palette returns to the Elegoo Saturn 2.
With the increase in the print volume comes an increase in the overall dimensions of the 3D printer. The Elegoo Saturn 2 comes in at 306 mm(L) x 273mm(W) x 567mm(H), which is a substantial increase compared to Saturn’s 280 mm(L) x 240mm(W) x 446mm(H). The Saturn 2 completely dwarfs the original Saturn so much that the Saturn 2 approaches the size of large-volume resin 3D printers. Users would need to ensure they have sufficient space to accommodate such a large machine.
Another change is the heavy use of plastic throughout the main body of Saturn 2. The original Saturn had a base made primarily of metal, clocked in at 13kg. The Saturn 2, despite its massive size, clocks in at just 14kg thanks to its plastic body. While it does affect how premium the Saturn 2 feels, the plastic body is still extremely sturdy and does not affect its printing performance.
Saturn’s removable red acrylic lids remain as with nearly all Elegoo resin 3D printers. The acrylic lid is substantially larger than the original Saturn and sports a sloping design. Still, it serves the same purpose: blocking UV light from entering the build area and keeping resin fumes within the machine. Users need to remove and store the acrylic top to access the build plate. We found this to be somewhat inconvenient to do in our small office. Some users may appreciate this feature since it grants them 360o access to the build plate. However, we prefer the doors found on the Peoploy Phenom.
The original Elegoo Saturn came equipped with an ethernet jack for network connectivity, while the Elegoo Saturn 2 removed that feature. However, the original Saturn never made use of the ethernet jack, and as a result, it should not be considered a con for the Saturn 2.
Compared to its competitors, the Saturn 2 is substantially larger and made of plastic instead of metal. Users looking for a more compact resin 3D printer may want to consider the likes of the Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K or the Elegoo Saturn 8K if space is a concern.
MSLA resin printers can be the safer choice compared to filament-based FDM 3D printers when looking at fire and electrification risks. This is because resin printers need very little power to drive an LCD screen, UV light source, and one stepper motor, whereas high-power heaters are necessary to melt filament and heated beds in FDM printers. As a result, MSLA resin printers, such as the Elegoo Saturn 2, do not have the electrification or fire risks associated with FDM 3D printers.
Resin Health Concerns
However, when it comes to health concerns, there are risks involved when dealing with 405nm UV resin that cannot be ignored. For example, 405nm UV resin is highly toxic if ingested and can cause severe allergic reactions when it comes in contact with exposed skin. In addition, resin fumes are foul-smelling and pose health risks when inhaled. When handling, there should be several precautions taken. The Elegoo Saturn does try to mitigate the risks of resin 3D printing in a few ways.
When handling resin, nitrile gloves should always be worn. Elegoo ships its resin printers with a few extra pairs of disposable gloves alongside a couple of face masks to help reduce fume exposure. Users should never operate without wearing nitrile gloves when dealing with any resin 3D printer.
Another consideration is the high-powered UV light source that has the potential to harm eyes if looked at without safety glasses on. The acrylic top of the Elegoo Saturn is tinted red to prevent UV light exposure. This serves as a shield for you and prevents UV light from the environment from reaching the UV-sensitive resin within. It should be noted that the Elegoo Saturn 2 will continue operating even if the acrylic top is removed, unlike professional machines such as the Formlabs Form 3.
Finding Replacement Parts
In resin 3D printing, the LCD and FEP sheets in the resin vat need to be replaced periodically. Fortunately, these are relatively cheap and can be found in packs of 2 or 3 for around $20 in many 3D printer retailers.
The LCD of a resin 3D printer is also considered a consumable and often needs to be replaced in the lifetime of a resin 3D printer. A significant advantage the monochrome LCDs have over older RGB screens is their vastly longer lifespans. Monochrome LCDs are rated for 2,000 hours compared to RGBs at 400 hours, resulting in far fewer times the Elegoo Saturn 2 needs to go offline for maintenance. Unfortunately, because of how new the Elegoo Saturn 2 is, replacement LCDS are expensive at around $139 when purchased directly from Elegoo. This is contrasted by $85 for a replacement LCD for the original Saturn resin 3D printer.
Accessing the Control Board
As a mechanically simple machine, resin printers such as the Elegoo Saturn 2 rarely needs to be opened up for maintenance. However, if it does need to be opened up, users would be happy to know it is extremely easy to access the control board and the rest of Saturn 2’s internals. By removing eight screws on the back of the printer, users can pop off the rear cover and access all of the Saturn 2’s internals. This is the most user-friendly and painless experience we had with any printer in terms of getting inside of it.
10.1″ Inch Monochrome LCD
The original Saturn came equipped with an 8.9″ 4K monochrome LCD which allowed a resolution of 47um and produced amazingly crisp high-quality resin 3D prints. The Saturn 2 takes it up a level by upgrading it to the 10.1″ 8K monochrome LCD, which boasts an even higher resolution of 29um while making the build area bigger. While on paper, the resolution increase is a welcome addition, the real-life benefits remain to be seen.
Dual Linear Rails
Like the previous Saturn, the Saturn 2 returns with dual linear rails on the z-axis. This increases the rigidity of the z-axis, which is extremely important for a 3D printer that produces such precise 3D prints.
USB Powered Charcoal Filter
Elegoo released a battery-powered charcoal filter that could be placed into the build area to reduce the smell from the resin fumes. While it was a great addition to any resin 3D printer, we found it slightly inconvenient as it requires regular charging. The Elegoo Saturn 2 addresses this by adding a dedicated USB port within the build volume to keep the charcoal filter always powered.
Vent Port Mount
A popular mod for many 3D printers is to hook up a hose to vent out resin fumes. Elegoo noticed this trend and added mounting points to the acrylic lid for users to mount a hose adapter. As a result, users do not need to drill holes or irreversibly modify their Saturn 2 printers to hook up a hose to vent resin fumes.
The original Elegoo Saturn enjoys a large community following due to its popularity as the cheapest mid-size resin 3D printer, and the Saturn 2 is no exception. As a result, there is a vast community following for Saturn 2, where users can look up guides, tips, tricks, and answers to their various questions. In addition, users can get information about issues on various places such as forums, Facebook groups, and subreddits. Some of them include the following:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/elegoosaturn
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ElegooSaturn/
The original Elegoo Saturn took the 3D printing community by storm with its excellent print quality, larger build volume, and rock-bottom pricing. The Elegoo Saturn 2 improves with an even better 8K LCD panel, larger print volume, and integrated quality-of-life features such as USB powered charcoal filter. As a result, we found the Elegoo Saturn 2 is a worthwhile successor to the original Saturn.
However, these upgrades come at the cost of size and price. At $699, it is $200 more than the original Elegoo Saturn, along with it being about 30% bigger in volume. While Elegoo competes with the new Anycubic Photon M3 Premium and the excellent Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K, we feel its biggest competition is against itself. Elegoo has released the Saturn 8K, which utilizes the new 8K LCD panel of the Saturn 2 while stuffing it into the older Saturn chassis, resulting in a compact printer with the same quality as the Saturn 2 and $100 cheaper.
We can happily recommend the Saturn 2 to users who can use the additional print volume or like the quality-of-life features such as the charcoal filter or vent adapter. However, budget-conscious users may want to look at the cheaper Saturn 8K with the same amazing print quality in a smaller form factor and price tag.
Disclaimer
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Sources
1. Elegoo.com, “Elegoo, INC.” Accessed July 26, 2022.
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