3D Printing - whether to buy, what to buy and how to use it?
simond
Western Thunderer
Thanks Adrian,
I think that would be excellent, but I fear you might need to be a bit cautious about housekeeping. There’s a risk that it’ll end up full of “quite good, but not great” files that folks kindly share, but which take up acres of space, and are little if ever used. And 3D files seem to grow large!
I wonder if a share area where files can be posted, and from which they are automatically removed after a couple of weeks, might not be easier for you to manage?
If, for example, I posted my phone, anyone who is interested can grab a copy, and then it “evaporates”.
If someone misses the boat, so to speak, they can always ask for a re-post. Maybe an accompanying thread that indexes what is / was available would help.
atb
Simon
For my initial contribution to this forum, I shall write about my own approach to 3D printing. My interest in railways is largely historical and I wanted to be able to recreate some of those earlier railway vehicles for which there is no support from the trade. I had stared making panelled carriage sides by means of a Silhouette cutter but I wanted to be able to create my own 3D objects as well. My workshop knowledge is limited and traditional tools such as lathes, mills, etc. lie well outside my ‘comfort zone’.
At that time, late 2018, 3D printers were emerging from their rather ‘geeky’ beginnings into mainstream usage, so Christmas 2018 brought my first printer – a low-cost fused deposition machine which I chose because it was domestic-environment friendly – a Geeetech E-180, which cost me £199, complete with a 1kg reel of blue PLA filament. It appealed to me for its stylish body design and lack of accessible hot surfaces. It looks rather similar to a sewing machine and is easily moved onto my desk for printing sessions.
My initial progress was halting, due to poor documentation and software but I gradually worked up to being able to print designs downloaded from the web. I soon realised that the real challenge lies, not in the printer but in mastering the essential software, which comes in two major parts – 3D design software and slicing software, the second of which converts a design into instructions that the printer can follow.
For design, I chose ‘Fusion 360’, which is available free on a personal basis, with the condition that it is only for personal, non-commercial use. At first, the software seemed totally impenetrable but I found a simple tutorial on the web at
which provided sufficient information for me to design and build my first carriage. From then on, it’s been a steady learning curve, ploughing my own furrow as I discovered the various tools which this software provides to simplify the creation of various shapes and structures.
For the ‘slicer’, I chose ‘Cura’, which proved very straightforward to use, once I had entered the correct parameters for my printer. This software has an important pre-view feature, which shows exactly what will and will not print (I created several features that were too small to print) and showed where support structures are necessary.
After a while, I started to develop ‘hybrid’ construction techniques, using mixed materials as appropriate for the model under construction. For example, a boiler could start as a brass tube, to which I subsequently added cladding with boiler bands and plinths for the various mountings, by means of 3D printing.
I realise that most people now prefer resin based printers for their better surface finish but I have found that my simple printer can produce components that far exceed my initial expectations. This has involved making various tweaks to the settings in Cura and by planning the layout of different parts of a model so that each part sat in the optimum orientation on the printer bed. I have also realised that separate parts can be fused together by using a fine tip on a soldering iron set to 200°C, to create ‘welds’ along the various seams.
It has been a very personal exploration, following my own instincts, which has provided me with some very satisfying results. By keeping individual parts small, the printing times can be kept short – minutes rather than hours, which provides great encouragement for experimentation. As a result, I am constantly pleasantly surprised by what my simple little printer can create, when I push it beyond what seem to be reasonable limits! With the FDM method, I can simply insert an SD card, carrying my design, into the printer, press the ‘start’ button and come back after a cup of coffee to pick up my latest creation off the printer bed, with no post-processing required.
A couple of my recent creations:
Brunel's 'Britzka' travelling office
Front end of 'Aeolus' with exposed valve gear mountings
I show these examples 'unfettled', as removed from the printer. Some tidying up and painting can make considerable improvements to the appearance especially when seen from normal viewing distance.
Mike
At that time, late 2018, 3D printers were emerging from their rather ‘geeky’ beginnings into mainstream usage, so Christmas 2018 brought my first printer – a low-cost fused deposition machine which I chose because it was domestic-environment friendly – a Geeetech E-180, which cost me £199, complete with a 1kg reel of blue PLA filament. It appealed to me for its stylish body design and lack of accessible hot surfaces. It looks rather similar to a sewing machine and is easily moved onto my desk for printing sessions.
My initial progress was halting, due to poor documentation and software but I gradually worked up to being able to print designs downloaded from the web. I soon realised that the real challenge lies, not in the printer but in mastering the essential software, which comes in two major parts – 3D design software and slicing software, the second of which converts a design into instructions that the printer can follow.
For design, I chose ‘Fusion 360’, which is available free on a personal basis, with the condition that it is only for personal, non-commercial use. At first, the software seemed totally impenetrable but I found a simple tutorial on the web at
For the ‘slicer’, I chose ‘Cura’, which proved very straightforward to use, once I had entered the correct parameters for my printer. This software has an important pre-view feature, which shows exactly what will and will not print (I created several features that were too small to print) and showed where support structures are necessary.
After a while, I started to develop ‘hybrid’ construction techniques, using mixed materials as appropriate for the model under construction. For example, a boiler could start as a brass tube, to which I subsequently added cladding with boiler bands and plinths for the various mountings, by means of 3D printing.
I realise that most people now prefer resin based printers for their better surface finish but I have found that my simple printer can produce components that far exceed my initial expectations. This has involved making various tweaks to the settings in Cura and by planning the layout of different parts of a model so that each part sat in the optimum orientation on the printer bed. I have also realised that separate parts can be fused together by using a fine tip on a soldering iron set to 200°C, to create ‘welds’ along the various seams.
It has been a very personal exploration, following my own instincts, which has provided me with some very satisfying results. By keeping individual parts small, the printing times can be kept short – minutes rather than hours, which provides great encouragement for experimentation. As a result, I am constantly pleasantly surprised by what my simple little printer can create, when I push it beyond what seem to be reasonable limits! With the FDM method, I can simply insert an SD card, carrying my design, into the printer, press the ‘start’ button and come back after a cup of coffee to pick up my latest creation off the printer bed, with no post-processing required.
A couple of my recent creations:
Brunel's 'Britzka' travelling office
Front end of 'Aeolus' with exposed valve gear mountings
I show these examples 'unfettled', as removed from the printer. Some tidying up and painting can make considerable improvements to the appearance especially when seen from normal viewing distance.
Mike
simond
Western Thunderer
Mike,
thanks for your post - when I kicked off this thread I was very much aiming at SLA (resin) printing, and to try to keep stuff in one place so it’s a useful reference going forward. Would have been smart had I said so!
I have an Ultimaker 3 at work, for which Cura is the default slicer, and which we use to manufacture jigs & fixtures, prototypes, and non-visible small-run production components; the surface texture of the resultant parts has always been a barrier, in my opinion, to their use as exterior surface components. I recently had the opportunity to visit the EM model of Lime Street, and was very much impressed with some of the FDM prints that the guys there have produced, the surface finish was so impressive I needed to look underneath twice to convince myself that they weren’t resin!
So FDM techniques are clearly developing, and it can clearly produce some marvellous models, your carriage is delightful. Whilst I’m happy to include FDM here, would it be more useful to have a separate thread?
Cheers
Simon
thanks for your post - when I kicked off this thread I was very much aiming at SLA (resin) printing, and to try to keep stuff in one place so it’s a useful reference going forward. Would have been smart had I said so!
I have an Ultimaker 3 at work, for which Cura is the default slicer, and which we use to manufacture jigs & fixtures, prototypes, and non-visible small-run production components; the surface texture of the resultant parts has always been a barrier, in my opinion, to their use as exterior surface components. I recently had the opportunity to visit the EM model of Lime Street, and was very much impressed with some of the FDM prints that the guys there have produced, the surface finish was so impressive I needed to look underneath twice to convince myself that they weren’t resin!
So FDM techniques are clearly developing, and it can clearly produce some marvellous models, your carriage is delightful. Whilst I’m happy to include FDM here, would it be more useful to have a separate thread?
Cheers
Simon
Decision time!
simond
Western Thunderer
Well, it’s very nearly a year since I started this thread, and I’m just about to splash out.
the choices of printer have changed, of course, over the year, and there larger devices available, and better resolution too. Price/capability seems to have come down, if anything, which is surprising.
The entry level units appear to be Anycubic, Elegoo & Creality, of which I‘m tending towards the Elegoo Mars3 or Saturn2. I’ll read up in detail about these over the weekend. I’ll get a wash/cure station too.
if anyone has experience which suggests doing something different, do please shout up!
cheers
Simon
the choices of printer have changed, of course, over the year, and there larger devices available, and better resolution too. Price/capability seems to have come down, if anything, which is surprising.
The entry level units appear to be Anycubic, Elegoo & Creality, of which I‘m tending towards the Elegoo Mars3 or Saturn2. I’ll read up in detail about these over the weekend. I’ll get a wash/cure station too.
if anyone has experience which suggests doing something different, do please shout up!
cheers
Simon
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Elegoo Mars 3 good all round entry level at 50 microns
Elegoo Saturn 2 larger build volume better detail at 29-27 microns (can't recall exact spec), just depends whether you'll see the extra detail, i just needed the bigger build volume.
Resin - Siraya Tech fast navy grey (FNG), or fast grey (FG), don't waste time researching anything else, probably the best home user resin out there for detail, especially FNG. Not tried FG but suspect it'll be more like 8K and ABS type resins, it gets good rave feedback from the war gaming and fantasy figure groups.
Elegoo - 8K resin, bit of a market hype but it's a nice smooth softer resin than FNG, brilliant for organic shapes or large curved areas, people or oil drums etc. 8K is more like popular ABS like resins, again, great for the gaming community and figurines etc, not so good for engineering objects as it tends to warp and deform easy during printing.
Wash station, utter waste of time and money, I've only ever used ice cream pots and tupper ware pots, uses far less IPA and if you're doing small parts far far more economical, besides, FNG only needs about 20 -30 seconds to rinse any excess resin off. I do two washes, first direct off the build plate to get rid of 80-90% of excess resin (20-30 seconds) then flip into cleaner stuff for 30 seconds or so to finally clean.
The first pot gets dirty very quickly but gets emptied into an old tub outside, excess IPA burns off and residue resin hardens in sunlight to allow disposal. Second pot gets emptied into first then new IPA in first pot, rinse and repeat.
Curing station is a must (my opinion), I used to use an old coffee tin with UV LED strip stuck inside, worked well but a bespoke cure station with revolving table is a very good buy.
Hope that helps.
Elegoo Saturn 2 larger build volume better detail at 29-27 microns (can't recall exact spec), just depends whether you'll see the extra detail, i just needed the bigger build volume.
Resin - Siraya Tech fast navy grey (FNG), or fast grey (FG), don't waste time researching anything else, probably the best home user resin out there for detail, especially FNG. Not tried FG but suspect it'll be more like 8K and ABS type resins, it gets good rave feedback from the war gaming and fantasy figure groups.
Elegoo - 8K resin, bit of a market hype but it's a nice smooth softer resin than FNG, brilliant for organic shapes or large curved areas, people or oil drums etc. 8K is more like popular ABS like resins, again, great for the gaming community and figurines etc, not so good for engineering objects as it tends to warp and deform easy during printing.
Wash station, utter waste of time and money, I've only ever used ice cream pots and tupper ware pots, uses far less IPA and if you're doing small parts far far more economical, besides, FNG only needs about 20 -30 seconds to rinse any excess resin off. I do two washes, first direct off the build plate to get rid of 80-90% of excess resin (20-30 seconds) then flip into cleaner stuff for 30 seconds or so to finally clean.
The first pot gets dirty very quickly but gets emptied into an old tub outside, excess IPA burns off and residue resin hardens in sunlight to allow disposal. Second pot gets emptied into first then new IPA in first pot, rinse and repeat.
Curing station is a must (my opinion), I used to use an old coffee tin with UV LED strip stuck inside, worked well but a bespoke cure station with revolving table is a very good buy.
Hope that helps.
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JimG
Western Thunderer
I went looking for a source of the Siraya Tech FNG resin yesterday after Mick's mention of it yesterday, but couldn't find such a named resin, even on Siraya's own web page. Does it have another name?
Jim.
Boyblunder
Western Thunderer
Simon, humble apologies for taking 9 months to finish your excellent telephone model, unretouched photos of the latest version are attached and I'll post them today. Sorry about the quality of the photos. I agree with Mickoo, having tried a number of combinations I've found the Elegoo Saturn 2 with Siraya Tech fast navy grey (FNG) resin works really well. The Anycubic Photon with Anycubic resin that Steve Baldock donated to the Love Lane group produced good results for its time (running in my nice warm bedroom) then conked out and I couldn't get a replacement part. The original Elegoo Saturn I bought a year ago produced very poor results and after 2 months of struggling it was found to have been faulty from new so I sent it back.
Next came an Anycubic Mono 4k and the printer is probably very good but the software is limited, although I did produce some reasonable prints using various resins. Then on Mickoo's recommendation my "benefactor" bought the Elegoo Saturn 2 which is brilliant with the Siraya Tech fast navy grey resin. We have also found good results at 0.05mm using Elegoo 8K water washable which is much nicer to handle and clean up but not as good with detail or as tough. I would add to Mickoo's reply that I find the IPA fumes from cleaning affect my health so the printers are in the garage and temperature is very important. The ST FNG will print quite happily at 20° c but most of the others need to be higher. I've just tried Siraya Tech "Build" black with mediocre results and now think it needs a temperature of at least 25°c. Because my garage is unheated I built a cabinet shown previously and I think its a must if you don't want the fumes in your house.
Mickoo is right that cleaning is quick and easy in with a brush and a couple of trays but the IPA fume problem has put me off it so the build plate comes straight of the printer and is dumped in the Elegoo washing machine, swirled around for a few minutes followed by a quick manual rinse in clean IPA, then dried off with air and into the Elegoo cooking machine for a couple of minutes. The 7 litres of IPA in the cleaning tank gets murky very quickly and I've found syphoning it out after settling for a day and leaving the syphoned IPA outside for a day or so in clear plastic bottles sets the particles of resin so it falls to the bottom and leaves clean IPA above to re-use. I'm wasting very little IPA now.
If you want to try the Anycubic Mono X you are welcome to borrow it.
Robin
Next came an Anycubic Mono 4k and the printer is probably very good but the software is limited, although I did produce some reasonable prints using various resins. Then on Mickoo's recommendation my "benefactor" bought the Elegoo Saturn 2 which is brilliant with the Siraya Tech fast navy grey resin. We have also found good results at 0.05mm using Elegoo 8K water washable which is much nicer to handle and clean up but not as good with detail or as tough. I would add to Mickoo's reply that I find the IPA fumes from cleaning affect my health so the printers are in the garage and temperature is very important. The ST FNG will print quite happily at 20° c but most of the others need to be higher. I've just tried Siraya Tech "Build" black with mediocre results and now think it needs a temperature of at least 25°c. Because my garage is unheated I built a cabinet shown previously and I think its a must if you don't want the fumes in your house.
Mickoo is right that cleaning is quick and easy in with a brush and a couple of trays but the IPA fume problem has put me off it so the build plate comes straight of the printer and is dumped in the Elegoo washing machine, swirled around for a few minutes followed by a quick manual rinse in clean IPA, then dried off with air and into the Elegoo cooking machine for a couple of minutes. The 7 litres of IPA in the cleaning tank gets murky very quickly and I've found syphoning it out after settling for a day and leaving the syphoned IPA outside for a day or so in clear plastic bottles sets the particles of resin so it falls to the bottom and leaves clean IPA above to re-use. I'm wasting very little IPA now.
If you want to try the Anycubic Mono X you are welcome to borrow it.
Robin
simond
Western Thunderer
Siraya Tech Fast ABS-Like resin
Siraya Tech Fast ABS-like 405nm UV Resin for high-quality 3D printing. ABS-like resin is for tabletop miniatures & model making, with 8k ＆ 12k resolution on LCD & DLP printers. Crafted as the best resin for 3D printers, compatible with Anycubic, Elegoo, etc. Dive into durable, non-brittle easy...
siraya.tech
talks about “navy grey” down the page
simond
Western Thunderer
Jim, see my previous post, there’s a drop-down arrow to the right of the colour near the bottom of the page, you can select “Navy G“, along with quantity & colour.
simond
Western Thunderer
Robin,
thanks for the update and your kind offer. I think I’m committed to buying one, so your, and Mick’s, confirmation of the Saturn 2 is a great confidence booster. Neither Madame nor I seem to suffer from / be bothered by IPA fumes, so I guess we’ll see how it goes. It’ll mean some challenges in the garage if it has to go out there, but it’s long overdue a clear out. You don’t know anyone who wants a Suzuki 40 outboard, vgc, winterised about 30 years ago, unused since…? Or four Seagulls of varying vintage and condition? (I suppose I could cad-model them too…)
thanks again
Simon
thanks for the update and your kind offer. I think I’m committed to buying one, so your, and Mick’s, confirmation of the Saturn 2 is a great confidence booster. Neither Madame nor I seem to suffer from / be bothered by IPA fumes, so I guess we’ll see how it goes. It’ll mean some challenges in the garage if it has to go out there, but it’s long overdue a clear out. You don’t know anyone who wants a Suzuki 40 outboard, vgc, winterised about 30 years ago, unused since…? Or four Seagulls of varying vintage and condition? (I suppose I could cad-model them too…)
thanks again
Simon
JimG
Western Thunderer
Simon,
Thanks for that - I've found it now.
I've been using Phrozen Aqua 4K resin lately and found that very good, but I would like to try something else just to compare.Jim.
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
Late to reply to Simon's latest query, so hopefully this information will still be relevant.
Most everything has already been said, so I will offer a few bits of additional information and second much of what has already been mentioned.
I'm also a fan of Siraya Tech Fast Navy Grey (FNG), and have been using it since I started printing a year ago. I also have Build on hand, but I've not yet used it as I haven't ever gotten around to building the heated enclosure for it
. One thing to be aware of if choosing the FNG, the exposure settings are somewhat different than those for other colors of Fast resins. Be sure to download the Navy Grey spec, it can be found linked at the beginning of the user settings spreadsheet for other Fast colors.
I've only ever used the Elegoo Mars 3 Ultra, so I can't speak firsthand to anything about the Anycubic models. But I can say that the Elegoo and Anycubic printers are the only ones I would bother considering at this point, unless somebody comes out with something that works better at a similar price point. And in reality, I've no reason to change from the Elegoo machines going forward, I've been very happy with my results.
For printers, I would suggest only an 8k large form factor printer like the most recent Saturn 2, or a 4k small factor printer like the Mars 3. In either case only go for mono screen versions. Between the large and small form factor printers, I would go with the bigger machine, with the two caveats being cost and space. Quality of print isn't a factor, as the Saturn 2 actually has a finer XY resolution than the Mars 3.
If you go with an Elegoo system, and you do want to use the washing component and the basket, I would suggest the Mercury X instead of the Mercury Plus v2.0. The Plus v2.0 actually cannot fit the Mars 3 build plate inside it (the basket is sized for the slightly smaller pre-Mars 3 units), and there wasn't any other bracket supplied to hang the build plate above the tank. If I understand correctly, the Mercury X basket can hold a single Saturn plate or two Mars 3 plates. The Mercury X is the obvious choice if you get the Saturn 2, as it can match the build volume of the printer.
While I have no use for the machine itself, the large tub that goes with it is useful for soaking large prints that take advantage of the height of the printer volume. So I do get some use from it. For most parts though, I tend to just use something like 1 quart storage containers instead.
I'm doing something very similar to this now, to cut down on unnecessary IPA waste. I'll write something up soon about my revised cleaning method, been meaning to do that for some time now.
I can also attest to the IPA fumes being problematic for me, extended exposure will cause throat irritation. So I always wear a respirator type mask that filters organic vapors, and I've gone back to running an exhaust fan when my tubs of alcohol are open. I don't think the fan is as important as the mask, but it does help to evacuate fumes and smell.
The last item I'll mention, is that Elegoo is generally known to offer good support when things don't go according to plan. I've seen this firsthand, I recently had the limiting sensor that monitors the Z axis movement of the plate stop functioning. The build plate would move down to start a new print, but fail to stop at the home zero position, and would keep trying to push down on the screen. I contacted Elegoo, and they sent out replacement boards within several days, along with a bottle of their ABS like grey resin for my troubles. Printer down time was as short as could be, with only the shipping time slowing things down.
Hope the information is useful.
Jim
Most everything has already been said, so I will offer a few bits of additional information and second much of what has already been mentioned.
I'm also a fan of Siraya Tech Fast Navy Grey (FNG), and have been using it since I started printing a year ago. I also have Build on hand, but I've not yet used it as I haven't ever gotten around to building the heated enclosure for it
. One thing to be aware of if choosing the FNG, the exposure settings are somewhat different than those for other colors of Fast resins. Be sure to download the Navy Grey spec, it can be found linked at the beginning of the user settings spreadsheet for other Fast colors.I've only ever used the Elegoo Mars 3 Ultra, so I can't speak firsthand to anything about the Anycubic models. But I can say that the Elegoo and Anycubic printers are the only ones I would bother considering at this point, unless somebody comes out with something that works better at a similar price point. And in reality, I've no reason to change from the Elegoo machines going forward, I've been very happy with my results.
For printers, I would suggest only an 8k large form factor printer like the most recent Saturn 2, or a 4k small factor printer like the Mars 3. In either case only go for mono screen versions. Between the large and small form factor printers, I would go with the bigger machine, with the two caveats being cost and space. Quality of print isn't a factor, as the Saturn 2 actually has a finer XY resolution than the Mars 3.
Actually the Mars 3 has an XY resolution of 35 microns, with Z axis slicing from 10 to 50 microns. The Saturn 2 has something like a 25 micron XY resolution, so actually better than the Mars 3. What I expect to see in the next year is a small format printer with an 8k screen, taking the XY resolution down to something between 10 and 15 microns.
Agree with the wash station assessment here. Unfortunately they are almost universally bundled with the curing stations now, at least for the units that are available from the printer manufacturers, so somewhat hard to avoid. What would be nice is if Elegoo offered the Mercury X curing unit by itself. The alternative is to go with a curing unit from a 3rd party, or make your own. There are plenty of curing units available on Amazon, just make sure you get one that features the correct wavelength of UV light for 3d printing resins.
I considered making my own, but opted for the Elegoo v2.0 wash and cure station instead. I hadn't yet discovered my disdain for the washing station aspect of the kit. And I felt like time and effort plus parts cost, if building my own curing station, wouldn't have yielded significant savings.
If you go with an Elegoo system, and you do want to use the washing component and the basket, I would suggest the Mercury X instead of the Mercury Plus v2.0. The Plus v2.0 actually cannot fit the Mars 3 build plate inside it (the basket is sized for the slightly smaller pre-Mars 3 units), and there wasn't any other bracket supplied to hang the build plate above the tank. If I understand correctly, the Mercury X basket can hold a single Saturn plate or two Mars 3 plates. The Mercury X is the obvious choice if you get the Saturn 2, as it can match the build volume of the printer.
While I have no use for the machine itself, the large tub that goes with it is useful for soaking large prints that take advantage of the height of the printer volume. So I do get some use from it. For most parts though, I tend to just use something like 1 quart storage containers instead.
I'm doing something very similar to this now, to cut down on unnecessary IPA waste. I'll write something up soon about my revised cleaning method, been meaning to do that for some time now.
I can also attest to the IPA fumes being problematic for me, extended exposure will cause throat irritation. So I always wear a respirator type mask that filters organic vapors, and I've gone back to running an exhaust fan when my tubs of alcohol are open. I don't think the fan is as important as the mask, but it does help to evacuate fumes and smell.
The last item I'll mention, is that Elegoo is generally known to offer good support when things don't go according to plan. I've seen this firsthand, I recently had the limiting sensor that monitors the Z axis movement of the plate stop functioning. The build plate would move down to start a new print, but fail to stop at the home zero position, and would keep trying to push down on the screen. I contacted Elegoo, and they sent out replacement boards within several days, along with a bottle of their ABS like grey resin for my troubles. Printer down time was as short as could be, with only the shipping time slowing things down.
Hope the information is useful.
Jim
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
Agree. Maybe not everyday though, but often enough. I meant to say the same to you about the numberboards on the UP c44ac's. Never knew that UP had ordered them with the high boards.Everyday is a school day
Simon, I've moved away from using the 99% for most of my cleaning. I mostly use 91%, and I'm satisfied with the results. So you may not need to splash on 3 gallons of the more expensive version of IPA. Mind, it doesn't hurt anything to use the 99%, it just costs more. I'm still using the 99%, at least for now, because I had to order 2 gallons if I wanted any at all. However, I've transitioned to using the 91% for all preliminary cleaning, and only use a very small amount of the 99% at any given time for a very last quick soak before drying parts.
My experiences are with the Fast Navy Grey. I can't speak to the viability of 91% with any other brand or type of resin, so keep that in mind if you choose to use something other than the FNG.
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Saturn 2 or Saturn 2 8K, there is a difference I think, Elegoo went all over the place with machine names recently according to the blogs and FB pages. Essentially the way to tell is if the machine has dual Z rails ans LED screen in the middle of the fascia panel then it's a 8K.
I had to double check mine after reading all the trials and tribulations, oh, and the 8K has a Z lift of 250 mm, older units are 210 mm or something.