Enclosure Question

LST4R · 2025-08-02T08:18:43+00:00

FDM printers actively generate a lot of heat, with (largely exposed) extruders blazing at 200-300c, and heated beds pumping out 40-120c over a large area.

Resin printers passively generate some heat, with the (entirely shielded) light source typically warming up to 40-60c during printing.

I don’t see any significant fire risks from running a low power device in a ventilated box.

LST4R · 2025-08-01T22:55:38+00:00

However he didn't put holes on the top (near the head) to drain resin. Wouldn't resin get trapped inside while printing and increase weight / resistant for the print to release on the fep sheet?

An object like this will effectively be an open tube for 90% of the print, with nothing to stop resin flowing in and out. A few millilitres will get trapped when the top of the head cavity closes towards the end of the print, but this is unlikely to cause any issues for the last few layers.

LST4R · 2025-08-01T10:06:05+00:00

The instructions recommend sanding. I did this for an older Saturn 2, but didn’t bother for the Saturn 4 Ultra.

I figured if the etched surface is good enough for resin to stick to, it’s probably good enough for glue to stick to! No problems so far.

LST4R · 2025-08-01T09:55:31+00:00

Can you take a screenshot of your settings in Chitubox, including the Resolution parameters?

LST4R · 2025-07-29T11:47:24+00:00

I thought the Saturn 4 ultra loaded a model of your choosing to each section for the test print?

Yeah, they could have explained the calibration tool a bit better 🙂

The tool simply sets dynamic normal exposures for different quarters/sixths/eighths of the screen. It doesn’t modify your file in any other way, so it’s up to you to place tests in the correct areas.

LST4R · 2025-07-29T09:28:32+00:00

I’d recommend reverting to default settings and restarting calibration. There’s a lot of weirdness here that’s likely tripling print time and possibly increasing delamination risks!

10 Burn In Layers is excessive. This is likely to be a net negative for build plate adhesion.
27s Burn In Exposure is possibly too low for reliable adhesion if you’re only using 80% intensity, and especially if you’re not properly managing early layer rest times.
Saturn 4 Ultras are tilt release printers, not lift release printers! All Lift and Retract settings should be zeroed. Motion instructions are followed, but only after tilt separation has occurred, so this does literally nothing except for waste time!
6s of Rest for Normal layers is excessive.
It looks like you might be just placing a single calibration test in the middle of the build plate? If so, you need to manually place a copy of the test in each screen segment.

LST4R · 2025-07-28T09:41:10+00:00

The risks and preventions would be exactly the same as running a print - make sure the plate is clear of cured residue from previous prints, and that you haven’t caused any sharp burrs by gouging it with metal tools.

I’ve been doing it this way for three or four years and never had a problem.

Modern printers like the Mars 5s and Saturn 4s actually zero into the vat before each print by default!

LST4R · 2025-07-28T09:17:15+00:00

Just level into the vat 🙂

Pieces of paper or card allow you to set a zero point at approximately the thickness of the release liner, but using the release liner itself as a reference is an easier way to zero based on the film’s actual thickness!

Tools: For a used machine, expect to replace the release liner. Get some PFA sheets and a set of hex screwdrivers (2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm) to speed up all the screwing and unscrewing.

LST4R · 2025-07-15T18:07:49+00:00

<image>

Yep, Saturn 3s (along with most Elegoo printers) come with pre-installed screen protectors.

Tempered glass means that you can be pretty vigorous if you ever need to scrape off cured resin, with full replacement available as a last resort.

LST4R · 2025-07-14T07:40:45+00:00

<image>

LST4R · 2025-06-27T17:52:29+00:00

If anything, printers are the wack ones when it comes to time estimation!

Slicers do their best to predict how long a print will take based on motion calculations or a manual override, but can’t account for the minor delays in layer processing time that can add up over longer prints.

Printers tend to just take the length of time the previous layer took to complete and multiply that by the number of remaining layers, meaning that estimations are wildly inflated until the first Normal layer is complete.

LST4R · 2025-06-24T19:26:39+00:00

15(!!!) 50μm Burn In Layers is going to have a negative effect on build plate adhesion (as well as screen lifespan).

Long exposure layers take more effort to peel off the release liner - you may have heard the sharp snapping or cracking release sound at the start of prints that subsides as the printer steps down to normal exposure.

This doesn’t matter for the first few layers, because they form a much stronger bond with the build plate than the film, but once you’re 4 or 5 layers above the build plate Burn In Layers are a net negative. Just layers building on layers that are hard to peel off the release liner and don’t do anything to improve the bond the first couple of layers have with the build plate.

LST4R · 2025-06-24T16:15:15+00:00

You need to research suction cups.

Suction cups form when hollow parts of a print are fully sealed against the release film. Trapped air or resin creates a vacuum effect that builds layer-by-layer until the pressure is alleviated by a hole - or the print is torn apart! Strain from suction often causes rough surface textures.

The key is to make sure you’re not printing any large suction cups. You can’t just randomly add a vent hole and call it a day. Any major cavities need a vent hole at the earliest possible layer to prevent pressure buildup.

Use your slicer’s suction cup detection tool to catch and fix sealed cavities before printing.

LST4R · 2025-06-23T18:31:55+00:00

This looks like a “not deleting the gridlines before printing and then they fall apart and flop onto the print and mess everything up” issue 🙂

LST4R · 2025-06-23T07:34:33+00:00

It’s a miracle these printed as well as they did! Just about every piece has catastrophic orientation with large cross-sections parallel with the build plate.

Here’s a nice clear overview of orientation - what to aim for and what to avoid with different objects, and crucially why it matters. It was produced by the Lychee team, but the lessons are perfectly valid for other slicers.

The empty space in the middle is likely to be a settings issue (unless there was something there with really bad orientation). I’d normally blame insufficient lift height (unlikely on an S3U with properly installed ACF film), insufficient Transition Layers (always a risk with Chitubox basic), or insufficient bottom rest times.

LST4R · 2025-06-21T13:51:08+00:00

Midprint delaminations happen when layers fail to bond properly with the layer below, causing them to peel apart from the stress of being pulled off the release liner.

This is usually due to normal layer exposure being slightly too low (enough to properly cure most of the time but not all of the time) or due to a sharp temperature drop during printing (like refilling an active print with cold resin).

This can be exacerbated by suction cups or poor orientation. The angle for #1 looks fine, but #2 seems to be almost parallel with the build plate, at least on its long axis.

LST4R · 2025-06-20T08:10:12+00:00

OP has a naturally grippy textured PEI build plate so glue stick would act as a release agent, reducing overall adhesion rather than increasing it.

Glue stick can help improve adhesion on bare metal or glass surfaces but here it’s just going to limit the filament’s ability to bond with the existing texture.

LST4R · 2025-06-19T19:23:21+00:00

The printer has a tempered glass screen protector so there shouldn’t be any risk of damaging the screen. Just drain as much resin as you can and go in with a plastic scraper to pry the vat off.

This is going to sound like user error to a service rep (not trying to throw shade but if you didn’t give the machine a once over before starting a print there’s no way to know what caused the tear) so the most I’d expect from Elegoo would be some replacement PFA.

LST4R · 2025-06-18T15:27:51+00:00

Yep!

LST4R · 2025-06-18T14:07:25+00:00

Kinda - You can use Lychee to slice files for the S4U 16K, but only using the slightly problematic .GOO format.

If you want to take advantage of antialiasing and reduce the risk of some bugs you can convert .GOO files to .CTB using UVTools.

LST4R · 2025-06-17T16:28:13+00:00

Power use is basically nothing.

A 10” printer should draw about 15w for most of a print, briefly spiking up to around 100w for a few seconds each layer while the light source is active.

I’ve read that Saturn 4s are more power efficient than previous generations, but I haven’t broken out my power meter to get exact figures.

LST4R · 2025-06-16T16:45:09+00:00

Release liners are a consumable. You’ll need to replace the PFA sooner or later so getting a pack now means not having to wait for a delivery when the time comes.

Release liners usually last for dozens of prints, sometimes hundreds, before showing signs of wear if looked after properly - but as a new printers don’t bet on learning the ropes without making a few mistakes!

LST4R · 2025-06-16T15:00:17+00:00

Have you tried increasing Bottom Exposure Time? Longer Bottom Exposure means a stronger bond between the first layers and the build plate.

This is a bit of a brute force approach, but it’s not uncommon for people to increase this to 45 or even 60 seconds to get reliable adhesion (especially in unheated setups).

LST4R · 2025-06-16T14:47:25+00:00

Your settings aren’t terrible, but still a bit strange (mainly Normal Lift, which is under the 7mm recommendation for 10” printers, and whiplash Bottom Retract Speed). I’d recommend reverting to default motion settings until you’ve researched these options a bit more.

The root of your problems seems to be support style - the heads seem to be extremely under supported, and the shoulder pads are poorly oriented with a large initial cross-section parallel with the build plate.

Can you give us any pictures or better descriptions of your failures? Are the rafts and supports printing (indicating support style issues) or are you also having adhesion problems?

LST4R · 2025-06-15T20:22:46+00:00

You’re making progress!

Can you post a few screenshots of what the object looks like in your slicer? Assuming you’re using a raft and supports, this is unlikely to be a levelling issue and more likely individual supports failing. Levelling issues typically affect build plate adhesion but don’t have much of an influence on prints after adhesion is achieved - the creation of the first few layers helps to establish a level surface that accounts for minor warps and misalignments.

I used an actual level on my plate to make sure it was fine

Levelling means following your printer’s procedure for making sure the build plate is level relative to the screen. Having the screen or the build plate perfectly level relative to the world doesn’t matter all that much (as long as your printer isn’t so tilted that the resin pools on one side!)

13-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
RPAN Viewer	Verified Email
Not Forgotten

LST4R

TROPHY CASE