It was almost exactly 4 years ago when I reviewed my first 3D Printer from ELEGOO, the Mars Pro. Recently, ELEGOO came out with the latest iteration on the Mars line, the Mars 5 Ultra. Is it time for you to trade up? Let’s take a look!
SLA vs FDM: The Two Types of 3D Printing
Briefly, for our readers who aren’t that familiar with 3D printers but are thinking about dipping their toes in the water:
There are essentially two types of printers available, stereolithographic (SLA) and fused deposition modeling (FDM). FDM models use a heated filament (most frequently PLA plastic) to build up a model, adding layer after layer until the model is complete. SLA printers use light to solidify a layer of resin at a time, creating the model. In the case of the Saturn 2, which is a masked stereolithographic (MSLA) printer, it uses light specifically from an LED array combined with an LCD photomask.
Both types of printers use their own type of “slicer” software to prepare a 3D model for printing, allowing you to adjust for the type of material you’re printing, how much detail you want to put into the final product (the finer the detail, the longer it takes to print), and if you need to add any “supports” into the model to help ensure that the model doesn’t break or deform during the printing the process.
If you’re new to 3D printing, this can all seem a bit overwhelming. Don’t worry, I’ll be explaining more as I describe my experiences with the Saturn 2. In the meantime, think about it this way: SLA printers like the Mars 3 and Saturn 2 are best if you want to print smoother, more detailed figures such as tabletop miniatures for Dungeons & Dragons, while FDM printers excel at printing larger, less detailed parts and objects, such as cosplay armor pieces and weapons.
What Is the ELEGOO Mars 5 Ultra?
The ELEGOO Mars 5 Ultra is a significant upgrade to their most affordable line. Here are some of the standout features:
- Tilt Release technology for up to 150mm/h printing
- 7″ mono LCD with 9K ultra-high resolution
- Self-check and automatic leveling
- AI Camera to monitor printing and check for errors
- Overheat protection
- WiFi
And here are the specifications, alongside the ELEGOO Mars 5:
The Mars 5 Ultra MSRP is $338, but it is currently available for $269.99 on the ELEGOO webstore. It is also available for purchase from the ELEGOO store on Amazon.
Assembling the Mars 5 Ultra
One of the joys of resin 3D printers is that there aren’t many parts to deal with when putting the printer together. Nestled in foam inside the printer was the build plate, which has a newer design:
The other items in the box include the power cord, tool kit, and a resin tray. The resin tray is also a new addition; you clip it around the resin tank when removing your prints, and the tray catches any loose resin.
If you’ve read any of my other reviews of ELEGOO resin printers, then you’ll find most of the contents of the tool kit familiar. A newer addition is the WiFi antenna, which screws into the side of the printer. Sadly missing are a pair of clippers, which have been in other ELEGOO tool kits in the past, and very useful for removing supports from models.
Here’s a look at the printer, right out of the box. The build plate will simply clip right onto the printer arm.
The resin tank is also a new design, with dual pour spouts.
One of the most exciting new features of the Mars 5 Ultra is the AI camera. The camera comes already connected, so all you need to do is remove the lens cap before printing.
And here is the resin tray, which simply slides into place around the resin tank for print removal. In practice, it definitely keeps stray drops of resin off of your printer.
Printing With the Mars 5 Ultra
As usual with the ELEGOO printers, you’ll set up and slice your prints using the free Chitubox software. My printer also came with a 12-month license for Chitubox Pro, but I chose to stay with the basic software for the purposes of this review.
To take advantage of the AI camera, you’ll want to also download the free ChituManager, which will allow you to monitor your prints in real time via the camera, and create time-lapse videos of your prints.
As I’m Dungeon Mastering an in-person D&D game currently, I opted to focus on that for the majority of my print tests. I started off with some interesting miniatures for my girlfriend and one of the other players. For all the test prints, I used ELEGOO water washable 8K resin in vanilla color.
While the estimate was 2 hours and 14 minutes to complete, the print actually finished in 1 hour and 39 minutes.
The prints were a little hard to get off of the plate, despite the fact that I’d printed them with rafts. For the next print, I would lower the bottom layer adhesion a bit, trying to make them easy to pop off the build plate, but not so easy that they print would fail.
As one always does with resin prints, the pieces must be washed of excess resin, and then cured in UV light. As I was using water-washable resin, I could wash them in tap water rather than Isopropyl alcohol. For both washing and curing, I continue to use my Mercury X bundle.
Here’s a look at the 28mm-scale miniatures from that batch: a half-elf rogue, an owlin druid, and a couple of bases.
Anticipating a combat encounter for the upcoming weekend, I also printed up some twig blights and smaller forest bases to go with them.
At one point I had found files for miniatures of the Fellowship from The Lord of the Rings, but as Muppets. I set up to print a few, and this resulted in my only failed print of all my tests. The Miss Piggy figure sadly pulled free from her supports. You can see the missing figure in the time-lapse video of the print:
While the AI camera is able to detect some issues (more on that in a bit), it obviously can’t stop the print for a partial failure as in this case. This caused me to have to clean out the resin tank before I could resume printing. Still, the other miniatures did come out well except for a minor error on one of Rizzo’s eyes, which may have been the result of an air bubble in the resin.
And here is Rowlf as Gandalf:
My next print was a larger piece. As it turned out, I had filled the resin tank up past the “max” line,. The AI camera did its job, stopping the print before it could even start so that resin wouldn’t spill out of the tank. Using a syringe, I removed enough resin to get within safety limits, and then had no problem restarting the print. Here’s the result:
ELEGOO Mars 5 Ultra: The Verdict
One of the things that I like most about printing with resin is that it’s generally much easier to “dial in” the 3D printer in order to get good results. With the ELEGOO Mars 5, this process is even easier thanks to all of the newly incorporated features. When you start up the printer, the machine self-checks, and you can level the printer automatically with the click of a button.
I appreciate how the AI camera allowed me to check in on a print’s progress right from my desk. And while the Mars 5 Ultra couldn’t detect a partial print failure, it definitely halted printing immediately when it detected too much resin in the tank.
The ELEGOO Mars 5 Ultra is probably the greatest leap forward from a model’s previous iteration in the Mars line so far. The printed results speak for themselves, coming out beautifully and in a much shorter time than with previous models.
With the Mars 5 Ultra, ELEGOO has done a lot to make the resin 3D printing process as smooth and effortless as possible. Whether you’re ready for the latest 3D printer or your first, the ELEGOO Mars 5 Ultra is a great choice that comes in at an affordable price point.
