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Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K Review - One Step Back
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Jan 30, 2025
Check out the *Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16k* Here - https://geni.us/ElegooSaturn4Ultra16k *SATURN 4 ULTRA Exposure Test* - https://youtu.be/_xfJ0456M6k Sorry for the delay in this one guys, I've had sopme personal crises over christmas with an in-law my own Mother and my Dog which has delayed content production and generally put me in a not happy place. Not asking for sympathy, just providing a valid reason for the delay in content. I'm back on it now and have upcoming videos for the Nova 3d Whale 4, The Creality K2 and the Prusa XL, Along with the Kobra S1, Centauri Carbon, Athena 2 and THE BIG RESIN ONE!!! you know which one i mean right? So make sure you;re subscribed so you don't miss them! *Excellent Resin Printing Accessories* (The following are Amazon Affiliate Links, When Cliked, I will earn a comission on any purchases you make) Silicone Baking Tray: https://geni.us/SiliconeBakingTray 3D Printer Cleaning Mat: https://geni.us/3DPrinterCleaningMat Pickle Jar for Cleaning: https://geni.us/SiliconeBakingTray *If you love hearing me waffle on about hobby stuff, you can listen to more on* @thepaintingphase Get any printer working easily with the Photonsters XP Range Finder - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6023738 - Watch my video for full instructions https://youtu.be/Gm0-z971tgY Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_9Jsf3SP8aMJgn0xv5jHjA/join
View Video Transcript
0:00
right then I'm just going to say it I
0:01
think the satin 4 ultra 16k is probably
0:04
going to be the absolute best pick for
0:06
hobbyist printers and by that I mean
0:08
people printing things for their hobby
0:10
rather than the people whose hobby is
0:12
resin printers many of its changes have
0:15
significantly enhance the overall
0:17
product from its predecessor but there's
0:19
one thing about this that leaves me
0:20
wanting to bang my head against the
0:22
table actually there's two but can you
0:24
tell what the first one is yet if you've
0:25
been here a while you can probably guess
0:27
if you're new here hi I'm Ross and this
0:29
is F Hammer videos for those who've been
0:32
eager to hear my thoughts around the
0:33
time the product launched I'm sorry for
0:35
the delay I've had some issues with this
0:37
one that we needed some extra
0:39
investigation and we'll come on to that
0:41
but I've also had some external family
0:42
stuff I've had to deal with over
0:43
Christmas and just wanted to make sure I
0:45
could do this video with a clear head if
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it's not obvious the printer was
0:49
provided for free by eler review and as
0:52
you're very clearly about to see as you
0:54
watch through my thoughts as always are
0:57
very much my own right no time to waste
0:59
this new printer is the satin 4 ultra
1:01
again with some enhanced changes I have
1:05
to assume this could be the first video
1:06
of mine you're watching but at the same
1:08
time I don't want to waste your time if
1:09
you already know what the satin 4 ultra
1:12
is I could repeat a lot of what I've
1:13
already said in my last review or I
1:15
could spend your time diving further
1:17
into the new stuff I'm choosing the
1:19
latter but if you aren't already aware
1:21
of its great features here they are now
1:23
it looks nice it's got an up and over
1:24
lid power and USB sockets are on the
1:26
right side near the back it's got a vent
1:28
hole in the back to connect up
1:29
extraction dual linear rails and a lead
1:31
screw build plate attaches to the arm
1:33
with a clamp it's got a large vat which
1:35
is able to hold just about one entire
1:37
bottle of resin the build plate is daed
1:40
because it's got this big gap in it
1:41
which is annoying to clean out it says
1:43
it's self-leveling when it's technically
1:45
not but it is autozeroing it's got
1:47
adjustable feet has a tilting vat which
1:49
has some benefits and some drawbacks and
1:52
was capable of some of the sharpest
1:54
prints I've ever seen on any home
1:56
printer did anybody noce I said was yeah
2:00
we'll get to that all in all despite a
2:02
few flaws the satin 4 was received
2:04
incredibly well and I'm still confident
2:06
was probably the bestselling printer of
2:08
2024 by a clear margin in fact based on
2:11
my own video views interest in the four
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Ultra has eclipsed any other similar
2:15
Machine by nearly four times if you
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haven't already seen the satin for Ultra
2:20
review please check it out because now
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as I said I'm going to focus mainly on
2:23
what's changed and the first things are
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external you now have the 16k moniker on
2:28
the front of the lid woo but only a few
2:30
people have noticed the profile of the
2:32
machine has slightly changed too in that
2:34
there's no longer any sign of an
2:35
external Wi-Fi antenna yet the printer
2:38
is still fully Wi-Fi capable as I
2:40
mentioned it in my best and worst resin
2:42
printer features video I would have
2:44
liked to have seen an Ethernet socket
2:45
included personally just for the sake of
2:48
print Farms wanting to use this the
2:50
first main change is the build plate now
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this is identical to the last but now
2:54
includes two plastic tabs on top in
2:56
order to help with its lack of grip but
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yeah the rest of the plate is the same
2:59
and after a print can get resin stuck
3:01
between these two tiers but thanks to
3:03
the popularity of these machines there
3:04
are now dozens of printable adapters you
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can get to help deal with that for me
3:09
I've just resolved to putting a silicone
3:10
baking tray under the plate and above
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the vat and then scrape my models off
3:14
whilst leaving the vat in place is this
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the safest way to do it no probably not
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if you're going to copy this i'
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definitely practice some caution to
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ensure you don't end up with bits of
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dried resin in your vat yes the pressure
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sensing features of the build arm should
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detect some pieces but it's still a risk
3:28
I'm conscious of and overall this method
3:30
works well enough for me I'll leave an
3:32
affiliate link for these baking trays in
3:34
the description for anyone who wants to
3:35
try one or you can just go on Amazon and
3:37
search silicone baking tray they are
3:39
useful for cleaning your models on too
3:41
now when it comes to leveling this
3:42
printer there has been a change and the
3:44
printer now has a manual leveling
3:46
function which I would hope they would
3:49
bring to the original satin 4 and to do
3:51
this you need to clean the bill plate
3:53
have no vat in the printer and using
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four pieces of paper you test the level
3:57
of each Corner if any corner of the
3:59
paper is loose where you can both pull
4:01
and push it rather than just pull but
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not push you slowly loosen that corner
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screw by turning it counterclockwise
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eligo have now also put threadlock on
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all the screws to encourage them to stay
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in their new positions now looking at
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the website elu are still saying that
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this mechanism is auto leveling and
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whilst yeah it should be that's really
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only the case if the printer is
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perfectly calibrated from the factory
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and there was no shifting during
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shipping and my issue with this is less
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about the mechanism just more with the
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specific marketing words it's not Auto
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leveling because it doesn't level itself
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and that's a fair statement to make
4:40
right now one potentially handy tip I
4:42
want to get in is because I know some
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people actually tried this method
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previously on the older Saturn 4 ultra
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after watching geek detours tear down of
4:50
the Mars 5 and the Saturn 4 but another
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tip that was given to me by one of my
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Facebook followers Chris is that if you
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still have trouble with this leveling
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mechanism you can actually just remove
5:00
each bolt put some M6 washers in to give
5:02
the internal posts more height clearance
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which could help because the distance
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between the top of the internal post and
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the top of the plate is very tiny but
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considering we're now essentially just
5:14
leveling the printer in a similar way to
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how we always have by adjusting some
5:18
screws I still struggle to see the value
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of this two- tiered springy posty
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mechanism I mean I'll take it because I
5:25
have to but I don't have to like it
5:27
other brands have done better plates is
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all I'm saying the next new addition is
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the vat now visually this is almost
5:32
identical but now with a seamlessly
5:35
integrated vat heater and I did want to
5:37
do a test out in the cold but there's no
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point now because there's already a
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fantastic video by Blake 3D cake showing
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this machine printing outside at nearly
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minus5° that is awesome I've always said
5:49
I love a bat heater in a printer so this
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inclusion is fantastic and coupled with
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the tilting mechanism this should not
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only keep the resin warm but keep that
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warmth mixed throughout the resin in
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throughout the print however you can't
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actually adjust the printer's
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temperature Beyond on and off you can
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change it between Celsius and Fahrenheit
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if you like but the vat heater itself is
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a fixed 30° the printer will preheat and
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mix before a print starts and it'll
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continue heating throughout but during
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the print the temperature is actually
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maintained at 25° which is more than
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fine for the vast majority of resins but
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it may not be warm enough for some of
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the more technical things people are
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using however for those of us printing
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in cold environment this feature is an
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absolute necessity and let's be fair
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even if we could adjust the temperature
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we'd all just Wang it up to the max
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anyway yeah now then the new
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screen so moving from 12K to 16k now
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gives us a resolution of
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15,120 by
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6,230 and therefore a new pixel size of
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14 by1 19 microns the smallest on any
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printer I've seen yet but does this mean
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I could see a difference in the XY
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exposure from the machine yes and it was
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actually worse now I always print the
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same XY exposure test and typically the
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same resin the same Aqua hyperfine resin
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as a basic way to compare printers for
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accuracy so when I saw overexposure in
7:15
my initial test print still using that
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same Aqua hyperfine I always use because
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it's sharp I could actually see areas of
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both underexposure and overexposure from
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the new 16k display and I've got to be
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honest the built-in multi-exposure test
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helped with this process so if you want
7:30
to know how that works I've got a
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separate video on that feature too but
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this is where the video was delayed
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because I spent some time head
7:36
scratching around this problem wondering
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why a higher resolution screen was worse
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than a lower resolution screen I tested
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this in both fast and Standard Printing
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modes no change I printed a version with
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a 5 met base underneath just to see if
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it was a compression issue like I had
7:52
with the Mars 5 and no change I printed
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a lot of versions of this test it was
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only when reducing the UV power or pwm
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through chitubox that was able to get a
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result close to what I had on the older
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12K Saturn and this was at the same one
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second exposure time too for 30 Micron
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layers so I'm inferring a hypothesis
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based on what I've learned from a few
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more technical users regarding these
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higher resolution screens we're starting
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to see and that is that they are denser
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so what it means is we need more
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powerful UV light to penetrate through
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them and at least in the case of my
8:29
machine it appears that that UV light
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was turned up a bit too high which is
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why reducing it helped soften the bloom
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and the overexposure so where I'm still
8:40
scratching my head is that I'm
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struggling to understand the benefit of
8:43
changing to the slightly smaller higher
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resolution screen yeah this screen is
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smaller but it's only by 7 mm on the x-
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axis and five on the Y AIS it's not a
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lot but it's smaller now for anyone
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who's seen my satin 4 Ultra review
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you'll know I was proud of eligo stick
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with the 12K in the Saturn 4 when other
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brands were jumping on the equally
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pointless 14k upgrade bandwagon but now
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that we have a slightly smaller screen
9:08
than we had before with no visual print
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quality improvement another hoop I had
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to jump through just to match that print
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quality and the increased UV power
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needed genuinely concerns me regarding
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comparable panel longevity yeah I do
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feel that this is a step backwards or at
9:25
the very least a step in the wrong
9:26
direction but does this Di finish the
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overall package for someone looking at
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this as their new printer well I already
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said I think that this is the best
9:35
hobbyist machine in the intro but I'll
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come back to this in the conclusion the
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last thing I want to talk about is the
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built-in light for the AI camera this is
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Handy at least now I can actually see my
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time lapses no matter what time of day
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they're recorded and whether you create
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content online or not I personally still
9:51
find these quite therapeutic to just
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watch however this light is another
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feature that is simply on or off rather
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than the light coming on at the start a
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print or lighting up to capture a
10:01
picture during each layer the thing I
10:03
want to call out more to just cover my
10:05
own ass is that I've had a few comments
10:08
on my satin 4 ultra video where I
10:09
installed my own light saying that doing
10:12
so could actually begin to cure the
10:14
resin in the vat now this makes sense
10:16
considering I've seen other brands only
10:18
ever use orange lights or use orange
10:20
filters on their lights so I'm just
10:22
going to say I hope elu have done some
10:24
testing and made sure this light doesn't
10:26
do that but if you do have any
10:28
indications that the light is affecting
10:30
your materials please let me know in the
10:32
comments so that other people can be
10:33
aware but if you want to be safe yeah
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just cover it with a strip of capton
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tape to turn it orange as other brands
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have poorly done I think in conclusion
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I'm going to say the same as I said
10:43
about the satin 4 ultra I think this is
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a great printer and a good step forward
10:48
this is a decent Midway upgrade to its
10:50
predecessor and one that shows that elu
10:51
are willing to listen to and respond to
10:54
community feedback and since that's the
10:56
case here's some more also if you agree
10:59
or disagree with any of this please let
11:01
me know in the comments I think it's
11:02
high time we had an elgu Phone app so we
11:04
could actually monitor print progress
11:06
and things like the camera remotely
11:08
rather than relying on chit box on a
11:10
computer I know they've released their
11:12
satellite slicer now which seems good
11:14
because it shows they're taking control
11:16
of the software development which I
11:18
honestly feel is going to be the Main
11:19
Avenue open to progress on 3D printers
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going forward but a phone app is
11:24
something that other brands have and
11:26
eligo just don't and the other thing
11:28
which is something I think people should
11:29
be keenly aware of is that screen swaps
11:32
in these tilting printers require almost
11:34
a full tear down of the printer now
11:36
considering LCDs are consumable Parts it
11:40
is somewhere I think many of us would
11:41
like to see more focus when it comes to
11:43
the inevitable satin 5 because I suspect
11:46
this current process will put some
11:48
buyers off and if that's you again
11:51
comment section let me know but overall
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yeah I think this takes so many boxes
11:56
for the average user with its form
11:58
factor usability quality and speed and
12:01
it's got a decent heater yes the bill
12:03
plate can be annoying but as I've said
12:05
in a few videos now it just doesn't
12:07
annoy me enough to put me off I've found
12:09
and shown workarounds I just wish it was
12:11
better as I said and the screen even
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that still only really bothers me in
12:16
comparison to the last printer and that
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it's another sign of a brand chasing the
12:21
wrong thing I would personally prefer to
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see manufacturers try to put more effort
12:25
into making longer lasting screens
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rather other than more higher resolution
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screens the resolution in these screens
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has already gone well beyond what most
12:34
home resins are even capable of
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rendering and to be fair most of us
12:38
printing models and Miniatures would use
12:40
much softer resins anyway for example
12:43
this RPG resin which was sent to me by
12:45
Frozen and I do like it I think it's
12:47
really good but even when we use this we
12:50
then apply anti-aliasing and make our
12:52
prints even softer and this was still
12:54
more than good enough to print
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incredible looking trench Crusade
12:57
Miniatures and I did two great looking
12:59
forces on just three and a half Bill
13:01
plates and I printed those in just over
13:03
a day so yeah much like the satin 4
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ultra as a hobbyist I really do like
13:09
this printer I just personally preferred
13:12
they kept the 12K screen and called this
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the satin 4 ultra plus or maybe more
13:16
amusingly the satin 4.5 Ultra I don't
13:19
know if you've got any other names pop
13:20
them down in the comments I want to say
13:22
thanks for watching and a huge Thanks
13:23
goes out to our members who are on
13:25
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13:32
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13:36
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13:38
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13:40
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13:42
you thanks again for watching until next
13:44
time it's only a flesh wound faux hammer
13:47
out
13:52
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