Alkmaar, The Nederlands. February, 2021. Still in lockdown.
I had decided to invest in a resin printer in order to print model figures and little pieces of terrain.
Investigations had shown that the resin printer world was not standing still, what is these days. All that can be said is that whatever you buy now, will be superseded within 6 months. I need to get a printer that uses the latest technology without breaking my bank account.
Resin printers have an LCD screen that allows light to pass through it onto the build plate which is inside a vat full of resin. This light then cures the resin onto the build plate, where it hopefully sticks. Now the first resin printers had a standard screen, which quickly burned out. After anything from 50-150 hours. The later models make use of a Mono screen. These only use the blue light that is needed to cure the resin onto the build plate. In theory, this gives the screen a lot longer lifetime.
Later models use 2K screens, giving better resolution. When I began looking at which model to buy, the 4K screens were starting to appear and one company had even announced an 8K machine. Brilliant, not even finished reading the article and already the first paragraphs are out of date. The downside was the price of these printers with the newer screens with the improved resolution.
On top of that, several companies had resin printers with a bigger build plate. Nothing approaching the size available with an FDM printer, but bigger than the standard.
Decisions, decisions.
Looking at cost-effectiveness and more importantly the availability of the printers, I opted for a 2K Mono model. Looking at reviews and technical write-ups my choice came down to two. The Anycubic Photon and the Elegoo Mars 2 (exactly the same as the Mars 2 Pro but without the air filter and 1cm of height).
My choices.
Everything I'd read had said both were good printers, so I guess I couldn't go wrong with either of them. It would come down to price.
As it happened, one of the websites I regularly visited for info and to compare prices had a special offer for that week. The Elegoo Mars 2 with a €30 discount. This took it below the €200 mark. The choice was a no brainer. I placed my order with 3dJake.nl at the end of Feb and expected my printer to arrive in time for my birthday the first week of March.
All I needed to do now, was arrange for the rest of the equipment I would need to be here at the same time and also arrange a place for it to live.