▲ 5 r/ElegooSaturn
Saturn 3 — nothing sticks to build plate, only cured resin discs sinking to VAT bottom. Z-motion confirmed working, leveling redone. Stuck.
**•** Re-leveled the build plate from scratch (standard paper/zero method)
**•** Replaced the FEP film (was punctured, now new and properly tensioned)
**•** Filtered the resin (in case of debris from earlier failed prints)
**•** Verified power supply is correct (24V 6A, confirmed I wasn’t accidentally using a 12V adapter from another printer)
**•** Manually tested Z-axis movement: motor moves plate the correct distance, plate physically touches vat bottom at Z=0 — confirmed with ruler measurement
**•** Checked all 4 build plate screws are tight
**•** Tried different exposure settings: Normal 3.3–3.5s / Bottom 30s / Bottom layers 6 / Lift 3+4mm / Lift speed 50+150mm/min — same result regardless of exposure time
**•** Tested with two completely different models sliced in both Lychee and ChituBox — same failure both times
Environment: Ambient temp ~33-34°C (hot climate), Water Washable resin, 0.05mm layers.
At this point I’m running out of ideas that aren’t hardware-related. Has anyone experienced the plate simply not “grabbing” the first layer despite confirmed correct Z travel and leveling? Wondering if this could be a build plate surface issue (worn/smooth texture no longer gripping) or something with the LCD/masking itself that I’m missing.
Any help appreciated, happy to post photos/videos if useful.
u/davidemaglio — 6 days ago