r/ElegooSaturn

Test print of Toga and Uraraka as Sailor Scouts (My Hero Academia) by Azerama Studio. Printed on an Elegoo Saturn 3 using gray Anycubic ABS-Like Pro 2 resin, and finished with Tamiya primer.

Hello everyone,

Just got my 16k recently, still working on getting ventilation and workspace set up, so haven't printed anything yet.

However, I had a question around the plastic side pieces on the vat. As far as I can figure, they're only for shipping purposes. Could anyone confirm they can/should be removed?

So I bought my S4U around November of 2024 and it pretty much printed flawlessly for 6 months, could print pretty much anything I wanted with minimal tweaking.

After around the 6 month mark, my screen started to degrade, as it started forming black spots. I replaced it maybe 6 months after that. During the time before I replaced the screen, I also began having another issue which is what I'd like to ask about today. My printer seems to have developed a habit of creating these flakes or leaves on both my prints and their supports (even if the print seems fine otherwise), while also just not printing some sections of the prints or the print would essentially print twice within itself.

I've been passively trying to solve the problem up until the past two months where I just want it solved. I've replaced:

-Screen: Although it now prints backwards, the issue started before the replacement, so I doubt it's that, though it may have contributed in worsening the problem.

-Build Plate: One corner wouldn't loosen enough, not allowing me to fully level the plate.

-Vat: I purchased an upgraded Hoopat, since I assumed the tension from it would be more reliable than me tuning it manually. I also decided go with ACF.

-Resin: I thought it could've been a bad batch (although it was more than one tub that didn't work well...), so I switched from Siraya Fast Grey to Sunlu ABS-like Grey. I calibrated it with cones and it seemed they formed the best between 1.7s and 1.8s.

-USB: I learned the day before yesterday that USB's should be in the FAT32 format and that they should be as clean as possible (lacking corruption). So I've ordered a SanDisk that should arrive on Friday.

I had contacted Elegoo but I just didnt feel like I was getting anywhere. There are also other models in the print, though this would happen even if I printed the model alone. My next theories are the USB and the light-off delay, but I figured asking wouldn't hurt, I'm hoping it's just something really simple... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello hive mind,

I know that calibration comes so often and people get tired of answering such questions, but maybe some kind soul will help me understand this:

I am running cones of calibration as I changed the resin - previously I used Elegoo water washable 2.0, Siraya tech fast, Elegoo abs like 3.0 - and now I started with Sunlu 14 mixed with Siraya tech tenacious 9:1.

Running plain sunlu I noticed that I need to drop down the exposure times from 2.1 to 1.6. now with mix I was expecting to slightly increase the exposure times but now I don't even know what's happening.

Running cones of calibration I don't really get the sword to fit the skull, the ale fits in other hand. Also as you can see on pictures I narrowed down to test between 1.51 and 1.41. and it seems that sample 5 always seems to be better exposed that any other - see at cones that are fully build at 1.43sec and others are collapsing even with longer exposure. It seems that sample 3 is a bit "thicker" as well. So the middle of plate/screen have more exposure or less pulling force?

Also with all those failing cones the sword don't really fits.

When I used other resins before I managed to get good samples (cube was shorter that required 6mm) and I was happy with them. Sunlu on its own was causing some issues but I wasn't focusing on it as my intention was to use the resin blend but now I can't get good outcome :(

Anyone?

Is it still safe to use going by what you see in the video? Should I change the sheet?

I have clipped together two separate videos, please watch both.

I've spilled some water washable resin, I've cleaned up as best I can but I'm left with the white stains. I used 99%ipa, anyone got any idea to resolve this?

The print itself was the easy part. Getting this thing out of its support cage was an absolute nightmare. 😅 Parts broke, the legs snapped, the lasso broke, and I had to carefully piece and superglue everything back together.

Somehow he survived, I survived, and he's actually balancing on those ridiculously skinny back legs. 😂

So if you're looking at a model like this thinking, “That would be awesome to print”... you're right.

But seriously, think twice. 🤣

Now I need to get my sanity back before I even think about painting it. 💀🔥

Elegoo saturn 4 ultra.

I noticed holes ending up in my prints and checked the screen thinking I had accidently spilled resin on the screen. Come to find this, odd part for me is each time i test the screen, the spots are in different locations or i may have more or less of them.

Is it the screen goimg bad or possible loose connection.

My motor arm is making a scraping noise. You can see the wear. This is only about 2 weeks old . How do I fix this? Somewhere I can tighten the arm or add something lube wise to that rub point?

**•**	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.

I'm having problems with any prints I try to do. Never had a issue until this week. I didn't change any settings with the machine or the slicer program. Just randomly started messing up. I've since been checking settings but I'm lost now. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

Hello! Hoping someone here could help. My prints are recently giving me these misalignments at these 2 particular heights. I’ve printed thrice now and all of them have this layers shifted at these particular levels. What is causing this and how can I mitigate it?

I’m using the Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16k, Chitu Slicer and Elegoo’s ABS-like 3.0. Printed on flat levelled ground, there’s no noticeable vibrations and it is shielded from any wind. Thank you

I'm changing FEP film for the first one on my saturn 4 ultra 12k, turns out, it's a couple of mm too small for the tank frame. It's around 260×200 mm. My order got messed up. Would it compromise printing in any way? Is it safe or I'm risking a leakage?