Elegoo just announced a new resin 3D-printer. This time it is launching a different technology compared to its well known LCD / MSLA resin 3D-printers. The Elegoo Mars 4 is unlike its predecessor not an LCD based printer but a DLP printer. this is roughly 1,5 years after Anycubic launched its first resin DLP 3D-printer -The Anycubic Photon Ultra- on Kickstarter. By now they have launched already a second version with the Anycubic Photon D2 DLP. Elegoo is now the second 3D-printer manufacturer that supplies an affordable DLP printer. Let’s see what it is and if this is significant for the resin 3D-printing industry.
About the Elegoo Mars 4 DLP resin 3D-printing technology
Digital Light Processing (DLP) uses a digital light projector to directly project the entire layer image to the bottom of the resin tank, with the UV beam selectively projected by a digital micromirror device (DMD) onto the given position to be cured. ELEGOO DLP projector adopts the LG high-performance LED light source + 13-layer lens set design, with light intensity up to 4mw/cm2 and light uniformity up to 95%, coupled with 95% light transmittance tempered glass, which minimizes light scattering and light bleed. The result is greater print accuracy than LCD 3D printers with the same resolution.
Image by Elegoo: representation how the DLP module works inside the Elegoo Mars 4 DLP resin 3D-printer.
Elegoo Mars 4 DLP resin 3D-printer specifications
There is not that much of information online, but some key metrics are available and listed below.
| Elegoo Mars 4 | ||
| DLP Chipset | 2K | |
| Pixels | 2560 * 1440 | |
| Print size (L x W x H) | 132* 74.7 * 150 mm | |
| Pixel size | ~0,080 mm | |
| Light intensity | 4mW/cm2* |
- * light intensity of the Elegoo Mars 4 is from the manufacturers marketing material while the Anycubic Photon D2 was measured at the Liqcreate R&D laboratory.
According to Elegoo, the Mars 4 has a 2K DLP projector with a resolution of 2560 * 1440 pixels. The reason to bring this up is that Anycubic was famous for printing an extremely affordable 720P (worse resolution) DLP chip to the market. when upgrading this to a 2K chip it will be much more expensive. But when they actually don’t use a 2K DLP chip, and manipulate the same 720P with an XRP actuater, it can get a in theory a “higher” resolution for an affordable price. Read all about XRP actuater technology here. The reason we suspect it is because All3DP wrote this: “Anycubic also claims its gray anti-aliasing algorithm for the Photon D2 can achieve “printed objects with life-like precision”, which hints on XRP technology. Same story goes for Elegoo as their specifications are almost similar of their Mars 4 compared to the Photon D2 DLP printers.
Resin compatibility with the Elegoo Mars 4.
At the time of writing we do not have had access to an Elegoo Mars 4 to test our resins. Technically all Liqcreate resins can work. If you want to give it a try, a good starting point are the Anycubic Photon D2 parameters. Send an e-mail to info@liqcreate.com if you want to be informed on resin compatibility. Team Liqcreate wish you happy printing for the lucky people who get their hands on an Elegoo Mars 4. If there are any questions or remarks, feel free to contact us at info@liqcreate.com any time.
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