3D printer startup Satori launched their new flagship 3D printer, the VL2800 on Kickstarter today.
The company has been developing this resin-powered device for some time, and we obtained hints of the VL2800’s capabilities earlier this month.
The VL2800’s key feature is size, although some might say it’s the 6K light engine.
Let me explain: MSLA 3D printers use an LCD screen over top of a light source to selectively mask the light for each layer of the print job. Most MSLA 3D printer manufacturers would use off-the-shelf LCD panels for this purpose, and for many years they offered 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution.
While the size of these panels varied somewhat, if they were made physically larger, the resolution suffered because the 2560 x 1600 pixels were spread over a larger area. In order to maintain reasonable 3D print resolution, the build volumes were kept low to squeeze those pixels tightly.
In the past year there have been some machines emerging with “4K” LCD panels, offering more pixels. Often this is used to obtain higher resolutions but at similar build volumes.
The VL2800 is different. It uses a 6K LCD panel, offering far more pixels: 5448 x 3060. Additionally, the size of the panel is larger, meaning the VL2800’s build volume can be vastly bigger than typical resin 3D printers.
The result is a massive (for a resin 3D printer) build volume of 278 x 165 x 300 mm. To put this in perspective, a standard resin 3D printer such as the Elegoo Mars has a build volume of 120 x 68 x 155 mm, or 1.26L. The VL2800 offers a build volume of 13.7L, or about 10X the size of the Mars.
While designed entirely by Satori staff in-house, the manufacturing contract for the project is none other than Elegoo. They have been producing reliable 3D printers for some time and are likely to do so for the Satori project as well.
The build volume is not the only interesting feature on the VL2800. Satori has taken time to examine the user experience on resin 3D printers and has made adjustments to the design to simplify operations. For example, they’ve relocated buttons to more convenient locations on the fully-enclosed frame.
Satori targets artists with this device, as it provides a means of 3D printing larger items at reasonable cost. The use of 3D printing technology by artists has long been a thing, but the challenge of producing larger works has always been a problem: either pay more for production on more expensive larger gear, or break the work down into several smaller pieces and assemble them after printing. That should be a problem less frequently encountered with the VL2800.
According to Satori, the VL2800 will be priced at a discount for early bird buyers on Kickstarter, as many companies do. The initial price will be £2150 (US$3039), which is a discount of £925 (US$1307 or 30%) over the eventual retail price of £3075 (US$4345).
If you’re interested in a large-format MSLA 3D printer, you might want to look at the Satori VL2800.
Via Kickstarter and Satori
