One of the factors that most impact print quality, when it comes to resin 3D printing, is resolution. An important detail which, a bit like in the world of photography, heavily influences the final details of your project.
And, as we know, just as in the world of images, also in that of 3D resin printing, in order to purchase a very resolute device, a considerable expense may be necessary. But it is precisely with this concept in mind that one could define the LONGER Orange 4K a product that goes against the trend.
And it is because it is an SLA 3D printer equipped with a 4K display, with 6480 x 3840 pixels and with a Y axis resolution of 10.5 microns, which is sold at a price accessible to practically everyone: with the link and the coupon that you find in the box below, you could purchase it at a discount for 219,99 dollars, or approximately 205 euros at the current exchange rate.
Index
LONGER Orange 4K review: resin 3D printing with 10.5 micron resolution for around 200 euros
Design and features
Who knows the world of resin 3D printers, with the LONGER Orange 4K you won't find anything new in terms of design. The SLA 3D printer follows the appearance and characteristics of the products in this category, and does so with a compact and well-optimized design to be able to be used even when there is a lack of available space.
The total print volume is 192 x 120 x 68 mm which, let's be clear, doesn't even come close to that of a medium/low range FDM printer, but which all in all is in line with that of its direct competitors. The main difference, however, is that the LONGER Orange 4K it is faster in printing: for the creation of a large model 8 x 7 x 16 cm, this printer uses poco more than a second for the creation of a single layer, completing the print in approximately 3 and a half hours, which means that it is at least twice as fast as an Orange 30 (from which, among other things, it inherits the resin tank).
Everything happens thanks to a 4" large monochrome 5.5K LCD display which also comes equipped with protection and which, given the resolution and diagonal, has a pixel density per inch of 812 ppi. You will therefore understand that the printing resolution will always be impeccable, with a resolution of 10.5 microns in the Y axis and 31.5 microns in the Z axis.
La LONGER Orange 4K it uses the same resin tank that we saw in the Orange 30, its younger sister, which is characterized by a well-thought-out design especially for emptying it of excess resin at the end of the print. It has an integrated scale, very useful for not overfilling the container and, on the bottom, it integrates an FEP release film which, remember, tends to deteriorate over time: poco bad though, because replacement sheets are included in the package. The tub is positioned above the LCD screen and fixed to the base using two screws, and the entire structure of the printer is made of metal, which makes it very robust and practically immune to vibrations.
A capacitive touch screen display has been integrated at the front, which is 2.8" large and which works without problems even when wearing gloves: through this small display it is possible to select the files to print, raise or lower the printing table, or carry out the various operational tests.
It does not integrate WiFi, therefore, nor is it necessary to connect it to a computer to carry out your projects: a USB port has been integrated on the side to which you can connect a flash drive (an 8 GB one is included in the package) on which you will need to save the files of their projects.
At the rear there is the input for the power supply (which is 90w) next to which the power button has been positioned, and the entire area intended for printing is protected by an orange acrylic cover, with which it is also filtered the UV light generated during the printing phase.
Assembly and software
The assembly phase of the LONGER Orange 4K it is immediate. Simply unpack the 3D printer, connect the print bed, level it using the typical four screws and print. And leveling the plate is also very simple: just place a sheet of paper directly on the LCD display, lower the print plate, make it perfectly parallel to the surface and tighten the screws.
It should be kept in mind, however, that the LONGER Orange 4K It does not come with any bottle of resin in the package, so you will need to purchase it separately, but in the box you will find everything you need to be able to use the printer immediately: there are gloves, a scraper, and a funnel to store the excess resin in its container once printing is finished.
But before you can print, you need to create your own template. LONGER Orange 4K supports 3 slicers (Longerware, produced in-house, Chitubox and Lychee), which makes it one of the most dynamic models around: many 3D printers are "limited" to using only one modeling software, and having a very wide choice, makes the LONGER Orange 4K a model suitable for both beginners and more experienced people. Personally for my tests I used Chitubox, but for those who want a more immediate experience I recommend using the LONGER software.
In the USB stick that comes in the package, there are predefined profiles for some types of resin and different layer heights and they all work perfectly: there will be no need to change the exposure times and depending on the thickness of the layers you want to achieve print, thanks to these profiles you essentially won't need to do anything else.
In essence, predefined profiles have different exposure times for each layer thickness:
- 25 micron layer: 1.5 seconds;
- 50 micron layer: 2 seconds;
- 100 micron layer: 3 seconds.
Between one layer and another the printing bed is raised, which slows down the entire printing process a little which, however, continues to be decidedly faster when compared to previous generations of 3K resin 4D printers. So great job.
The only things you need to pay close attention to are essentially two: first of all it is important to level the printing base well, not leaving it too close to the LCD panel to avoid too high pressure which could lead to poor adhesion during the printing phase (with the consequent detachment of the model before the process is concluded), the second is to avoid supports that are too thin, adding thicker supports in order to make the structure of the model more solid during the printing phase.
The company guarantees that the LONGER Orange 4K is equipped with a maximum print height of 190 millimeters but, regardless of the size, the quality of the prints produced with this model is always the same. LONGER Orange 4K it guarantees very detailed prints, whether a single object is produced or several are printed at the same time: it is a very coherent model that generates objects almost free of imperfections.
It is clear that the lower the microns of the layers, the higher the quality of the prints, but even when you print with 100 micron layers, in the end the results are not bad. Production times obviously change: if we take as an example an object printed at 100 microns in 2 hours, if we wanted to print it at 50 microns the time needed would reach 4 hours, and if we wanted to print it at 25 microns it would double again up to approximately 8 hours.
Selling price and conclusions
The sale price of the LONGER Orange 4K it is 249,99 dollars but, with the link and the coupon that you find in the box below, you could buy it at a discount for 219,99 dollars, or around 205 euros at the current exchange rate. And it's not a bad figure for a medium format resin 3D printer that guarantees truly exceptional results.
3D printing using resin is a slightly more demanding process than filament printing, but the ease of use of this model truly makes it a product suitable for everyone, even beginners. The prints produced are rich in detail and in this price range you will hardly be able to find a product as simple as it is precise in its prints.
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