Hands-on with Zortrax and ELEGOO’s SLA 3D printers
We’re looking at the ELEGOO Mars printer and a Zortrax Inkspire printer. They’re very similar in size, but the ELEGOO is $350 and the Zortrax is $2,000.
Welcome to the latest installment of ZDNet’s DIY IT Discovery Series on 3D Printing. Today, we’re looking at our first two SLA printers.
Quick first impressions
In terms of first impressions, the $350 ELEGOO Mars is substantially lighter physically than the $2,000 Zortrax Inkspire. It just weighs noticeably less. The Mars, like the Inkspire, has a plastic shell to protect against light, but the Zortrax plastic shell is just about twice the thickness of the one on the ELEGOO.
They both look like they have pretty excellent construction. They use different light curing technologies. I’m still learning about that. When I know, I’ll pass that knowledge on to you.
From a practical standpoint, the $2,000 Inkspire came with resin out of the box, so you could theoretically start working with it right away. The $350 Mars printer did not come with any resin, so I have to get some. Both of them came with a variety of accessories like power, clippers, memory cards, gloves, funnels, scrapers, and more.
SLA printers are messy
The thing to know about SLA printers is that they are messy. The resin is toxic, so you don’t want it on your body. I might end up wearing a lab coat or a covering smock, because I don’t want it on my clothes, or my arms, or my hands. The printer tending process tends to produce drips, so I’m going to need to build a structure underneath so that the goop that comes out doesn’t go onto the workbench or whatever else I’m working with.
Higher resolution prints
In the video, you’ll see the build surface. It’s smaller by at least half than any FDM 3D printer I have. It’s probably 30% to 40% of the build area of the LulzBot Mini.
The benefit of SLA printers is that they produce very detailed small objects. They’re used to create molds for jewelry, specialty industrial models, and even teeth. As we explore these two printers, we’re going to get a chance to take a look at whether the resolution is better with the much more expensive printer, as well as a lot of other aspects involved in getting set up to produce SLA-based 3D prints.
For now, I’m waiting for resin for the ELEGOO Mars, getting to know these printers, and figuring out how to set them up. Most important, I have to make sure that I have a safe working environment. So far, I built a little SLA station out of some wire shelving units. You can see that below.

Stay tuned. There’s a lot to be learned from these exciting devices. If you’ve used an SLA printer before, feel free to tell us about your experiences in the comments below. And, as always, go out there and build something great!
You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.
Disclosure: ZDNet may earn a commission from some of the products featured on this page. Neither the author nor ZDNet were compensated for this independent review.
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