Elegoo Jupiter 2 Review: This Large-Format Resin Printer Isn’t Fully Cured

My very first print was a rook file that was preloaded on the printer when it arrived. I had a failed print at first because the part didn’t adhere to the build plate. I went back, cleaned off the build plate, lightly scuffed the laser-etched surface with fine-grit sandpaper, and then wiped it down with isopropyl alcohol. I believe the protective sheet that covers the build plate during shipping leaves an adhesive residue that has caused a failed first print on each of the Elegoo machines I’ve tested. Once I put the build plate back and hit print a second time, I got the rook to print fine at 0.1mm resolution with a 30-second bottom-layer exposure and a 2.5-second layer exposure. 

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Next, I ran the XP2 resin test tile at a layer height of 0.05mm with the same exposure times. It had good detail out to the extremes, with the pins and dowels printing out to the smallest and thinnest towers. The finish was even, with no visible warping or artifacts on the surface.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

The Amerilabs test print, also on the 0.050mm slicer setting, had good definition and precision down to the 0.1mm gaps and tabs, with good outputs on the tiniest of the “hair” towers.

Next, things went a little wonky. I decided to swing for the fences and fill up the build volume with a large Optimus Prime Autobot bust. But I was met with an error on the touch screen, shown below.  

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

I was given the choice of either stopping the print or something cryptic called Mandatory Printing. The printer offered no instructions on how to fix the error or what to do next, so after several retries, I hit Mandatory Printing and hoped for the best.

Under duress, Optimus printed out, and I thought I was good to go when I saw his supported structure lattice hanging from the giant build plate. I was wrong, though. The base of the print was nearly permanently etched to the surface of the build plate, having printed too closely to it. I had to chip away with a tiny razor and break the file free. When it did, the results were stunning, despite my hands and arms being covered in tiny gray flecks of uncured resin.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

I made several more prints, each with a nearly impossible-to-detach base layer that took at least 30 minutes to peel back to the fresh build plate surface without destroying the print itself.

Next up, a build plate of an entire droid army of miniatures.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

It was particularly satisfying as I could output the whole platoon in one shot. I could fill the plate with the soldiers and their supports from edge to edge, versus having to piece-meal them out five or six at a time on a smaller machine.

I wanted to test the finer detail limits, so I chose a 0.05mm layer height and printed this warrior angel.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

The detail in the wings is amazing. You can see the veins in the feathers and the striations in the muscles of the arms and legs, as well as the vent lines in the visor of the helmet. But again, I spent about 30 minutes peeling away a few millimeters at a time at the base, having chosen the Mandatory Printing option.

Things started to get worse from here. I attempted to print a large print of the Decepticon Megatron. I chose Mandatory Printing and walked away, only to come back and find that the print got 75% of the way through before falling apart. Moreover, the FEP film was damaged in one area and was no longer smooth across its entire surface. 

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Still, the quality was good. Parts of the model, like the leg, were printed with more detail and smoothness than I had experienced from any other resin printer, aside from the considerably more expensive Formlabs Form 4.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Elegoo suggested that manual build-plate leveling would resolve the issues I experienced. I was instructed to remove the build plate, as well as the left and right plastic side wings, exposing two screws to the left and two screws to the right of the center clamp. It’s worth noting that one of the plastic guards on the build plate gantry simply fell off; its side plastic clamps are not very strong. With the screws exposed, the procedure—located in an obscure menu, several levels deep in the UI on the screen—had me turn or loosen each of the small screws until the force reading on the screen for each of them was within 10 Newtons of each other. 

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

I was able to get all four corners to within 2 Newtons when a Complete message appeared on the screen, and the build plate rose, having been manually leveled to the machine’s satisfaction. It’s worth noting that when you first enter this process, the instructions flash and disappear immediately, not returning until you touch a screw. It felt less like instructions and more like solving a puzzle. By this time, I had also damaged the FEP film while attempting to pull the failed prints out of the tray. Elegoo doesn’t include any extra sheets in case this happens, so I had to wait for a replacement to be shipped. 

In the meantime, I wanted to see how the quick-release FEP film system worked, and noted that the resin tray had side clamps that snapped down and away from the tray’s main body. I was excited by the prospect of not having to take a bunch of tiny screws off to get to the film and eagerly snapped the side wings away.

The FEP film frame dropped away, and then I realized that there were still plenty of tiny screws left to uninstall and reinstall, unlike the screwless Hoopat system with trays. The Jupiter 2 system gets you halfway to the Hoopat system, and you still need about 20 minutes and a small hex head key to replace the plate.