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Review on πŸ–¨οΈ ELEGOO Mercury 3D Printer Machine Turntable by Trey Michaels

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Cardboard Box vs. Metal Camera: The endless photon battle begins!

I was curious if the $75 Mercury (over $80 after tax) might offer any significant advantages over my current home made curing chamber, which is made of foil, UV 60W bulbs for 25 dollars and an old shabby box. The lamp has been delivered. Mercury should win, not a contest, right? Spring. [WHAT'S IN THE BOX?] Injection molded base. Power adapter. The plastic window is glued to the cylinder with adhesive tape, there is a rigid reflective film inside, two UV LED strips are fixed opposite each other inside. The base plate has a cavity into which the turntable is inserted. The turntable is so cheap that I got the same model as a gift when I bought my UV lamp a long time ago. The one that came with the Mercury isn't painted silver, it's raw black plastic so you can see all the flaws and blemishes on the surface, including some mysterious dried dirt on the one I got. [CONTROL PANEL] After connecting the cable. At the top of the barrel, a light touch is all it takes to activate the buttons, a mixture of tapping and tapping. Especially with thick gloves you need a few attempts to get used to it. You will either love the buttons or you will be very disappointed, there is no in-between haha. You can also press and hold the -/+ buttons to constantly adjust the timer. Press ON/OFF to turn on or off the UV lamp, the timer will start and stop accordingly. [Will it heal?] Yes. All you do is throw light on what's in the camera. Yes, it works as expected. The reflective curved interior ensures that light is reflected and hopefully hitting all surfaces of the model. Mercury is sized to fit whatever you print on Elegoo Mars or similar sized printers. Coincidentally my old battered box. Let's pit them against each other in a fierce, fiery battle! Mercury is a smooth black cold aluminum cylinder with a lifeless amber eye staring straight into your soul. It crackles with electric green energy when the UV lamps come on. The old rat box is made from recycled cardboard lined with aluminum foil on the inside to reflect the light and frankly also prevent it from collapsing on its own. The top part has a roughly cut hole where the UV lamp rests to shine inwards. The record player also fits in. Four stops isn't enough to sustain the output of a 60-watt lamp, so shards of deadly ultraviolet pierce the paper shell like a poor man's supernova. (UV light isn't deadly, but don't stare directly into the light for long.) [WE WANT TO SEE YOU FIGHT!] They fought! metaphorically. I made mechanical noises with my mouth to add drama. Even though my lamp was 60 watts and the Mercury was only putting out 25 watts of juice, they healed at about the same rate. It takes about 1 minute 30 seconds to cure a piece of resin about 1cm high. However, for large and thick prints, there may be a larger gap in curing time. I'll update the review when I get a chance to print something that big. [FINAL DECISION] Whether it's worth buying Mercury depends on your personality. (And how much fake digital money you have in your bank account.) Sometimes I get a little depressed when I look at all the improvised gadgets I've made for this hobby and when I replace one of those junkyards with something like Mercury, the workshop gets brighter. even more, BUT. Huge, but want to spend $70-$80 on a tool that you can easily make for $25? m, like a bow, okay? Layered, fragrant and juicy?) and I think the asking price is too high. It may cost $80 to make a Mercury, but the perceived value is far less, and using things like that jerky turntable makes it worse. As long as I stick with my little box, it works just as well. and I can even use the water bag method to polymerize prints without the risk of electrocution. = [UPDATES] β€’ Mercury's price has been permanently reduced to $60. Great, but I still can't find any significant advantage for Mercury over a DIY solution. The clean, more streamlined aesthetic is the main reason to buy a Mercury, which can be valuable if prominently displayed/stored, especially if you own a shop and want a more "professional" look. β€’ If you need to heal a lot of small details you can lay the Mercury on its side so you can print the full length of the cylinder and not just a narrow platter.

Pros
  • Lightly powered turntable
Cons
  • No car