I run a small 3d print shop for resin minis, I sell about 200-300 minis a month. I was very interested in this printer at first. Anything that streamlined my process and eliminated print failures (which aren't super common but really set back the production queue when you have them) would be great. My attitude started to sour when you said "proprietary resin" and this printer was 100% completely ruled out when you revealed the cost of the resin. Unless customers make a specific request and pay a custom order upcharge, I'm printing all orders in Sunlu standard, which I get for $15 USD per 1000g, Heygears is 4-6x as expensive. I'd have to raise my prices, and I don't know that the market would bear it. No deal.
@@3dPrintingMillennial did you watch the video? It's not just the form factor, I could free pour any resin directly into the vat like I do with my elegoo printers. It's that it uses some kind of RFID or QR code in the resin bottle to set exposure settings and they cant be changed by the end user.
I deleted my comment. It's a long video. Now I see that the resin cures at a different wavelength. Overall, this seems like a badass printer. If I had a mini figure business, I'd certainly buy this.
I like a lot of the features, but the build plate with the holes F cleaning those they can be a pain, also the price is insane for how fast this technology is advancing it will be out of date very soon. Plus the cost of their resin I am not sure who this printer is for.
You can use just about any aftermarket resin with the Reflex. The Reflex prints based on the setting you choose in the slicer, not what's on the bottle. The RFID on the bottle is only there to tell you whether or not you put in the right bottle or not. There is always an option to ignore that message and just print it anyway. You can take off the RFID from the bottle and the Refilex will still print. There are many print settings for different resins that you can choose from in the slicer. Try PAU10 setting or PAP10 setting, I found them to work on ABS-Like, High-Temp, and Flexible resins. I've been using the Reflex since July 2023 day in and day with no problem to date. Also, I'm not telling anyone to use aftermarket resins. 😁
But… I know the settings do not come from the rfid The settings come from those I showed you can select in the video. None of those settings may be right for a particular resin you choose and. Certainly not optimal. So yes it can work, but it’s not optimal, and since the biggest selling point of this printer vs others is the value of instant perfection. Then what is the point in getting this printer…???
@FauxHammer I agree, it is very understandable that one may want perfection. However, perfection is in the eyes of the beholder in this case. For me, I have yet wished to change any setting because the prints come out perfect. However, I'm all for HeyGears to enable the tweaking of the print setting, I don't see why not.
Easiest thing for them to do is lower the cost of their resins. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a healthy margin on them. I think they have room to do that.
@@Teddyboy-EM "I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a healthy margin on them. I think they have room to do that." But why would they? Profit is profit. They're likely already aware that the price point makes their product a boutique printer, so the resin for the captive audience of buyers is where they're making their money.
@@optimaximal "Why would they do that?" Well, do you wanna make $50 on one bottle of resin and sell 5 of them or do you want to make $4 on a bottle of resin and sell 2 million of them?
Outstanding review. Looks like a glimpse into the future of what resin printing will look like. Just can't afford all of the nifty features of this printer. This is my second review video of this machine, I really need to stop watching them and be financially responsible. 😂
Epsom: "Here's a printer that has lots of features, sorry it's a bit expensive" Brother: "Here's a cheap printer but you're stuck with using our expensive inks" Hey Gears: "Yes our printer is expensive, but you're stuck with using our resin" They seem to want their cake and eat it too.
@@1stRanger And you then have the problem of being locked into an ecosystem that's reliant on the manufacturer not only staying around, but continuing to provide the consumables. The system is really designed for a commercial setting to allow a small business to train a monkey to press a button to make what is needed. Unsure its usefulness/ in a hobby situation.
This would have been an instant buy from me if they didn't take the proprietary resin approach. I want the full premium product that this is, cost included because I need my prototypes to work first time, but let's say I wanted to sell the physical versions of the prints. No access to print settings and the sheer cost of the resin hurts that return way too much if I used this for a kickstarter.
I’m so glad everyone is saying this because I’ve been telling them this for months. So nice to see it echoed without me prompting such a response. Thank you, I feel validated
They’re leveraging their existing technology from the commercial prosthetics market that they compete in. It would be really nice if I can use another vendors resin with this printer by selecting its profile from within Blueprint. Pouring it into the vat and pressing print, or pouring it into a bottle and letting the printer handle the dispensing. The Form 2 would allow the use of third party resins. The $500 and below tier of resin printers is crowded. It’s shows almost no differentiation between the brands. They use the same chitu based hardware, and slicers out of the box. Lychee slicer is probably better than chitubox, but both are hot garbage. They work but not as well as they should. I would like to see third party resin profiles integrated into the ecosystem, but it has to be seamless. The only other printer that’s coming out in this price range is the Athena ($1500).
its crazy how amazing the proof of concept works for the resin filling system, a collapsible bottle and sluice that auto-regulates how much resin is in the vat is amazing and then it just shot itself in the foot with a shotgun because of how expensive it is like they couldnt make a variant where the bottle is refillable, or you could get an empty bottle to fill it with a third party resin? "damage can be caused by third party resin" bs claim aside, that is
Inability to tweak settings or use 3rd party resins is a deal killer. Not to mention the fact that those resins cost $70-120 per bottle. This is even more locked than Bambu, at least bambu lets you change print settings.
Hey Gears does carbon copy FormLabs printers for slighthly less money. Unfortunately up to the consumables market lock. Thanks but no thanks. If I was in the market for an industrial printer, I'd go for the original, not the copycat.
@@the_arcanumto be fair, HeyGears have their own industrial printer reputation, as do several other brands. Formlabs is just the one that most people have heard of.
The ability to choose of WHAT you can print is the future of resin printers... we are getting flexible resin in the market that will open up what people will want in a resin printing and wanting to get a resin printer for. Rigth now this printer feels like a Cricut Maker where you can not do custom profiles for the Knife Blade (most important tool for the Maker line and the reason for getting a Maker) and you have to cheat the Knife Blade pre setting and babysit the cuts to make sure it cutting non tested materials. Bambu got it right in that it more like Silhouette's Camo 4. ALL the tools you can create customer profiles for your bespoke materials. But the thought put into te machine it's self is SUCH a game changer that it will change what other brands will aim towards their printer functions.
Not being able to modify settings or freedom to use other resin is a deal breaker. Bambu's closed system has A LOT of drawbacks and problems. Apple-fication is not a good thing. Build volume is just way too small for my "needs" also. Still waiting for a 300 cubed build volume for large scale prints.
The printer, cure station and vacuum pump thingy will push the total to around/over $2700. You could get 3xGK Two's for that and they are expensive! Pity.
Yeah, and the money they are asking for the cure station and air pump are absolutely ridiculously overpriced for what they are. Hey Gears is trying to push the b2b pricing model into consumer-level sales.
@@FauxHammer The air pump idea is exactly the same as the good old Photocentric's blow-peel [look it up], the small [tiny?] support tips on a large amount of supports has been done for ages in pro slicers, and is completely doable and being done even for huge models on Voxeldance Tango slicer , just FYI. Great video, extremely informative, your efforts in this video are greatly appreciated, now that was a review! 😀
@@FlesHBoX Almost like some dimbulbs charging >$1,000 for a mid-range chinese printer with chinese NanoDLP boards and a cheapo strain-gauge, except this HeyGears printer actually works out of the box, and prints excellently, LOL
This printer sounds amazing. And the feature set is perfect for someone like me. I’ll wait until these features trickle down to the sub $600 printer. In the meantime I will continue playing with my bamboo labs A1.
I'd be happy with a slightly smaller plate and non-feeding system, the basic pour lip and the slice system is SUCH a game changer that an "A1" or more like "P1S" level printer would be an absolute BEAST in the market.
The amazing BS of voiding your warranty from "damage caused from using 3rd party resins" is a complete load of crap and an absolute no sale for me. I don't care how well it works. EDIT: Oops. I forgot to like the video at least. Here ya go ;) I AM excited to see companies copy/expand on some of these ideas. The slicer seems pretty damn cool and the air assist does sound like a game-changer. Great review.
@@leobro6398 Remember the first Macintosh commercial?(I'm that old :p ) THAT'S what I remember when I see Apple these days. They're the polar opposite of how they saw themselves back then. I own a Voron 3d printer so you know exactly how I feel about proprietary designs. Heh.
@@leobro6398 I felt more reminded of what HP does with their printer, with the ink-lock-in and now the abo model where you can't even print without their printer being allowed to phone home to the mothership. Sorry, but we should not allow this parasitic behaviour ruin another industry.
@HeyGears Please make this more affordable for the masses instead of the elite. It doesn't mean you aren't a premium product, but being in every 3d resin printers home would be a statement in and of itself. I agree with Ross on this that , Thousands of units sold is way better then hundreds. Also, with huge sale numbers means the manufacturing itself becomes less and streamlined increasing bottom line profit. The resin for your printers is crazy expensive. This printer isn't for large companies to use for production, they would get industrial machines and write off the cost, so , you cant price the materials the same. I don't want to have to say well , do I really want to print this because it will take this much resin and I cant buy anymore right now because of other living expenses. Make it available to a large consumer base , not just those that have 6 plus figure incomes and large amounts of deposable income.
what you dont get is : THOS IS NOT FOR HOBBY-USERS they dont want stuff like that ,the compete with formlabs and similar printers, not creality elegooo or similar. And suddenly everything makes sense, tje price, the materials, the closed system etc. 😮 and they dont want to support the masses of normal users.
I mean 1399 isn’t that bad for this size / quality. It’s the price of a laptop. I already love my Mega 8k but I’d think about giving this a shot. The resin is definitely $$& though :(
Worth mentioning, but write-offs don't mean "free or partially paid for stuff" like people seem to think. Just means not getting taxed on the income that was used for the purchase. The company still pays for the stuff, they just don't have to pay taxes on the equivalence of their expenses on their gross revenue. It's like not having to pay income tax every paycheck, but getting taxed on all income that wasn't used for essential expenses when you file your taxes.
I find this request redundant. "Please, make this cheaper so I can buy it" would be a valid demand on something first necessity, not on a resin printer.
I’m an old school FDM guy. I learned to print by flogging an Ender 3 within an inch of its life, and by the time it finally died, I was printing carbon fiber polycarbonate. That was a years long process and I learned a lot, but as soon as the P1P hit the market, I snapped it up. I got into printing because I wanted to make cool stuff. Everything else was ancillary to that goal. I got out of the tinkering game (mostly, I’ve done a few mods to my P1P) as soon as I could, and I haven’t looked back. Resin printing has always been a pain in the rear, which is why I never took the plunge. I just want it to work. If that was the case here, I wouldn’t mind the price tag. But so long as the ecosystem is so closed that I don’t even have the option to screw around, I’ll keep looking. It just works in 90% of the potential use cases is great, but I need to be able to fine tune to hit the other 10%. If I can’t, why bother?
It appears that the Bambu Labs' success can be attributed to several factors, including the quality of their printers and software, as well as their competitive pricing. However, it is important to consider that a closed ecosystem may deter potential customers, particularly with regard to the availability and cost of materials.
I think the resin bottles and RFID is my biggest concern. Bambu have managed to do it the acceptable way by using it to identify their own filament and pre-load the settings into the slicer for good prints. But I worry about others getting aboard the same kind of system with less than stellar plans for the future, where they could easily go down the HP ink route but for 3d printing, which I am already feeling uncomfortable about with this printer given that they lock you out of setting exposure settings and lock it to the resins that they sell. It wouldn't shock me if down the line the printer can track unique identifiers on the rfid tags and register a bottle as empty so you can't refill it.
in User Experience, Bambu is great, but right now Qidi Max 3 vs P1C, and the new Tech Q1 Pro vs P1S, are a bit better when it comes to printing, especially features and materials that they can print
Don't forget the huge security concerns with Bambu printers, the data they are sending, access to your entire network, and the need to isolate it from your other devices. Add in that they have poor support and tried to cover up a required recall for the A1 fire hazard flaw.
"However, it is important to consider that a closed ecosystem may deter potential customers, particularly with regard to the availability and cost of materials." I think this is definitely the case for some but not all. You can build a computer and a lot of people do, but a lot of people don't want to fuss around with it all. This is probably a sign of the market maturing. I would say with a young market people need to try and be able to change things to get it to work with their conditions. With a maturing market a lot of people coming in don't want to do that and they just want the end result and this approach sells to that ideal. I think there will always be a market that demands the ability to choose their own resins so the printers that do that aren't going anywhere. However I suspect that the market that just works will probably end up being bigger. Most people forget that the time for working things out means most people will go for things that just work as they don't want to have to do that.
@@xRaptorScreamx Really? I have yet to find a "consumer" filament that doesn't print well in my X1C--pla, petg, tpu, asa, pla-cf, and that's just my list. And the AMS is definitely still a killer feature.
Dead on arrival: - have to use their resins - have to use their slicer - formlabs clone - 385nm vs 390 is a negligible difference. I don’t think that’s what’s giving the better quality it’s probably the combo of their proprietary resin and settings. - surely layout/orientation should be done before support? - making slicing a “background task” is not a excuse for slow slicing. - yes it’s cheap but when you add up the wash station, cure station and PRM it’s not anymore. - worrying that exposure test cracked, shattering parts of build plate, first print failed.
This thing is awesome! - Other resins have already been shown to work with it. - Get to use their slicer - Clone? Did you watch the video? - I get the same quality with Siraya Tech resin as theirs. - The supports will always recalculate after you orientate your files. - Who said its slow? Did he say that? I must have missed it but its similar to other slicers. - You dont have to buy their washer and cure station but I got the Christmas deal and saved around 300 - 400 bucks. - Now you are just looking for stuff to complain about. 😅
As someone looking at buying a resin printer, this appeals to me the same way Bamboo labs does, no nonsense printing/slicer, that works when I want to print something to fix a problem BUT unfortunately I have to, for the timing being pass on this because unlike Bamboo not allowing for that tweaking if you want, and are not limited to their own filament/resin is an instant deal breaker. I live in an area where I can't immediately get proprietary consumables, and for wear parts that's no a big deal because keeping a small stock on hand take up little room, I can't keep a bunch of reels and bottles, I mean I could but I don't do enough consistent printing to justify it right now. Being able to quickly have a roll or two of filament shipped to me in a day or two from a few different suppliers is a plus, the possibility of not being able to print something because I have to wait several weeks for a bottle to be delivered because the supply chain isn't there or their resin is out of stock is a no go, and not being able to tweak to adjust for climate or altitude is not ideal. Hopefully they can do something like Bamboo where they allow us to make a resin profile that the printer will recognize. I realize I'm probably not the target audience for this printer but it feels like I am just outside their target.
Seems like this is really on Over Engineered Resin Printer, i don't think i'll be getting this given how you can't use 3rd Party Resin on this. The Only time i feel a company only resin is justified, is if Said Resin is Safe to use, i.e no harmful chemicals , safe to touch and no harmful odor. other then that it's a hard sell for an average consumer.
It's terrible that the chemicals are so toxic. I hope we get good, inexpensive, non-toxic resin for these in the future or that something better is invented. It would be cool to own one of these, but that's just too much to deal with for me and a lot of other people. I also don't think they can print anything with real strength or use. They're just for nice looking models as far as I know.
It sounds/looks amazing, but a closed ecosystem is an absolute dealer breaker for me. Hopefully like anything the improvements they have made roll down through other manufacturers. I'd love to see heated vats or enclosures become the normal rather than something found only on the high end models.
As someone who just wants the highest quality miniatures to paint this feels like it would be the way to go. I have no interest in it being a hobby unto itself. Avoiding misprints, learning software etc cost time and I'd rather just print and forget about it. Would have been interesting to see how much more £ the resin is compared to others. Would be great to have a follow up to see if parts need replacing, will it out last comparative printers and perhaps save you money in the long term. Cheers
Yeah and as I said there are buyers out there for this, so the printer certainly has value, I just personally wish it were open as do many other potential users
I'd be willing to fork out the cash for this amazing printer... but... it is completely out of the question since you are forced to use only their resin at that RIDICULOUS price. Maybe if they do end up releasing refill packs, like you mention, at a reasonable friggin price... maybe... A real friggin shame... damn.
3:17 those orange lights actually serve a purpose. They help to counter UV light leaking into the print chamber. These same lights are used in custom printer boxes to reduce UV leakages.
make that 18 months and you may be onto something. It;s been over a year since we got the GKTwo and only now are other brands adding heaters, and not great ones at that
Hmmm...buy this resin printer , washer, cure station...Or a down payment on a NEW CAR. good grief this thing is not remotely ready for the general public. $1400 for the printer $700 for the cure station $350 for the wash box, $75 for a bottle of resin = $2500 or more with Tax and shipping.....LOL thats hilarious
"We got you exactly the puppy you wanted! It's perfect! Except it's incontinent, constantly. Just a constant dribble of pee. We're sure you can over look it."
You're quite right, it indeed depends on the perspective from which you view the situation. For example, if you possess a patch of grass, a perfect little puppy could make this lawn brim with vitality.
I'm not sure why you are reviewing industrial printer (better and simpler, but then actually not, with weird features and compromises, locked-down ecosystem and industrial prices) for hobby printing miniatures 🤔 Well, if they asked, and don't want their gear back... Formlabs next? Suddenly Prusa SLS1 starts to make sense 😅
This printer is indeed amazing. The auto supports is next level. The auto leveling, heated resin, auto vat filing and the rest is awesome. I saw another review of this printer and it was said it prints 30% faster than the Saturn 3 Ultra and GKtwo (at least one of those). As others have said the only thing that makes this a deal killer is the inability to use third party resins. I get HG wants to safeguard their proprietary resin and settings but at least allow people to use third party resin and enter your own settings. IF they did this THEN I would throw away my Saturn 3 Ultra with a smile on my face. Now the elephant in the room = price. Its steep but if you like the true autosupport system, which will only get better over time, is amazing. I figure for this level of printer its warranted but that darn no third party resin kills this for me. Thanks for the great video. Of course you do realize you should probably do a part 2 to go into more details right? hint, hint. ;)
Aww man, this one was enough work. Put it this way, I’d do another video if I thought they sell enough of these to warrant further support from me. I just don’t trust it will and the comments I’ve seen here echo the sentiment I’ve had about this since day 1
@@FauxHammer You do know you opened Pandora's box right? That means you need to try your Wargamer Resin in the UltraCraft Reflex and see if it prints. You know its crossed your mind... others have shown Sunlu, Jamghe and Elegoo resins work in it so why not try yours and see? Hint, hint... ;)
Big NO from me: 1) they ship to a very limited list of countries (they couldn't figure out how to ship to the entire EU at least). Bambu are professionals and they shipped almost everywhere day one 2) "proprietary" resin? no no no no no
Ah, far from a Bambu Labs X1C, P1S, P1P, etc. Lots of lots of issues this has for my uses (engineering parts): - Need to be able to tweak the leveling. No printer I've seen is really well leveled straight from the factory - Perforated build plate - un-usable for direct to plate printing of flat-ish parts that can't have supports or the supports are individual (not on a raft) and smaller than the holes. - Needs a flex plate option - WhamBam where are you? - Heating only the VAT is not optimal - for accurate z-dimensions the resin and build volume temperature must be the same to prevent part shrinkage as the newly-printed part surfaces aren't as hot as the resin. Best setup is heating the LCD from underneath + vat heating + build volume air heating. - Closed resin system - ugh. There are many many superior 3rd party resins out that that one must use - The air compressor system to inflate the area under the vat film is overly engineered/complicated - there must be a better way (I can think of a couple). Plus you want a vacuum between the vat film and the LCD surface during the retract and cure so that there is absolutely no trapped air between them. You want that film sucked down to the LCD surface as soon as the retract phase has started. - Proprietary bottles . . ugh. I'm sure someone will produce 3rd party bottles and valves eventually. - Overly-complicated vat - they need to have a simpler vat design w/o heater and auto fill features as people like me will not use either (I would install a heater inside the machine to make the whole machine be at my desired printing temperature ~35C or so) - Really need to be able to see what's going on inside w/o having to raise the lid. That's just plain silly. Other machines suffer this as well and I've had to install interior LCD (no UV) lighting. - Make the interior lights usable by being brighter - Cure station needs to be able to cure while at elevated temperature to get the best post-cure properties - can it (pre)heat to 80C AND cure at the same time? Wasn't clear (maybe I missed it). - Wash station is totally silly - I don't want my parts crashing into each other while they are in the soft pre-cured state. Currently I keep my parts on the flex plate and put the whole flex plate on an oscillating table inside a glass sealed container and that works really well. Otherwise for loose parts they need to be still and the IPA swirled around them to prevent damage - And probably a few other issues one would uncover during actual use. I had hopes, but alas they are dashed, especially for the asking price. Yes it is kind of like an iPhone, but in all the bad ways.
Oooh, a lot to respond to here, lets go.. - Need to be able to tweak the leveling. No printer I've seen is really well leveled straight from the factory -- this is, and if it isn;t it tells you which screws to turn and what direction and how much of a rotation to turtn it. - Perforated build plate - un-usable for direct to plate printing of flat-ish parts that can't have supports or the supports are individual (not on a raft) and smaller than the holes. -- but when printing from the build plate you get expansion of early layers due to excessive curing of base layers. I don;t understand this arguement in resin TBH, - Needs a flex plate option - WhamBam where are you? -- If this is popular I;m sure they'll make one - Heating only the VAT is not optimal - for accurate z-dimensions the resin and build volume temperature must be the same to prevent part shrinkage as the newly-printed part surfaces aren't as hot as the resin. Best setup is heating the LCD from underneath + vat heating + build volume air heating. --- fair, I honestly didn;t check for chamber heating, i should. - Closed resin system - ugh. There are many many superior 3rd party resins out that that one must use -- agreed - The air compressor system to inflate the area under the vat film is overly engineered/complicated - there must be a better way (I can think of a couple). Plus you want a vacuum between the vat film and the LCD surface during the retract and cure so that there is absolutely no trapped air between them. You want that film sucked down to the LCD surface as soon as the retract phase has started. -- yep, I like it but not optimal, it does allow the vacum during cure, it releases before lift - Proprietary bottles . . ugh. I'm sure someone will produce 3rd party bottles and valves eventually. --yep - Overly-complicated vat - they need to have a simpler vat design w/o heater and auto fill features as people like me will not use either (I would install a heater inside the machine to make the whole machine be at my desired printing temperature ~35C or so) -- 6 of one, half a dosen of the other, it is a lot of expense for marginal benefit - Really need to be able to see what's going on inside w/o having to raise the lid. That's just plain silly. Other machines suffer this as well and I've had to install interior LCD (no UV) lighting. -- again, fair - Make the interior lights usable by being brighter --agreed - Cure station needs to be able to cure while at elevated temperature to get the best post-cure properties - can it (pre)heat to 80C AND cure at the same time? Wasn't clear (maybe I missed it). -- yes it can, sorry - Wash station is totally silly - I don't want my parts crashing into each other while they are in the soft pre-cured state. Currently I keep my parts on the flex plate and put the whole flex plate on an oscillating table inside a glass sealed container and that works really well. Otherwise for loose parts they need to be still and the IPA swirled around them to prevent damage -- exactly! - And probably a few other issues one would uncover during actual use. I had hopes, but alas they are dashed, especially for the asking price. Yes it is kind of like an iPhone, but in all the bad ways. -- and i totally understand that flavour is not for everyone, I'm just glad to finally show something truly next-gen, but is this what people want? most people, probably not. and that's sad because it won't push the technology forward as well as it should
@@FauxHammer Thanks for your response. I agree, it's not for everyone. It feels like they are trying to make a mid-level printer between the $1,000 and $10,000 industrial printers, but optimized for figurine printing (which is fine - it's a big market), but they kind of muddied things a bit. Anyways, I may have gotten some things wrong in my comment, but you've set me straight. Much appreciate your reviews and your style!
@@FauxHammer "Perforated build plate - un-usable for direct to plate printing of flat-ish parts that can't have supports or the supports are individual (not on a raft) and smaller than the holes. -- but when printing from the build plate you get expansion of early layers due to excessive curing of base layers. I don;t understand this arguement in resin TBH" As I'm also primarily printing functional pieces (both SLA and FDM) I would like to give my input to your answer. Yes, printing directly to the buildplate can cause "elefants foot" (as you know), but typically a slicer allows for dedicated compensation in the first layers. On parts that need to be dimensionally accurate or have needs for better form tolerances, printing a big flat surface of the model directly to the buildplate can be beneficial. That said, it should be a very easy fix by simply offering a buildplate without the holes (maybe already fitted with some kind of magnetic plate?).
@@BenGi551yeah I see the for and against with perforated build plates, I support everything because I don’t trust elephants foot compensation, but I’m not buying one printer and dialing it in. I’m testing 5-10 printers a month. So for me, i guess I just don’t care. I’m sure a flex plate will be available with enough demand
@@johnhinkey5336yeah, I think it’s more than mini printing, that’s just my thing, it has its benefits. But I agree. And I worry the market for this printer is not there. And I’ve told HeyGears as much. Hopefully the read these comments and get the message
Looks like sunlu resin out the bottle, probably why cheap and so good! Sorry I can't say a bad word about sunlu Solid gray ABS best switch I've ever made used it for a year now with no issues and just works and absolutely solid! Stuff just doesn't break easy it's amazing! Same as sister company jayo abs
So the comparison to Bambu ends at consumables. Bambu is a premium printer whos company recognizes the need for inexpensive consumables. Their parts and filament are only slightly more expensive than the average competitors. This has been stated as an intentional fact from bambu. This printer is chasing the same market at form labs, not bambu. A more accurate title would be the best form labs competition...but that gets less clicks
Same, and what countrys they support limits me. BUT their blueprint software looks amazing. Is there a comparable software out there that is more refined than lychee and chitubox?
No 3rd party Resins are 100% a miss for me. You need the company to continue to exist, or you have an expensive brick because they don't allow you to dial in settings. Hope they don't decide resins prices are too cheap, and it's time to dial up the price because you're dependent on their singular whims. If it does well, hope they do better than Bubmbu does, keeping their resin in stock because they are all you got GLOBALLY lol. HeyGear's horrible choice seems more like what Bambu haters claim Bambu is doing to the 3DFM industry. The tech is amazing, what they built is amazing. The lack of resin support is a death bell for so so so many reasons.
As someone who does occasional commision works of resin prints (today arrives my new FDM printer for FDM as well) I am now seriously considering this. What I waste most of my time on, is checking pre-supports. Seeing they are bad. Re supporting all the required models, doing the test print, re printing after support corrections, etc etc etc. Usually I need about 0.5-1h for each print job to verify and ensure they are good. This ensures that a 10+h print job is not failing wasting way more time.... The approach they had and how good the auto supports look there, it would be a game changer for me - saving countless hours in the long run. For bigger businesses, this is a tremendous time saver. It does not matter that the resin is a bit more pricey. For me as well - it is never the material cost that drives up my prices. It is labour. One of my last jobs needed about 1l of resin (not exactly sure but before delivery the models were about 1050g so a bit more than 1l) and I love siraya tech ABS like. That is about 50 bucks of resin. Compared to labour - print preparation, procuring models. Supporting. Post processing. Sanding. The job was about 20h labour + waiting for 6 plates of printing. The material costs almost don't matter compared to labour time.
the fact they got a locked down ecosystem, aren't open for setting adjustments and the price are a hard pass for me. i guess i'll go with the GKtwo at this point. i just have to find a way to with their annoying lid.
Hi I enjoyed this video quite a bit it was a intuitive on what I am looking for resin printer. I will definitely look at buying this one down in the future after I dive into buying myself a first resin printer For a beginner. Then I will look at buying this one. Thanks for all the hard work you put in to doing this and I will make sure I will use your information when the time comes to buy this one🎉
Lovely machine and technology, but not for me, for my needs. Too pricey, closed systems SUCK in long term, expensive resin... Cool, but thats a nah from me dawg
Just like I have not bought into Bambu Labs for FDM (where I started 3d printing), I will give Hey Gears a hard pass as well for the overpriced closed ecosystem. However, I will look forward to other companies seeking to incorporate some of the things they do well in not racing to the bottom on price by compromising build quality too far.
Say what you want about Bambu Lab, at least they don't force you to use their own filaments or stop you from calibrating your settings. $80/kg of resin is also a ridiculous price. If HeyGears wants to make a Bambu-style disruption in the resin space, they need to make their ecosystem more approachable to get people on board.
As it happens I'm in the market for a new printer, as my voxelab is feeling rather old hat these days. I'd never heard of HeyGear until your video, and the printer sounds incredible, but those limitations on tweaking settings and using other resins are just too much I think. It feels like their slicer needs an "advanced" mode that gives access to various hidden settings like exposure etc, while allowing people to print out of the box of they want.
The difference between this one and Bambu is not being able to use the material you want. No matter how good the machine and software are - that's a killer. They would have a chance if their resin would be affordable but the price is just outrageous. Bambu did it right - yes X1 costs a lot but it's one off cost, their plastic is cheap so running cost is low and purchase of their machine justifiable. I'm just glad to see Bambu approach has started sneaking into resin world.
They DEFINITELY need to take your suggestion of re0using the spring cap & just selling the resin bottles with disposable caps. The "cheap" bottle costing literally twice as much as most quality resins and the inability to tweak settings or use third party resins are an absolute no go for me. Those things alone are going to absolutely destroy the reach of an otherwise perfect printer that could fundamentally change all of resin printing by raising the bar in so many ways. I'll wait for the competition to do their homework & figure out how to offer all of this while still being fairly affordable, "Looking at you, Elegoo & Anycubic. Get your shit together."
I say this as an exceedingly happy X1C owner... This printer is just far too "APPLE" for me. They take the apple approach so much further than Bambu did. Locking everything down to their ecosystem is toxic and I hope it fails hard. It's an absolute shame that rather than trying to be an innovator in the resin printing space, they are trying to be the domineering overlord. What's going to happen is all of the copycat printer manufacturers are just going to steal the features that people like about this printer and sell a lower quality version of it for a quarter of the price.
Maker's philosophy is to reduce costs by doing instead of buying. How many wargames miniatures (and liters of costly resin) should we print to justify such a stratospheric price ? Only for professionals, I guess.
Proprietary resin? Printers stored in a cloud account? Pass. Yes, the "Apple approach" is a way to get things done. But it's not my jam. If there were profiles for most 3rd-party resins, and a way to put 3rd party resins into their bottles, that would broaden out the ecosystem enough to work with. Then I'd just be complaining about cloud accounts and linux compatibility, which is sort of par for the course.
@@Teddyboy-EM Yeah, that's not my problem. My understanding from the video was you still had to register your printer with an account stored in the cloud even if you only ever intend to use LAN printing.
I would really like to see how this thing performs on scale model detail parts. The truth is that wargaming minis are about the easiest thing you can print. It’s almost impossible to screw them up. A 1/48 scale 500 pound bomb on the other hand… A much simpler shape… Which is why it’s much harder to get a very good print. and it’s why so many of us are trying to print at 10 µm and this thing only giving you 30 makes me have questions.
The printer seems way overpriced and not competitive. Being locked in to a closed ecosystem is a no go for me. Not being able to dial in seems like a huge miss also. I am looking to get into resin printing from the Bambu P1S, which is why I clicked on this, but this seems like a miss to me. This seems like an overly expensive printer that forces you to buy there overly expensive resin. If you use another resin "You void your warranty." F that, I'll keep looking. Someday someone will make a resin printer priced about the same as the P1S that has just as little headaches to use it, and I will buy one once that happens.
gone are the days of good product names huh! "Hey Gears" ??? I guess Americans should now create products called Tool what.....or....This Steel...or....Print for... Good Cowboy yes!
As someone who's been in the market for my first resin printer for a couple of months (and who's first fdm printer was indeed a bamboo), this is now at the top of my candidate list.
It's impressive but too closed ecosystem for me. I hate the Apple philosophy of closing everything down and taking users for idiots. I prefer more open solutions and ability to tweak stuff.
Gotta love these vids..."the best printer ever!" But first...you cant watch your progress through the cover....the wash system is garbage...you cant use other resins...you cant be in the room with the compressor...it cost's an arm and leg......oh but did I say...its the best printer ever!
Owch was looking at this printer when the video started, price for printer did not bother me as paid that much for my Bambulabs X1C Couple of put offs are - Looks like the slicer is even more reliant on internet than Bambus - Looks like most of it is ran at there end especially the slicing itself, as states when importing files speed is dependent on Network Speed - Resin Cost - there cheapest resin is £45 for 1lt which I could cope with especially with less fails, but the higher stuff is way out range, I understand they are pro grade engineering resins - Resin LOCK - this is the worst game changer for me - use resins with specific properties from Certain Companys and they dont have them available Even the locked eco system of Formlabs can use 3rd party resins if you are willing to PAY
01:10 _"Same consumer needs as Bambu, because this printer isn't chasing resolution nor is it chasing speed"._ Correction: when Bambu Lab arrived on the market, the X1-Carbon destroyed the competition because it was the first FDM 3D printer whose standard printing SPEED was 300 mm/s instead of the standard 50 mm/s we were blocked at for YEARS with Prusa & the clones. It offered this insane SPEED with good printing QUALITY as well as RELIABILITY in a sleek USER-FRIENDLY package (hardware+software) like Apple; and unlike Apple: at a very good PRICE POINT. Icing on the cake: closed chamber to print advanced materials + multicolor printing with the AMS. In summary: Insane speed + innovation + Western build quality + Chinese sales price That's the four reasons why Bambu crushed the competition, and SPEED is clearly one of them. EDIT: the fifth reason is of course that Bambu Lab doesn't lock its customer into using their filament rolls only, it is so obvious in the FDM world that I forgot to even mention it.
Hello, I would like to ask about the comparison of this printer and the latest news: Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra. I'm all about the quality of the previews. Thank you very much for the comparison
You'd think companies would understand proprietary consumables (filament, resin, heck even juicero's fking juice packs) will NEVER work. It's fine if you have those proprietary resins, but don't lock out other resins. Notice how you can't name a company that's pulled this stunt still in business.
When they build a follow up printer that has the option to use my own resin, I'm all over it. Everything else about it is amazing. Sure, prices are high, but I'm 100% willing to drop a cool $3K on the printer + cure station + PRM if it delivers even half of what you showed. I mean, not having to deal with Lychee's broken "stable" release that corrupts my files (oh just use the beta! ...that also corrupts my files, but in a different way! but I digress...) is a godsend. But paying all that just to be locked into $80 bottles of resin from a single company I've never heard of until now.... uh.... no. Definitely excited for the future though.
They think they can duplicate Apple's successful IPhone proprietary approach. The difference is simple: Apple was ALREADY a massively successful company that had proved they could deliver.
I think they could learn some more from Bambu Lab. Bambu has its own filament that is super well optimized for the system and enables the printer to know what color and material you are using automatically (if you have an AMS) but you are also able to use whatever document you want. This should be how this resin printer works. Give advantages to using first party resin, but allow users to use their own. Also they should add an advanced node that enables all the normal settings you can access in other printers. Many people would never need those settings, but a lot of people would.
Just wanted to point out that there is a high pitched whine through all of the audio. It's low volume but it is there. Video is great but once I started hearing it I couldn't stop, thought I was going crazy for a minute.
Someone else said this, I can’t hear it on either my speakers or headphones. I’ll need to double check this somehow, but be some odd frequency my hardware can’t output. What you watching on?
@@FauxHammer Watching on PC, heard it on Opera and tested in Chrome and Edge to see if it was browser related. Also tested with and without my virtual audio drivers. It almost reminds me of interference whine, the kind of frequency that is low volume enough to not notice until you notice it. My headphones are pretty high range and running through a dac/amp, so if it is imperceptible on most hardware that would not surprise me. I also pulled up another of your videos to compare them and didn't hear it there. Honestly I didn't even hear it until just before you were talking about the air compressor noise, but I went back in the video and it starts right at the beginning and persists through the entire video.
This printer looks and sounds brilliant , I'm not happy with the fact that you are going to be tied in to this particular company for all your accessories such as the resins so if in future it gets confirmed that you can use a particular resin by just pouring it into one of their shaped bottles then great!, but can you tell me do I have to buy these items on top of any resin or do these items come as standard with the machine when you buy it?. Ultra Craft Pulsing Release Module £694.80 Reflex Temperature and Liquid Level Sensor £58.80 Because if you do even with your £40 - £50 discount it's still going to cost me the best part of £2000 + pounds which is £1000 more then what I actually wanted to spend as I was thinking of buying the Phrozen Sonic Mighty Revo 14K Resin Printer. Look forward to hearing your reply, many thanks.
First off, Thanks for this review. I’m brand new to 3D printing and want a printer with this review I think I’ve found it. Time is $ you hit the nail on the head I want a mid priced machine that I press a button and print. That’s what I’m looking for. I want a machine that will allow me to make statues for my personal collection I’m not looking to go into business. Thanks again for this honest review
Actually impressed and watched the whole video. I was excited about the printer. Then the wash and cure part of the hobby was presented. Nope.... Guess I'll keep using my Ender3 and not need gloves and a respiratory mask . How much I'd like to have a resin printer, it's the biggest downer ever to go full chemist after a print is done. High quality or not... Sad actually. Much respect for the brutal honesty and pointing out the things that make the printer such a high quality design. Also single handedly making the dude in the stock footage famous lol.
I am a hardcore FDM tinkerman, I know no-one else in the world has the same printer I have, because even the wiring is custom. But I'd dread go through all of it again on Resin printing. So this would be perfect for me. Except it is miles away from what I am willing to spend on the setup, let alone maintenance (including the raw material). So, no. I will wait....
That much for a 33 micron printer in 2024, that's locked to garbage super overpriced proprietary closer source resin ecosystem. lmfao No thanks, we don't need another scumbag FormLabs or PhotoCentric company trying to exploit businesses with their underperforming and overadvertised junk that's really not justified whatsoever for the huge costs vs a literally bottom end printer like the Mars 4. Stick to £200 printers that get 18 microns, maybe a half pixel light bleed.. (i.e. 9 micron) and the ability to use pretty much any typical resin on the market rather than be locked into proprietary resins, hardware that can't be serviced yourself, spares that cost a small country, and an ecosystem designed to extract the maximum amount of money from you for the bare minimum. I despise companies like this :P
I have 2 friends with a bambu fdm. Not a joke.. a good beginner fdm printer is capable of outperforming those insanely expensive bambu Machines. I dont understand the Hype. Shouldnt it be a huge difference in every way for the amount of money you have to pay for it? Watching this Video and have to immediately compare it to the saturn 4 ultra...same design, faster, quality wise top of the line but a thousand dollars cheaper. I wont ever get the point of the expensive Printers.
Locked to a proprietary resin and ZERO ability to adjust print settings is all ANYONE needs to know to realise this thing should be avoided at all costs. If the company goes bust or even stops selling resin in your area, you have a $2200 brick. Even if you try and use generic resins it's a crapshoot what quality print you'll get. Proprietary resin is one thing but no control of slicer parameters? That's just f*ing stupid. It does a few really simple things well. Really basic stuff that, shockingly, no other printer maker reliably does. Just, kindergarten-level stuff, like a clean interface, a heated vat or a pour spout on the vat, or basic one-handed locking mechanisms on the plate and vat. But then it does dumb stuff like a practically opaque lid and holes on the build plate - completely unnecessary on an 8.9" printer. Then look at the design of that wash station - so stupid it baffles the mind, and the cure box that costs hundreds of dollars more than a 12K Saturn 3 Ultra. The compressor gimmick to release the FEP is clever but again, it's implemented in the most ham-handed and hald-a$$sed way possible. Bambu is praised because "it just works", but it's also a viable product because you don't have to use their RFID-encoded filament, and you can use different slicers and adjust parameters. The one thing that Bambu gets (justifiably) criticised for is its closed-source firmware and proprietary components. But this thing takes that predatory, anti-consumer practice and dials it up to 11 with even basic consumables locked down. I'm honestly surprised you're able to change the FEP yourself - and I'm making a big assumption here that you actually can. This isn't an Apple iPhone, it's a Blackberry. Trying to do something new and failing dramatically in execution. And where's Blackberry now? There's one good thing about this printer - it's implementing new and clever tech that other, better and more sensible companies will adopt and use to further the overall ecosystem. But HeyGears? They'll probably be dead in the water in a year or two. And all their customers will be screwed.
Good video. If I was a rich boy, I'd add this to my collection of machines for the perfect prints. But, on a regular basis for a regular guy like me, it's too expensive, and I'm certainly not keen on the limitations in flexibility and resin. Guess I'll have to keep waiting for a heated bed, auto leveling, real 20um prints, and a sub $1000.00CAD price.
You've done a great job as usual, yes it was long, but there was a lot to explain too. IMHO I'd be fine with the price of the printer and the lock-in with the resin if I would be able to tweak the settings if needed (even just changing a couple of % up or down). But then adding €750+ for the (noisy) release module and €850+ for a curing station is absurd and the price of their resins makes me get a feeling they want to squeeze a little too tightly ...
Damn, at the begging I was quite pissed off at this proprietary approach to 3d printing, looks like an apple move, or traditional 2d printer's mentality, but I can't deny that quality, or how amazing immediate perfect supports are
Wow just freaking wow! Just when I was about to drop the “hammer” on the Uniformation GK2 thanks to your funny commentary. By the way you put out some great videos I’m about to drop the “hammer” on this new printer. Thanks a lot. While I’m at it, since Hey Gears is reading the comments, can you cut a break on the price?
I was moments away from ordering this machine after watching about 75% of the video. The price of the printer is fine, I am more than willing to pay that kind of asking price for a machine that "just works". The curing station is the some story. The wash station and air pump missed the mark and IMO fall firmly into the "overpriced gimmick" trap, but I can make due with what I currently have. Even being locked into a specific brand of resin wasn't a deal breaker for me. Again, if it works, I'm happy. But... Seeing the price of the resin was 1,000% a deal breaker for me. There is ZERO reason for it to be priced that high outside of "well, you don't have a choice do you?" and that just soured me to the whole brand now. This was like watching a marathon runner absolutely demolish every other competitor, then at the last moment, stop and begin furiously punching themselves in the balls until all the other runners have finished.
This is a good selling video, hands down. The machine of the future must combine printing, washing, curing. Coupling machine with resin is a good step but I guess this dominance approach will fail ... for now. Good machine for some people but we have this quality since long already. And handling, well quite not superior yet.
Amazing product, but prices itself out of reach of the hobbiest. I like 3D printing as a hobby, not just using it as a tool with both resin and fdm! The ability to choose resins based on cost, and then mix/match for performance (robustness vs detail) is incredibly important for what I print, mainly for my children. Great video, shame I will never afford the printer or curing station (nothing wrong with a Popcorm Bucket curer).
Absolutely yes, but in the same breath absolutely-the-f-not. Having to pay that much for their resin every single time? No thank you. That's asking too much of a general consumer. Otherwise I agree. The only technology missing would be a tank heater for the vat.
I was on the fence about it being only 33μm. I've never 3D printed before at all but I want to pick it up as a hobby. $3,000 for the whole kit + resins starting out is too rich for my blood so it won't be my first 3D printer but I will consider Hey Gears in the future. Sucks that there is no 3rd Party support so I can't experiment with it but for me that just means it is more specialized. Your test print more than shows that they know what they're doing. When I go pro I do want to pick one of these up though. I need the the smoothest prints I can get cause I want to make 3D-printed masters for high fidelity Platinum Silicone mold making. Something like this would be huge if I can minimize any stepping. I also want to use it for Mini Figs naturally. So one day, but not today. I think I will start off with the Elegoo 9K. The full kit is around my budget and from what I have seen it does pretty decent prints.
I think I'll stick with my Saturn 2... no way I'd be paying over 2k for the printer and another 100 bucks for resin... while yeah the printer sounds nice and neat but IMO that is not the reason the printer should be marked so high as well as the cost of the resin, to me it just sounds like a perfect excuse to sell the printer at a massive markup and label it as 'what the community wants' But the fact you are also sponsored by them and you make a cut out of each sale who ever uses your link just rubs me off the wrong way... it's hard not to believe there is any bias in this review. I'm all for reviews but I tend to stick with raw reviews from people who are not given anything (besides the printer/product) to review.
Slicer catching up with lychee pro then? Lychee 6.0 just realised you won't find better and that tells you what's wrong and actually takes you to the issue if ones flagged before slicing lychee is so powerful
Does this finally dethrone the GKtwo as your printer of choice? Also, personally, restricting a user to use first party resin or 'void your warranty' is an instant no buy / no recommend from me. same reason I use android over apple, I don't like being told how to use my purchases.
No, it does not dethrone the GKTWO, It is a better printer yes, in every way. but the locked down approach to resin printing will put off more users than it should
@@FauxHammer absolutely agree. I'll keep with my Saturn2 and heating band I think. Another brilliant video Ross, I didn't mind it being on the long side because it was worth saying, it didn't feel padded out
If it had a bigger build plate, and the ability to use 3rd party resin and a cheaper price I’d be all over it $2300 plus $95+ for resin is pretty insane … think I’ll stick to the GKTwo for the foreseeable future…
it's too expensive, I came here to watch this video and buy it instantly. but when I saw the price, The lack of being able to tweak settings and being stuck with only their resin. it's a hard pass. I guess I gotta wait for the next printer that can print in this quality. with less issues. and can use any resin I want. It looks great. but man that price. I need /wash / cure / and printer. getting everything from them is like 2400$ + I need resin at 60$ a bottle. That's insane. I've been on the fence about the GKtwo because of it's price. Oohh that's not including the 700$ air puimp. so 3100$ Yeah i'll wait a few more years If I need to. Thanks for making the video thou. It lets me know this tech is available and hopefully the other manufactuers can catch up at a reasonable price.
I run a small 3d print shop for resin minis, I sell about 200-300 minis a month. I was very interested in this printer at first. Anything that streamlined my process and eliminated print failures (which aren't super common but really set back the production queue when you have them) would be great. My attitude started to sour when you said "proprietary resin" and this printer was 100% completely ruled out when you revealed the cost of the resin. Unless customers make a specific request and pay a custom order upcharge, I'm printing all orders in Sunlu standard, which I get for $15 USD per 1000g, Heygears is 4-6x as expensive. I'd have to raise my prices, and I don't know that the market would bear it. No deal.
And even if I'm willing to pay the premium for resin I do that for specific properties. Also easy availability might be a factor.
@@3dPrintingMillennial did you watch the video? It's not just the form factor, I could free pour any resin directly into the vat like I do with my elegoo printers. It's that it uses some kind of RFID or QR code in the resin bottle to set exposure settings and they cant be changed by the end user.
@@3dPrintingMillennial Doesn't help you with the locked down curing parameters.
I deleted my comment. It's a long video. Now I see that the resin cures at a different wavelength. Overall, this seems like a badass printer. If I had a mini figure business, I'd certainly buy this.
I like a lot of the features, but the build plate with the holes F cleaning those they can be a pain, also the price is insane for how fast this technology is advancing it will be out of date very soon. Plus the cost of their resin I am not sure who this printer is for.
You can use just about any aftermarket resin with the Reflex. The Reflex prints based on the setting you choose in the slicer, not what's on the bottle. The RFID on the bottle is only there to tell you whether or not you put in the right bottle or not. There is always an option to ignore that message and just print it anyway. You can take off the RFID from the bottle and the Refilex will still print. There are many print settings for different resins that you can choose from in the slicer. Try PAU10 setting or PAP10 setting, I found them to work on ABS-Like, High-Temp, and Flexible resins. I've been using the Reflex since July 2023 day in and day with no problem to date. Also, I'm not telling anyone to use aftermarket resins. 😁
But…
I know the settings do not come from the rfid
The settings come from those I showed you can select in the video.
None of those settings may be right for a particular resin you choose and. Certainly not optimal.
So yes it can work, but it’s not optimal, and since the biggest selling point of this printer vs others is the value of instant perfection.
Then what is the point in getting this printer…???
@FauxHammer I agree, it is very understandable that one may want perfection. However, perfection is in the eyes of the beholder in this case. For me, I have yet wished to change any setting because the prints come out perfect. However, I'm all for HeyGears to enable the tweaking of the print setting, I don't see why not.
Easiest thing for them to do is lower the cost of their resins. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a healthy margin on them. I think they have room to do that.
@@Teddyboy-EM "I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a healthy margin on them. I think they have room to do that."
But why would they? Profit is profit. They're likely already aware that the price point makes their product a boutique printer, so the resin for the captive audience of buyers is where they're making their money.
@@optimaximal "Why would they do that?" Well, do you wanna make $50 on one bottle of resin and sell 5 of them or do you want to make $4 on a bottle of resin and sell 2 million of them?
Outstanding review. Looks like a glimpse into the future of what resin printing will look like. Just can't afford all of the nifty features of this printer. This is my second review video of this machine, I really need to stop watching them and be financially responsible. 😂
Epsom: "Here's a printer that has lots of features, sorry it's a bit expensive"
Brother: "Here's a cheap printer but you're stuck with using our expensive inks"
Hey Gears: "Yes our printer is expensive, but you're stuck with using our resin"
They seem to want their cake and eat it too.
It wouldn't be such a problem is only their resins were competitively priced. Maybe just a bit more expensive even would still be fine.
@@1stRanger And you then have the problem of being locked into an ecosystem that's reliant on the manufacturer not only staying around, but continuing to provide the consumables.
The system is really designed for a commercial setting to allow a small business to train a monkey to press a button to make what is needed. Unsure its usefulness/ in a hobby situation.
Frrr
Too expensive and a closed software and resin usage is a deal breaker for. It's a step backwards.
This would have been an instant buy from me if they didn't take the proprietary resin approach. I want the full premium product that this is, cost included because I need my prototypes to work first time, but let's say I wanted to sell the physical versions of the prints. No access to print settings and the sheer cost of the resin hurts that return way too much if I used this for a kickstarter.
I’m so glad everyone is saying this because I’ve been telling them this for months. So nice to see it echoed without me prompting such a response. Thank you, I feel validated
They’re leveraging their existing technology from the commercial prosthetics market that they compete in. It would be really nice if I can use another vendors resin with this printer by selecting its profile from within Blueprint. Pouring it into the vat and pressing print, or pouring it into a bottle and letting the printer handle the dispensing. The Form 2 would allow the use of third party resins. The $500 and below tier of resin printers is crowded. It’s shows almost no differentiation between the brands. They use the same chitu based hardware, and slicers out of the box. Lychee slicer is probably better than chitubox, but both are hot garbage. They work but not as well as they should. I would like to see third party resin profiles integrated into the ecosystem, but it has to be seamless. The only other printer that’s coming out in this price range is the Athena ($1500).
its crazy how amazing the proof of concept works for the resin filling system, a collapsible bottle and sluice that auto-regulates how much resin is in the vat is amazing
and then it just shot itself in the foot with a shotgun because of how expensive it is
like they couldnt make a variant where the bottle is refillable, or you could get an empty bottle to fill it with a third party resin? "damage can be caused by third party resin" bs claim aside, that is
Inability to tweak settings or use 3rd party resins is a deal killer. Not to mention the fact that those resins cost $70-120 per bottle. This is even more locked than Bambu, at least bambu lets you change print settings.
absolutely fair comment
Hey Gears does carbon copy FormLabs printers for slighthly less money. Unfortunately up to the consumables market lock. Thanks but no thanks. If I was in the market for an industrial printer, I'd go for the original, not the copycat.
"at least bambu lets you change print settings" and use third party filaments.
@@cidercreekranchyep
@@the_arcanumto be fair, HeyGears have their own industrial printer reputation, as do several other brands.
Formlabs is just the one that most people have heard of.
The ability to choose of WHAT you can print is the future of resin printers... we are getting flexible resin in the market that will open up what people will want in a resin printing and wanting to get a resin printer for.
Rigth now this printer feels like a Cricut Maker where you can not do custom profiles for the Knife Blade (most important tool for the Maker line and the reason for getting a Maker) and you have to cheat the Knife Blade pre setting and babysit the cuts to make sure it cutting non tested materials.
Bambu got it right in that it more like Silhouette's Camo 4. ALL the tools you can create customer profiles for your bespoke materials.
But the thought put into te machine it's self is SUCH a game changer that it will change what other brands will aim towards their printer functions.
yep, and that is the "BUT" in this whole setup. This is amazing, for the people it is amazing for, but that is a limited audience
Not being able to modify settings or freedom to use other resin is a deal breaker.
Bambu's closed system has A LOT of drawbacks and problems. Apple-fication is not a good thing.
Build volume is just way too small for my "needs" also. Still waiting for a 300 cubed build volume for large scale prints.
The printer, cure station and vacuum pump thingy will push the total to around/over $2700. You could get 3xGK Two's for that and they are expensive! Pity.
exactly :(
Yeah, and the money they are asking for the cure station and air pump are absolutely ridiculously overpriced for what they are. Hey Gears is trying to push the b2b pricing model into consumer-level sales.
@@FauxHammer The air pump idea is exactly the same as the good old Photocentric's blow-peel [look it up], the small [tiny?] support tips on a large amount of supports has been done for ages in pro slicers, and is completely doable and being done even for huge models on Voxeldance Tango slicer , just FYI.
Great video, extremely informative, your efforts in this video are greatly appreciated, now that was a review! 😀
@@FlesHBoX Almost like some dimbulbs charging >$1,000 for a mid-range chinese printer with chinese NanoDLP boards and a cheapo strain-gauge, except this HeyGears printer actually works out of the box, and prints excellently, LOL
@@retromodernart4426 wow, you really holding onto that grudge for a while eh?
This printer sounds amazing. And the feature set is perfect for someone like me. I’ll wait until these features trickle down to the sub $600 printer. In the meantime I will continue playing with my bamboo labs A1.
I'd be happy with a slightly smaller plate and non-feeding system, the basic pour lip and the slice system is SUCH a game changer that an "A1" or more like "P1S" level printer would be an absolute BEAST in the market.
The amazing BS of voiding your warranty from "damage caused from using 3rd party resins" is a complete load of crap and an absolute no sale for me.
I don't care how well it works.
EDIT: Oops. I forgot to like the video at least.
Here ya go ;)
I AM excited to see companies copy/expand on some of these ideas. The slicer seems pretty damn cool and the air assist does sound like a game-changer.
Great review.
Exactly. As soon as I heard that apple came to mind witz their hate for 3rd party products and overpriced machines
fair
@@leobro6398 Remember the first Macintosh commercial?(I'm that old :p ) THAT'S what I remember when I see Apple these days.
They're the polar opposite of how they saw themselves back then.
I own a Voron 3d printer so you know exactly how I feel about proprietary designs. Heh.
And it's cloud connected. And seems like it won't even let you print if you choose not to log in. That's a real deal breaker
@@leobro6398 I felt more reminded of what HP does with their printer, with the ink-lock-in and now the abo model where you can't even print without their printer being allowed to phone home to the mothership.
Sorry, but we should not allow this parasitic behaviour ruin another industry.
No one is questioning if your dragging out the video. Relax
Nobody sensible is., but I was more just trying to get a joke in there as It was going on a while even for my liking
@HeyGears Please make this more affordable for the masses instead of the elite. It doesn't mean you aren't a premium product, but being in every 3d resin printers home would be a statement in and of itself. I agree with Ross on this that , Thousands of units sold is way better then hundreds. Also, with huge sale numbers means the manufacturing itself becomes less and streamlined increasing bottom line profit. The resin for your printers is crazy expensive. This printer isn't for large companies to use for production, they would get industrial machines and write off the cost, so , you cant price the materials the same. I don't want to have to say well , do I really want to print this because it will take this much resin and I cant buy anymore right now because of other living expenses. Make it available to a large consumer base , not just those that have 6 plus figure incomes and large amounts of deposable income.
what you dont get is : THOS IS NOT FOR HOBBY-USERS they dont want stuff like that ,the compete with formlabs and similar printers, not creality elegooo or similar. And suddenly everything makes sense, tje price, the materials, the closed system etc. 😮 and they dont want to support the masses of normal users.
I mean 1399 isn’t that bad for this size / quality. It’s the price of a laptop.
I already love my Mega 8k but I’d think about giving this a shot.
The resin is definitely $$& though :(
Worth mentioning, but write-offs don't mean "free or partially paid for stuff" like people seem to think. Just means not getting taxed on the income that was used for the purchase. The company still pays for the stuff, they just don't have to pay taxes on the equivalence of their expenses on their gross revenue. It's like not having to pay income tax every paycheck, but getting taxed on all income that wasn't used for essential expenses when you file your taxes.
“The elite” lmfao do you really talk like this in real life. It’s literally just an expensive printer. Relax.
I find this request redundant. "Please, make this cheaper so I can buy it" would be a valid demand on something first necessity, not on a resin printer.
I’m an old school FDM guy. I learned to print by flogging an Ender 3 within an inch of its life, and by the time it finally died, I was printing carbon fiber polycarbonate. That was a years long process and I learned a lot, but as soon as the P1P hit the market, I snapped it up. I got into printing because I wanted to make cool stuff. Everything else was ancillary to that goal. I got out of the tinkering game (mostly, I’ve done a few mods to my P1P) as soon as I could, and I haven’t looked back.
Resin printing has always been a pain in the rear, which is why I never took the plunge. I just want it to work. If that was the case here, I wouldn’t mind the price tag. But so long as the ecosystem is so closed that I don’t even have the option to screw around, I’ll keep looking. It just works in 90% of the potential use cases is great, but I need to be able to fine tune to hit the other 10%. If I can’t, why bother?
It appears that the Bambu Labs' success can be attributed to several factors, including the quality of their printers and software, as well as their competitive pricing. However, it is important to consider that a closed ecosystem may deter potential customers, particularly with regard to the availability and cost of materials.
I think the resin bottles and RFID is my biggest concern.
Bambu have managed to do it the acceptable way by using it to identify their own filament and pre-load the settings into the slicer for good prints.
But I worry about others getting aboard the same kind of system with less than stellar plans for the future, where they could easily go down the HP ink route but for 3d printing, which I am already feeling uncomfortable about with this printer given that they lock you out of setting exposure settings and lock it to the resins that they sell. It wouldn't shock me if down the line the printer can track unique identifiers on the rfid tags and register a bottle as empty so you can't refill it.
in User Experience, Bambu is great, but right now Qidi Max 3 vs P1C, and the new Tech Q1 Pro vs P1S, are a bit better when it comes to printing, especially features and materials that they can print
Don't forget the huge security concerns with Bambu printers, the data they are sending, access to your entire network, and the need to isolate it from your other devices. Add in that they have poor support and tried to cover up a required recall for the A1 fire hazard flaw.
"However, it is important to consider that a closed ecosystem may deter potential customers, particularly with regard to the availability and cost of materials." I think this is definitely the case for some but not all. You can build a computer and a lot of people do, but a lot of people don't want to fuss around with it all. This is probably a sign of the market maturing.
I would say with a young market people need to try and be able to change things to get it to work with their conditions. With a maturing market a lot of people coming in don't want to do that and they just want the end result and this approach sells to that ideal.
I think there will always be a market that demands the ability to choose their own resins so the printers that do that aren't going anywhere. However I suspect that the market that just works will probably end up being bigger. Most people forget that the time for working things out means most people will go for things that just work as they don't want to have to do that.
@@xRaptorScreamx Really? I have yet to find a "consumer" filament that doesn't print well in my X1C--pla, petg, tpu, asa, pla-cf, and that's just my list. And the AMS is definitely still a killer feature.
Dead on arrival:
- have to use their resins
- have to use their slicer
- formlabs clone
- 385nm vs 390 is a negligible difference. I don’t think that’s what’s giving the better quality it’s probably the combo of their proprietary resin and settings.
- surely layout/orientation should be done before support?
- making slicing a “background task” is not a excuse for slow slicing.
- yes it’s cheap but when you add up the wash station, cure station and PRM it’s not anymore.
- worrying that exposure test cracked, shattering parts of build plate, first print failed.
This thing is awesome!
- Other resins have already been shown to work with it.
- Get to use their slicer
- Clone? Did you watch the video?
- I get the same quality with Siraya Tech resin as theirs.
- The supports will always recalculate after you orientate your files.
- Who said its slow? Did he say that? I must have missed it but its similar to other slicers.
- You dont have to buy their washer and cure station but I got the Christmas deal and saved around 300 - 400 bucks.
- Now you are just looking for stuff to complain about. 😅
That last bit was his fault really. User error
@@Blue-eu5qnshush fanboy
As someone looking at buying a resin printer, this appeals to me the same way Bamboo labs does, no nonsense printing/slicer, that works when I want to print something to fix a problem BUT unfortunately I have to, for the timing being pass on this because unlike Bamboo not allowing for that tweaking if you want, and are not limited to their own filament/resin is an instant deal breaker. I live in an area where I can't immediately get proprietary consumables, and for wear parts that's no a big deal because keeping a small stock on hand take up little room, I can't keep a bunch of reels and bottles, I mean I could but I don't do enough consistent printing to justify it right now. Being able to quickly have a roll or two of filament shipped to me in a day or two from a few different suppliers is a plus, the possibility of not being able to print something because I have to wait several weeks for a bottle to be delivered because the supply chain isn't there or their resin is out of stock is a no go, and not being able to tweak to adjust for climate or altitude is not ideal. Hopefully they can do something like Bamboo where they allow us to make a resin profile that the printer will recognize. I realize I'm probably not the target audience for this printer but it feels like I am just outside their target.
Yep, I hope HeyGears reads your comment
Seems like this is really on Over Engineered Resin Printer, i don't think i'll be getting this given how you can't use 3rd Party Resin on this. The Only time i feel a company only resin is justified, is if Said Resin is Safe to use, i.e no harmful chemicals , safe to touch and no harmful odor. other then that it's a hard sell for an average consumer.
absolutely fair point
Absolutely this, I’m testing this printer at the moment and this out performed the Form Labs 3L in my last video.. amazing machine!
WOW! that;s great to know, I can;t wait for that video
It's terrible that the chemicals are so toxic. I hope we get good, inexpensive, non-toxic resin for these in the future or that something better is invented. It would be cool to own one of these, but that's just too much to deal with for me and a lot of other people. I also don't think they can print anything with real strength or use. They're just for nice looking models as far as I know.
It sounds/looks amazing, but a closed ecosystem is an absolute dealer breaker for me. Hopefully like anything the improvements they have made roll down through other manufacturers. I'd love to see heated vats or enclosures become the normal rather than something found only on the high end models.
Agreed on everything you said
Plus the pour spout. Genius
At 80.00 a bottle would cost me more a month then my Car Payment 😢. Silly Stupid, i will wait 😮😮😮
Good comparison
As someone who just wants the highest quality miniatures to paint this feels like it would be the way to go. I have no interest in it being a hobby unto itself. Avoiding misprints, learning software etc cost time and I'd rather just print and forget about it.
Would have been interesting to see how much more £ the resin is compared to others. Would be great to have a follow up to see if parts need replacing, will it out last comparative printers and perhaps save you money in the long term.
Cheers
Yeah and as I said there are buyers out there for this, so the printer certainly has value, I just personally wish it were open as do many other potential users
Another commenter here said the proprietary resin is 4x to 6x the price of the resin they currently use for their minis!
I'd be willing to fork out the cash for this amazing printer... but... it is completely out of the question since you are forced to use only their resin at that RIDICULOUS price.
Maybe if they do end up releasing refill packs, like you mention, at a reasonable friggin price... maybe...
A real friggin shame... damn.
Yep, that's how I feel too
3:17 those orange lights actually serve a purpose. They help to counter UV light leaking into the print chamber. These same lights are used in custom printer boxes to reduce UV leakages.
I wouldn't buy a printer where I am limited to 1 specific brand of resin. It is a clear no go.
Exactly
At 3x the price of other comparative printers. Maybe wait 6 months and see if many of the good features are replicated in cheaper models.
make that 18 months and you may be onto something. It;s been over a year since we got the GKTwo and only now are other brands adding heaters, and not great ones at that
Hmmm...buy this resin printer , washer, cure station...Or a down payment on a NEW CAR. good grief this thing is not remotely ready for the general public. $1400 for the printer $700 for the cure station $350 for the wash box, $75 for a bottle of resin = $2500 or more with Tax and shipping.....LOL thats hilarious
At first, everything sounds super interesting, but the extreme price for resin scares me off too much
Fun fact: The Russians actually switched to pens in space because pencils sent graphite dust everywhere
"We got you exactly the puppy you wanted! It's perfect! Except it's incontinent, constantly. Just a constant dribble of pee. We're sure you can over look it."
You're quite right, it indeed depends on the perspective from which you view the situation. For example, if you possess a patch of grass, a perfect little puppy could make this lawn brim with vitality.
I'm not sure why you are reviewing industrial printer (better and simpler, but then actually not, with weird features and compromises, locked-down ecosystem and industrial prices) for hobby printing miniatures 🤔 Well, if they asked, and don't want their gear back...
Formlabs next?
Suddenly Prusa SLS1 starts to make sense 😅
This printer is indeed amazing. The auto supports is next level. The auto leveling, heated resin, auto vat filing and the rest is awesome. I saw another review of this printer and it was said it prints 30% faster than the Saturn 3 Ultra and GKtwo (at least one of those). As others have said the only thing that makes this a deal killer is the inability to use third party resins. I get HG wants to safeguard their proprietary resin and settings but at least allow people to use third party resin and enter your own settings. IF they did this THEN I would throw away my Saturn 3 Ultra with a smile on my face.
Now the elephant in the room = price. Its steep but if you like the true autosupport system, which will only get better over time, is amazing. I figure for this level of printer its warranted but that darn no third party resin kills this for me. Thanks for the great video. Of course you do realize you should probably do a part 2 to go into more details right? hint, hint. ;)
Aww man, this one was enough work. Put it this way, I’d do another video if I thought they sell enough of these to warrant further support from me. I just don’t trust it will and the comments I’ve seen here echo the sentiment I’ve had about this since day 1
I understand. Thanks for the reply.@@FauxHammer
@@FauxHammer You do know you opened Pandora's box right? That means you need to try your Wargamer Resin in the UltraCraft Reflex and see if it prints. You know its crossed your mind... others have shown Sunlu, Jamghe and Elegoo resins work in it so why not try yours and see? Hint, hint... ;)
Big NO from me:
1) they ship to a very limited list of countries (they couldn't figure out how to ship to the entire EU at least). Bambu are professionals and they shipped almost everywhere day one
2) "proprietary" resin? no no no no no
Ah, far from a Bambu Labs X1C, P1S, P1P, etc. Lots of lots of issues this has for my uses (engineering parts):
- Need to be able to tweak the leveling. No printer I've seen is really well leveled straight from the factory
- Perforated build plate - un-usable for direct to plate printing of flat-ish parts that can't have supports or the supports are individual (not on a raft) and smaller than the holes.
- Needs a flex plate option - WhamBam where are you?
- Heating only the VAT is not optimal - for accurate z-dimensions the resin and build volume temperature must be the same to prevent part shrinkage as the newly-printed part surfaces aren't as hot as the resin. Best setup is heating the LCD from underneath + vat heating + build volume air heating.
- Closed resin system - ugh. There are many many superior 3rd party resins out that that one must use
- The air compressor system to inflate the area under the vat film is overly engineered/complicated - there must be a better way (I can think of a couple). Plus you want a vacuum between the vat film and the LCD surface during the retract and cure so that there is absolutely no trapped air between them. You want that film sucked down to the LCD surface as soon as the retract phase has started.
- Proprietary bottles . . ugh. I'm sure someone will produce 3rd party bottles and valves eventually.
- Overly-complicated vat - they need to have a simpler vat design w/o heater and auto fill features as people like me will not use either (I would install a heater inside the machine to make the whole machine be at my desired printing temperature ~35C or so)
- Really need to be able to see what's going on inside w/o having to raise the lid. That's just plain silly. Other machines suffer this as well and I've had to install interior LCD (no UV) lighting.
- Make the interior lights usable by being brighter
- Cure station needs to be able to cure while at elevated temperature to get the best post-cure properties - can it (pre)heat to 80C AND cure at the same time? Wasn't clear (maybe I missed it).
- Wash station is totally silly - I don't want my parts crashing into each other while they are in the soft pre-cured state. Currently I keep my parts on the flex plate and put the whole flex plate on an oscillating table inside a glass sealed container and that works really well. Otherwise for loose parts they need to be still and the IPA swirled around them to prevent damage
- And probably a few other issues one would uncover during actual use.
I had hopes, but alas they are dashed, especially for the asking price. Yes it is kind of like an iPhone, but in all the bad ways.
Oooh, a lot to respond to here, lets go..
- Need to be able to tweak the leveling. No printer I've seen is really well leveled straight from the factory
-- this is, and if it isn;t it tells you which screws to turn and what direction and how much of a rotation to turtn it.
- Perforated build plate - un-usable for direct to plate printing of flat-ish parts that can't have supports or the supports are individual (not on a raft) and smaller than the holes.
-- but when printing from the build plate you get expansion of early layers due to excessive curing of base layers. I don;t understand this arguement in resin TBH,
- Needs a flex plate option - WhamBam where are you?
-- If this is popular I;m sure they'll make one
- Heating only the VAT is not optimal - for accurate z-dimensions the resin and build volume temperature must be the same to prevent part shrinkage as the newly-printed part surfaces aren't as hot as the resin. Best setup is heating the LCD from underneath + vat heating + build volume air heating.
--- fair, I honestly didn;t check for chamber heating, i should.
- Closed resin system - ugh. There are many many superior 3rd party resins out that that one must use
-- agreed
- The air compressor system to inflate the area under the vat film is overly engineered/complicated - there must be a better way (I can think of a couple). Plus you want a vacuum between the vat film and the LCD surface during the retract and cure so that there is absolutely no trapped air between them. You want that film sucked down to the LCD surface as soon as the retract phase has started.
-- yep, I like it but not optimal, it does allow the vacum during cure, it releases before lift
- Proprietary bottles . . ugh. I'm sure someone will produce 3rd party bottles and valves eventually.
--yep
- Overly-complicated vat - they need to have a simpler vat design w/o heater and auto fill features as people like me will not use either (I would install a heater inside the machine to make the whole machine be at my desired printing temperature ~35C or so)
-- 6 of one, half a dosen of the other, it is a lot of expense for marginal benefit
- Really need to be able to see what's going on inside w/o having to raise the lid. That's just plain silly. Other machines suffer this as well and I've had to install interior LCD (no UV) lighting.
-- again, fair
- Make the interior lights usable by being brighter
--agreed
- Cure station needs to be able to cure while at elevated temperature to get the best post-cure properties - can it (pre)heat to 80C AND cure at the same time? Wasn't clear (maybe I missed it).
-- yes it can, sorry
- Wash station is totally silly - I don't want my parts crashing into each other while they are in the soft pre-cured state. Currently I keep my parts on the flex plate and put the whole flex plate on an oscillating table inside a glass sealed container and that works really well. Otherwise for loose parts they need to be still and the IPA swirled around them to prevent damage
-- exactly!
- And probably a few other issues one would uncover during actual use.
I had hopes, but alas they are dashed, especially for the asking price. Yes it is kind of like an iPhone, but in all the bad ways.
-- and i totally understand that flavour is not for everyone, I'm just glad to finally show something truly next-gen, but is this what people want? most people, probably not. and that's sad because it won't push the technology forward as well as it should
@@FauxHammer Thanks for your response. I agree, it's not for everyone. It feels like they are trying to make a mid-level printer between the $1,000 and $10,000 industrial printers, but optimized for figurine printing (which is fine - it's a big market), but they kind of muddied things a bit. Anyways, I may have gotten some things wrong in my comment, but you've set me straight. Much appreciate your reviews and your style!
@@FauxHammer
"Perforated build plate - un-usable for direct to plate printing of flat-ish parts that can't have supports or the supports are individual (not on a raft) and smaller than the holes.
-- but when printing from the build plate you get expansion of early layers due to excessive curing of base layers. I don;t understand this arguement in resin TBH"
As I'm also primarily printing functional pieces (both SLA and FDM) I would like to give my input to your answer. Yes, printing directly to the buildplate can cause "elefants foot" (as you know), but typically a slicer allows for dedicated compensation in the first layers. On parts that need to be dimensionally accurate or have needs for better form tolerances, printing a big flat surface of the model directly to the buildplate can be beneficial.
That said, it should be a very easy fix by simply offering a buildplate without the holes (maybe already fitted with some kind of magnetic plate?).
@@BenGi551yeah I see the for and against with perforated build plates, I support everything because I don’t trust elephants foot compensation, but I’m not buying one printer and dialing it in. I’m testing 5-10 printers a month.
So for me, i guess I just don’t care. I’m sure a flex plate will be available with enough demand
@@johnhinkey5336yeah, I think it’s more than mini printing, that’s just my thing, it has its benefits. But I agree. And I worry the market for this printer is not there. And I’ve told HeyGears as much.
Hopefully the read these comments and get the message
Looks like sunlu resin out the bottle, probably why cheap and so good! Sorry I can't say a bad word about sunlu Solid gray ABS best switch I've ever made used it for a year now with no issues and just works and absolutely solid! Stuff just doesn't break easy it's amazing! Same as sister company jayo abs
So the comparison to Bambu ends at consumables. Bambu is a premium printer whos company recognizes the need for inexpensive consumables. Their parts and filament are only slightly more expensive than the average competitors. This has been stated as an intentional fact from bambu. This printer is chasing the same market at form labs, not bambu. A more accurate title would be the best form labs competition...but that gets less clicks
"Their parts and filament are only slightly more expensive than the average competitors." I would say their parts are lower than competitors.
I would actually buy a Bambu resin printer but this aint it
fair
this is the video that's finally convinced me to get the uniformation gk2.
I get that
Same, and what countrys they support limits me.
BUT their blueprint software looks amazing. Is there a comparable software out there that is more refined than lychee and chitubox?
No 3rd party Resins are 100% a miss for me. You need the company to continue to exist, or you have an expensive brick because they don't allow you to dial in settings. Hope they don't decide resins prices are too cheap, and it's time to dial up the price because you're dependent on their singular whims. If it does well, hope they do better than Bubmbu does, keeping their resin in stock because they are all you got GLOBALLY lol. HeyGear's horrible choice seems more like what Bambu haters claim Bambu is doing to the 3DFM industry.
The tech is amazing, what they built is amazing. The lack of resin support is a death bell for so so so many reasons.
yep, this is a fair concern and especially from a new and unknown brand
As someone who does occasional commision works of resin prints (today arrives my new FDM printer for FDM as well) I am now seriously considering this. What I waste most of my time on, is checking pre-supports. Seeing they are bad. Re supporting all the required models, doing the test print, re printing after support corrections, etc etc etc. Usually I need about 0.5-1h for each print job to verify and ensure they are good. This ensures that a 10+h print job is not failing wasting way more time.... The approach they had and how good the auto supports look there, it would be a game changer for me - saving countless hours in the long run.
For bigger businesses, this is a tremendous time saver. It does not matter that the resin is a bit more pricey. For me as well - it is never the material cost that drives up my prices. It is labour.
One of my last jobs needed about 1l of resin (not exactly sure but before delivery the models were about 1050g so a bit more than 1l) and I love siraya tech ABS like. That is about 50 bucks of resin. Compared to labour - print preparation, procuring models. Supporting. Post processing. Sanding. The job was about 20h labour + waiting for 6 plates of printing. The material costs almost don't matter compared to labour time.
I use Siraya Tech with this printer. Works just fine with their settings. Super crisp detail.
@@Blue-eu5qn it sure does
Hands down, across the board: I am anti-proprietary. No matter how much money i have to burn, i will not buy this product.
the fact they got a locked down ecosystem, aren't open for setting adjustments and the price are a hard pass for me. i guess i'll go with the GKtwo at this point. i just have to find a way to with their annoying lid.
good call
Hi I enjoyed this video quite a bit it was a intuitive on what I am looking for resin printer. I will definitely look at buying this one down in the future after I dive into buying myself a first resin printer For a beginner. Then I will look at buying this one. Thanks for all the hard work you put in to doing this and I will make sure I will use your information when the time comes to buy this one🎉
Glad it was helpful!
I'm a specialist in filament based printing but this is the first liquid based system that made me interested in trying the method.
Brilliant, I knew this would have an audience
Don't get too excited. The messy resin sticky becomes tiresome.
@@rsilvers129 I completely agree. Automate the resin vat cleaning and I would leap at resin printing again.
Lovely machine and technology, but not for me, for my needs. Too pricey, closed systems SUCK in long term, expensive resin... Cool, but thats a nah from me dawg
absolutely fair, I;m still glad people know about this
Can't wait to buy this one. Itll be about a year of saving, but i cant wait.
Glad you like the look of it, it is amazing!
cant wait for the video when u do
Just like I have not bought into Bambu Labs for FDM (where I started 3d printing), I will give Hey Gears a hard pass as well for the overpriced closed ecosystem. However, I will look forward to other companies seeking to incorporate some of the things they do well in not racing to the bottom on price by compromising build quality too far.
good thinking
Closed resin system 🤮 instant no
yep, I hear you and agree
Say what you want about Bambu Lab, at least they don't force you to use their own filaments or stop you from calibrating your settings. $80/kg of resin is also a ridiculous price. If HeyGears wants to make a Bambu-style disruption in the resin space, they need to make their ecosystem more approachable to get people on board.
Agreed
As it happens I'm in the market for a new printer, as my voxelab is feeling rather old hat these days. I'd never heard of HeyGear until your video, and the printer sounds incredible, but those limitations on tweaking settings and using other resins are just too much I think. It feels like their slicer needs an "advanced" mode that gives access to various hidden settings like exposure etc, while allowing people to print out of the box of they want.
Yep, I hear you
The difference between this one and Bambu is not being able to use the material you want. No matter how good the machine and software are - that's a killer. They would have a chance if their resin would be affordable but the price is just outrageous. Bambu did it right - yes X1 costs a lot but it's one off cost, their plastic is cheap so running cost is low and purchase of their machine justifiable. I'm just glad to see Bambu approach has started sneaking into resin world.
They DEFINITELY need to take your suggestion of re0using the spring cap & just selling the resin bottles with disposable caps. The "cheap" bottle costing literally twice as much as most quality resins and the inability to tweak settings or use third party resins are an absolute no go for me. Those things alone are going to absolutely destroy the reach of an otherwise perfect printer that could fundamentally change all of resin printing by raising the bar in so many ways. I'll wait for the competition to do their homework & figure out how to offer all of this while still being fairly affordable, "Looking at you, Elegoo & Anycubic. Get your shit together."
We can pray
I say this as an exceedingly happy X1C owner... This printer is just far too "APPLE" for me. They take the apple approach so much further than Bambu did. Locking everything down to their ecosystem is toxic and I hope it fails hard. It's an absolute shame that rather than trying to be an innovator in the resin printing space, they are trying to be the domineering overlord.
What's going to happen is all of the copycat printer manufacturers are just going to steal the features that people like about this printer and sell a lower quality version of it for a quarter of the price.
Yes I expect that to happen also
Maker's philosophy is to reduce costs by doing instead of buying. How many wargames miniatures (and liters of costly resin) should we print to justify such a stratospheric price ? Only for professionals, I guess.
i think that is the aim, print masters on this and cast the rest.
Proprietary resin? Printers stored in a cloud account? Pass. Yes, the "Apple approach" is a way to get things done. But it's not my jam. If there were profiles for most 3rd-party resins, and a way to put 3rd party resins into their bottles, that would broaden out the ecosystem enough to work with. Then I'd just be complaining about cloud accounts and linux compatibility, which is sort of par for the course.
You’re not forced to work with the cloud. You can send print jobs to it directly through wifi or wired up to your network.
@@Teddyboy-EM Yeah, that's not my problem. My understanding from the video was you still had to register your printer with an account stored in the cloud even if you only ever intend to use LAN printing.
I would really like to see how this thing performs on scale model detail parts. The truth is that wargaming minis are about the easiest thing you can print. It’s almost impossible to screw them up. A 1/48 scale 500 pound bomb on the other hand… A much simpler shape… Which is why it’s much harder to get a very good print. and it’s why so many of us are trying to print at 10 µm and this thing only giving you 30 makes me have questions.
Can't wait for uniformation to respond to this to win back your affection
The printer seems way overpriced and not competitive. Being locked in to a closed ecosystem is a no go for me. Not being able to dial in seems like a huge miss also. I am looking to get into resin printing from the Bambu P1S, which is why I clicked on this, but this seems like a miss to me. This seems like an overly expensive printer that forces you to buy there overly expensive resin. If you use another resin "You void your warranty." F that, I'll keep looking. Someday someone will make a resin printer priced about the same as the P1S that has just as little headaches to use it, and I will buy one once that happens.
gone are the days of good product names huh! "Hey Gears" ??? I guess Americans should now create products called Tool what.....or....This Steel...or....Print for... Good Cowboy yes!
If I haven't stated it before, your Wargamer resin is incredible.
How do the HeyGears resins work on miniatures in terms of flex / durability?
Like every other resin. Their miniatures resin PAP10 here is too brittle, the softer resins loose a bit of detail
As someone who's been in the market for my first resin printer for a couple of months (and who's first fdm printer was indeed a bamboo), this is now at the top of my candidate list.
It's impressive but too closed ecosystem for me. I hate the Apple philosophy of closing everything down and taking users for idiots. I prefer more open solutions and ability to tweak stuff.
Gotta love these vids..."the best printer ever!" But first...you cant watch your progress through the cover....the wash system is garbage...you cant use other resins...you cant be in the room with the compressor...it cost's an arm and leg......oh but did I say...its the best printer ever!
will the prints from this printer cure okay with other cure stations if I was to not buy the HeyGears wash and cure station?
Owch was looking at this printer when the video started, price for printer did not bother me as paid that much for my Bambulabs X1C
Couple of put offs are
- Looks like the slicer is even more reliant on internet than Bambus - Looks like most of it is ran at there end especially the slicing itself, as states when importing files speed is dependent on Network Speed
- Resin Cost - there cheapest resin is £45 for 1lt which I could cope with especially with less fails, but the higher stuff is way out range, I understand they are pro grade engineering resins
- Resin LOCK - this is the worst game changer for me - use resins with specific properties from Certain Companys and they dont have them available
Even the locked eco system of Formlabs can use 3rd party resins if you are willing to PAY
01:10 _"Same consumer needs as Bambu, because this printer isn't chasing resolution nor is it chasing speed"._
Correction: when Bambu Lab arrived on the market, the X1-Carbon destroyed the competition because it was the first FDM 3D printer whose standard printing SPEED was 300 mm/s instead of the standard 50 mm/s we were blocked at for YEARS with Prusa & the clones. It offered this insane SPEED with good printing QUALITY as well as RELIABILITY in a sleek USER-FRIENDLY package (hardware+software) like Apple; and unlike Apple: at a very good PRICE POINT. Icing on the cake: closed chamber to print advanced materials + multicolor printing with the AMS. In summary:
Insane speed + innovation + Western build quality + Chinese sales price
That's the four reasons why Bambu crushed the competition, and SPEED is clearly one of them.
EDIT: the fifth reason is of course that Bambu Lab doesn't lock its customer into using their filament rolls only, it is so obvious in the FDM world that I forgot to even mention it.
Solid unit, but at a cost. You get what you pay for.................Well for the most part.
dunno what you were doing at 3:32 but it REALLY looks like you were liking this printer 🤪
love is love
😂
@@FauxHammer free love 😍
Would you actually *buy* this printer?
Completely closed and proprietary ecosystem - even Bambulab did not go that far. Once the company goes tits up, you have a paperweight...
Hello, I would like to ask about the comparison of this printer and the latest news: Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra.
I'm all about the quality of the previews.
Thank you very much for the comparison
You'd think companies would understand proprietary consumables (filament, resin, heck even juicero's fking juice packs) will NEVER work. It's fine if you have those proprietary resins, but don't lock out other resins. Notice how you can't name a company that's pulled this stunt still in business.
When they build a follow up printer that has the option to use my own resin, I'm all over it. Everything else about it is amazing. Sure, prices are high, but I'm 100% willing to drop a cool $3K on the printer + cure station + PRM if it delivers even half of what you showed. I mean, not having to deal with Lychee's broken "stable" release that corrupts my files (oh just use the beta! ...that also corrupts my files, but in a different way! but I digress...) is a godsend. But paying all that just to be locked into $80 bottles of resin from a single company I've never heard of until now.... uh.... no. Definitely excited for the future though.
£90 for a litre of resin 😮😮
Yeah, exactly!
They think they can duplicate Apple's successful IPhone proprietary approach. The difference is simple: Apple was ALREADY a massively successful company that had proved they could deliver.
I think they could learn some more from Bambu Lab. Bambu has its own filament that is super well optimized for the system and enables the printer to know what color and material you are using automatically (if you have an AMS) but you are also able to use whatever document you want. This should be how this resin printer works. Give advantages to using first party resin, but allow users to use their own.
Also they should add an advanced node that enables all the normal settings you can access in other printers. Many people would never need those settings, but a lot of people would.
Just wanted to point out that there is a high pitched whine through all of the audio. It's low volume but it is there. Video is great but once I started hearing it I couldn't stop, thought I was going crazy for a minute.
Someone else said this, I can’t hear it on either my speakers or headphones. I’ll need to double check this somehow, but be some odd frequency my hardware can’t output.
What you watching on?
@@FauxHammer Watching on PC, heard it on Opera and tested in Chrome and Edge to see if it was browser related. Also tested with and without my virtual audio drivers. It almost reminds me of interference whine, the kind of frequency that is low volume enough to not notice until you notice it. My headphones are pretty high range and running through a dac/amp, so if it is imperceptible on most hardware that would not surprise me. I also pulled up another of your videos to compare them and didn't hear it there.
Honestly I didn't even hear it until just before you were talking about the air compressor noise, but I went back in the video and it starts right at the beginning and persists through the entire video.
This printer looks and sounds brilliant , I'm not happy with the fact that you are going to be tied in to this particular company for all your accessories such as the resins so if in future it gets confirmed that you can use a particular resin by just pouring it into one of their shaped bottles then great!, but can you tell me do I have to buy these items on top of any resin or do these items come as standard with the machine when you buy it?.
Ultra Craft Pulsing Release Module
£694.80
Reflex Temperature and Liquid Level Sensor
£58.80
Because if you do even with your £40 - £50 discount it's still going to cost me the best part of £2000 + pounds which is £1000 more then what I actually wanted to spend as I was thinking of buying the Phrozen Sonic Mighty Revo 14K Resin Printer.
Look forward to hearing your reply, many thanks.
First off,
Thanks for this review. I’m brand new to 3D printing and want a printer with this review I think I’ve found it. Time is $ you hit the nail on the head I want a mid priced machine that I press a button and print. That’s what I’m looking for. I want a machine that will allow me to make statues for my personal collection I’m not looking to go into business. Thanks again for this honest review
Actually impressed and watched the whole video. I was excited about the printer.
Then the wash and cure part of the hobby was presented.
Nope....
Guess I'll keep using my Ender3 and not need gloves and a respiratory mask .
How much I'd like to have a resin printer, it's the biggest downer ever to go full chemist after a print is done. High quality or not...
Sad actually.
Much respect for the brutal honesty and pointing out the things that make the printer such a high quality design.
Also single handedly making the dude in the stock footage famous lol.
I am a hardcore FDM tinkerman, I know no-one else in the world has the same printer I have, because even the wiring is custom.
But I'd dread go through all of it again on Resin printing. So this would be perfect for me.
Except it is miles away from what I am willing to spend on the setup, let alone maintenance (including the raw material). So, no. I will wait....
That much for a 33 micron printer in 2024, that's locked to garbage super overpriced proprietary closer source resin ecosystem. lmfao No thanks, we don't need another scumbag FormLabs or PhotoCentric company trying to exploit businesses with their underperforming and overadvertised junk that's really not justified whatsoever for the huge costs vs a literally bottom end printer like the Mars 4.
Stick to £200 printers that get 18 microns, maybe a half pixel light bleed.. (i.e. 9 micron) and the ability to use pretty much any typical resin on the market rather than be locked into proprietary resins, hardware that can't be serviced yourself, spares that cost a small country, and an ecosystem designed to extract the maximum amount of money from you for the bare minimum.
I despise companies like this :P
I have 2 friends with a bambu fdm. Not a joke.. a good beginner fdm printer is capable of outperforming those insanely expensive bambu Machines. I dont understand the Hype. Shouldnt it be a huge difference in every way for the amount of money you have to pay for it?
Watching this Video and have to immediately compare it to the saturn 4 ultra...same design, faster, quality wise top of the line but a thousand dollars cheaper. I wont ever get the point of the expensive Printers.
Locked to a proprietary resin and ZERO ability to adjust print settings is all ANYONE needs to know to realise this thing should be avoided at all costs. If the company goes bust or even stops selling resin in your area, you have a $2200 brick. Even if you try and use generic resins it's a crapshoot what quality print you'll get. Proprietary resin is one thing but no control of slicer parameters? That's just f*ing stupid.
It does a few really simple things well. Really basic stuff that, shockingly, no other printer maker reliably does. Just, kindergarten-level stuff, like a clean interface, a heated vat or a pour spout on the vat, or basic one-handed locking mechanisms on the plate and vat. But then it does dumb stuff like a practically opaque lid and holes on the build plate - completely unnecessary on an 8.9" printer. Then look at the design of that wash station - so stupid it baffles the mind, and the cure box that costs hundreds of dollars more than a 12K Saturn 3 Ultra. The compressor gimmick to release the FEP is clever but again, it's implemented in the most ham-handed and hald-a$$sed way possible.
Bambu is praised because "it just works", but it's also a viable product because you don't have to use their RFID-encoded filament, and you can use different slicers and adjust parameters. The one thing that Bambu gets (justifiably) criticised for is its closed-source firmware and proprietary components. But this thing takes that predatory, anti-consumer practice and dials it up to 11 with even basic consumables locked down. I'm honestly surprised you're able to change the FEP yourself - and I'm making a big assumption here that you actually can.
This isn't an Apple iPhone, it's a Blackberry. Trying to do something new and failing dramatically in execution. And where's Blackberry now?
There's one good thing about this printer - it's implementing new and clever tech that other, better and more sensible companies will adopt and use to further the overall ecosystem. But HeyGears? They'll probably be dead in the water in a year or two. And all their customers will be screwed.
Good video. If I was a rich boy, I'd add this to my collection of machines for the perfect prints. But, on a regular basis for a regular guy like me, it's too expensive, and I'm certainly not keen on the limitations in flexibility and resin. Guess I'll have to keep waiting for a heated bed, auto leveling, real 20um prints, and a sub $1000.00CAD price.
You've done a great job as usual, yes it was long, but there was a lot to explain too. IMHO I'd be fine with the price of the printer and the lock-in with the resin if I would be able to tweak the settings if needed (even just changing a couple of % up or down). But then adding €750+ for the (noisy) release module and €850+ for a curing station is absurd and the price of their resins makes me get a feeling they want to squeeze a little too tightly ...
Damn, at the begging I was quite pissed off at this proprietary approach to 3d printing, looks like an apple move, or traditional 2d printer's mentality, but I can't deny that quality, or how amazing immediate perfect supports are
Wow just freaking wow! Just when I was about to drop the “hammer” on the Uniformation GK2 thanks to your funny commentary. By the way you put out some great videos I’m about to drop the “hammer” on this new printer. Thanks a lot. While I’m at it, since Hey Gears is reading the comments, can you cut a break on the price?
I was moments away from ordering this machine after watching about 75% of the video. The price of the printer is fine, I am more than willing to pay that kind of asking price for a machine that "just works". The curing station is the some story. The wash station and air pump missed the mark and IMO fall firmly into the "overpriced gimmick" trap, but I can make due with what I currently have. Even being locked into a specific brand of resin wasn't a deal breaker for me. Again, if it works, I'm happy.
But... Seeing the price of the resin was 1,000% a deal breaker for me. There is ZERO reason for it to be priced that high outside of "well, you don't have a choice do you?" and that just soured me to the whole brand now. This was like watching a marathon runner absolutely demolish every other competitor, then at the last moment, stop and begin furiously punching themselves in the balls until all the other runners have finished.
This is a good selling video, hands down.
The machine of the future must combine printing, washing, curing.
Coupling machine with resin is a good step but I guess this dominance approach will fail ... for now.
Good machine for some people but we have this quality since long already.
And handling, well quite not superior yet.
Amazing product, but prices itself out of reach of the hobbiest. I like 3D printing as a hobby, not just using it as a tool with both resin and fdm! The ability to choose resins based on cost, and then mix/match for performance (robustness vs detail) is incredibly important for what I print, mainly for my children. Great video, shame I will never afford the printer or curing station (nothing wrong with a Popcorm Bucket curer).
Absolutely yes, but in the same breath absolutely-the-f-not. Having to pay that much for their resin every single time? No thank you. That's asking too much of a general consumer. Otherwise I agree. The only technology missing would be a tank heater for the vat.
I was on the fence about it being only 33μm. I've never 3D printed before at all but I want to pick it up as a hobby. $3,000 for the whole kit + resins starting out is too rich for my blood so it won't be my first 3D printer but I will consider Hey Gears in the future. Sucks that there is no 3rd Party support so I can't experiment with it but for me that just means it is more specialized. Your test print more than shows that they know what they're doing. When I go pro I do want to pick one of these up though. I need the the smoothest prints I can get cause I want to make 3D-printed masters for high fidelity Platinum Silicone mold making. Something like this would be huge if I can minimize any stepping. I also want to use it for Mini Figs naturally. So one day, but not today.
I think I will start off with the Elegoo 9K. The full kit is around my budget and from what I have seen it does pretty decent prints.
I think I'll stick with my Saturn 2... no way I'd be paying over 2k for the printer and another 100 bucks for resin... while yeah the printer sounds nice and neat but IMO that is not the reason the printer should be marked so high as well as the cost of the resin, to me it just sounds like a perfect excuse to sell the printer at a massive markup and label it as 'what the community wants'
But the fact you are also sponsored by them and you make a cut out of each sale who ever uses your link just rubs me off the wrong way... it's hard not to believe there is any bias in this review.
I'm all for reviews but I tend to stick with raw reviews from people who are not given anything (besides the printer/product) to review.
Slicer catching up with lychee pro then? Lychee 6.0 just realised you won't find better and that tells you what's wrong and actually takes you to the issue if ones flagged before slicing lychee is so powerful
Not much change out of $US2,000.00 for the complete setup. Not really within the reach of the average user.
Does this finally dethrone the GKtwo as your printer of choice?
Also, personally, restricting a user to use first party resin or 'void your warranty' is an instant no buy / no recommend from me. same reason I use android over apple, I don't like being told how to use my purchases.
No, it does not dethrone the GKTWO,
It is a better printer yes, in every way. but the locked down approach to resin printing will put off more users than it should
@@FauxHammer absolutely agree. I'll keep with my Saturn2 and heating band I think. Another brilliant video Ross, I didn't mind it being on the long side because it was worth saying, it didn't feel padded out
@@jod3000thanks so much
If it had a bigger build plate, and the ability to use 3rd party resin and a cheaper price I’d be all over it $2300 plus $95+ for resin is pretty insane … think I’ll stick to the GKTwo for the foreseeable future…
it's too expensive, I came here to watch this video and buy it instantly. but when I saw the price, The lack of being able to tweak settings and being stuck with only their resin. it's a hard pass. I guess I gotta wait for the next printer that can print in this quality. with less issues. and can use any resin I want. It looks great. but man that price. I need /wash / cure / and printer. getting everything from them is like 2400$ + I need resin at 60$ a bottle. That's insane. I've been on the fence about the GKtwo because of it's price. Oohh that's not including the 700$ air puimp. so 3100$ Yeah i'll wait a few more years If I need to. Thanks for making the video thou. It lets me know this tech is available and hopefully the other manufactuers can catch up at a reasonable price.