UPDATED Halot Mage Review - 4 Weeks On

[@Timbodacious]

good review. can you use a heat gun on the back of your plate before removing your models to make them separate from the plate easier?

[@Down_Time_Dad]

Great video, would you be able to link a document with your chitubox settings? I'm just starting out and have had a few problems getting the first layer to stick!

[@Swift3DPrinting]

Hi! Sorry for only just replying! I don't currently have one, but have a print on the go with some adjusted settings. If all goes well with it, I'll happily put something together and link it for you.

[@danteinferno6513]

Thanks for the review! Excuse but I m french and I am not sure to understand everything you said ; if I undertood well, the firmware is not good and it will remain like that? And the halot box slicer is not good either? So can I consider this machine as good as a Saturn2 for fiability and print quality despite those problems or should I have to pass? Im looking for a good 8k to replace my photon mono 4k , so would you recommend it to me? I am a casual printer so I need something strong, easy to use and which produce fine prints😊

[@Swift3DPrinting]

You're welcome! Firmware for the printer is OK, and it works just fine. It's not the clearest to use, but very easy once you know where to look. There are no updates right now, but I'm sure there will be in the coming weeks or months to improve it further. Halot Box slicer is not good now for this printer, but that isn't really a problem, since Chitubox now supports the printer, and Chitubox is a very good slicer. So if you did decide to get a Halot Mage, I would currently reccomend just using Chitubox for slicing. In terms of specification, the Halot Mage is very similar to the Saturn 2, but it is around £200/200 Euros cheaper - which is a lot! Saturn 2 has been out for a year, so it has a lot of its bugs and teething issues ironed out, but if you're not desperate, then you could just wait a month or two to buy the Mage, and I'm sure it will have it's minor issues sorted too - but there is nothing wrong with it from my point of view as it is now. Personally, I have found the Halot Mage very easy to use - and I haven't owned a 3D printer previously - so I imagine you would find it easy to use too! If you like Anycubic printers, they have just announced the Anycubic M5s 12k - so may be work taking a look at that too - it has some exciting features, and it comes in at the same price as a Saturn 2, but is a big improvement over it.

[@kurtryankoch7356]

i appreciate the update ive been tempted by getting one of these but it looks like a nightmare with a 50 off coupon floating around i was tempted to pull the cord n get one...im not sure if the price vs quality is worth it

[@PhilDurham]

Nice review , interested because im a fdm print guy for the last 4 years but currently researching an sla printer for smaller things . The mage pro looks terrible in terms of software and just bad firmware design , this one however looks better even if its slower , toss up between a saturn 2 ,this and a anycubic m3 . How have you found this one in regards chitubox and lychee ? .any small irritating things in the software ? , Available spares etc Subscribed and looking forward to your next vid , keep it up

[@QCNick11QC]

Hey there, have you got some problem with print not sticking to your build plate?

[@Swift3DPrinting]

Hello! I haven't had any issues so far. I've done 6 different prints (all Creality Standard Rigid Gray resin), with a bottom exposure time ranging from 20 seconds to 40 seconds all with 3 layers, and had no problems with prints not sticking at any of those settings. If anything, when I did the cones of calibration, it adhered so well to the build plate that it broke a chunk off the bottom of the print as I removed it. On most of my prints I've also been adding a skate when doing supports to give a solid platform. I've been cleaning my build plate with isopropyl alcohol between prints if that's of any help. I've also heard of people using very fine grit sandpaper to help with adhesion in the past, but i haven't had to do this. The only other thing I can think of suggesting is doing a leveling check on your printer to ensure it is completely flat.

[@QCNick11QC]

@@Swift3DPrinting Ty mate, I've been playing with my Halot-mage for 2 week now and just seen that my build plate is not straight. As you said I gonna need to sand my build plate.

[@ttzombie]

WHICH ONE ?? Anycubic M5s - or - Creality Halot-Mage Pro - or - Elegoo Saturn 8k - or - ?????? ................ There are great options out there so which one??? Anycubic 12K & Auto leveling is impressive . Creality Halot-Mage pro has a autofill, tilt lid.

[@Swift3DPrinting]

Tough question! I watched a video on the Anycubic M5s 12k last night, and it looks great - the auto-leveling and auto-diagnostic are an impressive step forward - hopefully that will be a new benchmark feature that other brands will start to include as standard. The speed of the M5s looks good too - which places it in between that of the Mage/Saturn speed, and the Mage Pro speed. For me, they all have pro's depending on what you're after... The Saturn 8k has a track record to back it up, but is the weakest printer spec. wise, and comes in at around £200/$200 more than the standard Mage, which is the closest to it spec. wise. The Mage Pro and M5s are both nice steps forwards, with the Mage Pro offering the fastest print speed and the auto-fill/auto-empty, or the M5s with the auto-level and 12k - between those, I guess it's just which features attract you most!

[@JustTryGambling]

Don’t buy from Anycubic. Most of their printers since the original photon have been disasters in one way or another in terms of engineering. And their customer support is abysmal. I’m warning you, you will not be happy

[@MrDeicide1]

@@Swift3DPrinting ...attract you moist*

[@kousakasan7882]

What resin are you using? I got my halot mage preorder in March. But the creality precision resin has not been in stock. I emailed them, and they responded that they don't know when they will start selling the resin. Wish I had known that before I got the printer.

[@Swift3DPrinting]

Ah, that’s a shame - I had been wondering about that too! I’ve just been using the the Creality Standard Rigid resins - so far I’ve used the grey, black and transparent blue colours. There are some other 8k resins available already from other suppliers, maybe worth giving one of those a go?

[@purplemushroomcloud]

Creality customer service is an absolute nightmare to talk to. I had the lid to my Halot mage crack pretty bad, so went to their site to see if I could buy a new one. After an hour waitin to talk to someone, they wanted my order info. Then they sent me an email with a link to a site they said sells replacement parts ( why they don't sell them themselves I dont know), which was a bunk site that wouldn't even load. Really sucks because evwntually this lid is going to disintegrate.

[@Grom84]

can it go lower than 0.05 layer thickness?

[@gettingpolitical]

The UI is it difficult or strait forward (easy)?

[@beeboobop9414]

My exposure time is down to 1.6 and I still get a nub of that same cone

[@techsavvyhero]

Nice review! Subscribed :)

[@Swift3DPrinting]

Thank you!

[@cerealfordinnerx]

How have you find that the built in filter and exhaust handle the print odor and fumes?

[@JoshWayneTheFirst]

Partíally

[@crispynuggets9121]

I've had mine 3 days and not had a successful print yet. Not giving up but it is frustrating

[@arch-pc6dt]

I have yet to have a single print work so far I'm on fail #9 it's the leveling I can't get it to level correctly. Did you have any luck so far?

[@roberto924]

same issue here. all the prints fail and i have test different configurations. i'm trying to return this machine to the provider

[@adriancho1742]

So slow, can u share faster settings?

[@James-vq9nc]

With this printer, Are you stuck with using only the built-in V2 print adjustments? Of will it accept V3 print settings from the slicer? Thanks.

[@Swift3DPrinting]

V3 for Chitubox?

[@James-vq9nc]

For instance. The Creality halot Sky recognizes on version 2 of their software which is limited only to the basic print perimeters. Version 3 affords many advanced perimeters to dial in the quality of the print. Bottom line, v2 allows basic print settings whereas v3 is more advanced. You can check this by editing the machine in your slicer and seeing if there's a dropdown menu for v2 or v3. Select v3 and you'll notice in the print settings that there are more advanced settings. However when you try to print your model with v3 settings, if the machine renders an error, this means it only recognizes v2 basic settings. And that is BS to say the least.

[@MrBEnIbb]

Thank you for the viedeo! Does anyone else has the problem, with the 1.3.1 beta, that eyery time you want to export the file chitubox crashes?

[@Swift3DPrinting]

I’ve not had that issue personally!

[@MrDeicide1]

Great ! Now spend $20 and buy a decent microphone

[@turbo0589]

Why don't you spend $20 and get your ears clean bozo