Creality LD-002R SLA Resin 3D printer- Review and Unboxing!

Hey everyone! Today I have Creality 3D’s new SLA printer to review- the LD-002R. Let’s unbox it and take a look. Build quality looks excellent. Okay, a few notes. Most of the 3D printers I review use what’s known as FDM or fused deposition modeling. This is a SLA or stereolithography 3D printers. FDM printers squirt melted plastic out of a nozzle, SLA printers use light pixels to selectively harden a UV resin layer by layer. I’ll go into the pros and cons for each after our test print.

01:51 - You do need to wear gloves, a mask, and eye protection when using an SLA printer, Okay, now I am just going to level the bed. Let’s turn it on first. Okay, let’s move up the Z-axis. Let’s change the language to English, confirm. Okay and go back. Okay now let’s take out the resin vat. What I am going to do is I am going to use the Allen key to loosen the screws. Then we go to home Z. Now let’s tighten it. Okay, now let’s move the Z-axis up and peel off the sticker. The resin isn’t really good for you, so I am going to cover up a bit, cover up my bare skin.

03:44 - So that it won’t splash all over me, and of course wear glasses and a mask. The mask doesn’t help with the fumes but it helps prevent the droplets go into your nose and your mouth. You still need a pretty good ventilated space for this. So right now we are in the Creality slicer. This program is called CHITUBOX, it’s their new slicer for the SLA printer. Now let’s import our STL file. So my head is above the level, I want to scale it down a bit, until the red part goes away. And I want to rotate it to an angle not 90 degrees. I mean 45 degrees. Yup. Still, I see the base is a little off, so something like this, alright. So now I am at an angle. Let’s go to the support settings and add all support. These are all default settings. I didn’t do anything. I just use their default settings, if you want, look it seems like they have a lot of options for you to mess around but right now let’s just use their default settings. And then let’s rotate and see. It looks about right.

06:12 - But this is the support is all the way there, so let’s move it a bit to the center. Yup, like this, now it is in the center, looks about right. Okay, let’s slice it. Alright, let’s save it. It shows writing file, once it is done, the file will be done. And then we will do the standing one. Okay, this one should be standing. So I am not going to rotate it, no nothing, I am just going to the support setting and add all support. Alright. It looks like my arms, my legs, and my base all have support. Alright, it looks pretty good. So let’s save it. Let’s go back to slice it. Alright then save. Okay now, let’s test these two prints. Okay, let’s see how it came out.

I am just going to rinse the print off with some alcohol. Okay, I already rinsed the extra resin off. I am going to put it in the UV box to cure it, and that’s over there. Okay, I am going to use a UV box I made last time to cure it and I am going to put a link to it in the description box. Now let’s wait and see how it comes out. Okay, here are the three prints of my models. These two are printed on the new Creality LD-002R printer and this one I used the Ender-3, the FDM printer to print it. During the process, I made a mistake and printed out 3 different shapes (sizes) So it is not great for comparison but let’s take a look at the end result. So this one is very smooth, from the back, same, very smooth, no visible layer lines. But removing the support was a big problem. I made a mess. So the other one, same thing from the back, and the front is super smooth. Because there is no support.

Again, support removal, removing support is a problem. This one is printed from the Ender- 3. I think the layer height was set to 0.1mm. Ok- this is a tough call. The problem is I’m awful at this kind of support removal and I ended up really butchering these models. Screwing up the scale of the prints didn’t help any. I do functional prints, not decorative prints like this. The LD-002R printer did its job, it was easy to use, easy to level, there were no failed prints or print defects.

12:32 - The print is smooth where it should be smooth it’s only going to be as good as the GCODE I sent it I have no doubt that the slicing software can be dialed in to make support removal easier. My clumsiness is the biggest factor here But it does show the largest caveat of DLP printers. They really are an artist’s tool, and go best with a bit of artistic skill and dexterity. FDM printers like the Ender-3 and CR-10 Max, they are like a table saw- a tool for strong, functional parts that aren’t always pretty. DLP is like fine carving chisels- beautiful results, but a bit more skill required.

13:18 - It’s true you can make beautiful models on a DLP printer without being a skilled sculptor, but you still need a bit of skill to remove the supports and clean those models up. I’m sure my comments will be flooded with people bragging about how easy it is for them. Sure, maybe that’s easy for you, and yes I could focus on just this one skill for enough hours and get much better at it, but I could also focus on sculpting and get good enough to carve these without a 3D printer at all. The point of digital fabrication is to cut down on the number of hours we need to invest in skill acquisition. So final word- if you are accustomed to DLP printers and the post- processing their prints require, the LD-002R is a phenomenal value.

14:11 - If you already own an FDM printer and want an inexpensive DLP printer for high-resolution prints and understand some of the challenges that come with that- again great bet. I think LD-002R is better than most DLP printers in its price range, but I also think DLP printers as a first or only printer are almost always a mistake. Get FDM first, some people get the idea that DLP printers are like high-resolution FDM printers. No, they are meant for different end uses. Don’t get one because you want to print smooth functional prints. It makes no sense for that.

14:54 - They are for small commercial prototypes, figurines, jewelry if you are absolutely intent on doing any of those, the LD-002R is a great bet. If you like this 3D model of me and would like to show off your support removal skills, there is a link to MyMiniFactory in the description box where you can purchase the model for just $11 and all proceeds go to charity It’s a really good cause and not much money for such a neat print. If you like my videos please subscribe and tell your friends about me. If you’d like to see them a week before anyone else, please considering sponsoring me- links are in the description below. Ok, that’s it for today, until next time- remember, if I can do it, anyone can do it! .