My first resin printer, and my jaw hit the floor. In April 2021 NOVA3D sent me the Elfin2 Mono SE, and after a couple of weeks of learning to wash, cure and clean, I saw a level of detail no FDM printer can match.
Unboxing, and a word on safety
A pretty standard unboxing, with one complaint: some of the packing was white polystyrene, not eco-friendly and really hard to get out. NOVA3D, please fix that. Inside I found everything: a plastic spatula, a spare FEP film (great on a starter printer), and 250 g of grey resin.
I started with water-washable resin I'd bought on Amazon. It's easier to clean, but it doesn't give the same detail as resin you wash in isopropyl alcohol. I also thought washable resin would smell less. It doesn't. Both smell. I printed in my studio with the window open. Always wear gloves and a mask when handling resin and cleaning parts, and I'd add safety glasses too: you never know when a bit of support might fly into your eye.
Built like a tank
Apart from the screen, the UV cover and the bottom cover, it's all metal: Z axis, build plate, bearings. It's very sturdy, doesn't wobble, and is extremely quiet. The only sound was a couple of times when the print peeled off the FEP at the start. The build plate is slightly tilted so resin drips back into the vat, and the vat has little feet so you can rest it without scratching the FEP.
Levelling is something you do once: lower the plate, loosen the small screws, level with a sheet of paper, tighten. Five minutes and it stays level for a long time.
My favourite feature: Wi-Fi. No more carrying a USB stick back and forth. You send files from the slicer straight to the printer's 8 GB internal storage and manage folders from the app. There are also LAN and USB ports at the back. Specs: 0.05 mm XY and 0.01 mm Z resolution, 20–40 mm/h, a 4.3-inch screen that reads well from any angle.
Slicing and printing
NOVA3D's own slicer, NovaMaker, is simple and easy, with useful auto supports you'll want to tweak. (I also found out how to use ChiTuBox with NOVA3D printers, and made a separate video about it.) I cured my prints with a UV nail dryer, and it worked really well.
The results: an upside-down Benchy in green washable resin, a Voronoi Pikachu that would be unthinkable on FDM, chess pieces, an octopus, and NOVA3D's own test print already on the printer, which made me say "oh my god, is this real?". Supports on miniatures were sometimes tricky to remove, but where they came off cleanly you can't even tell. My favourite experiment: the Elegoo Mars test tower, about 3 cm tall with stairs and writing inside, printed at 50% scale. All the stairs and even the tiny lettering are there.