Longer Orange 30 3D Printer Review

The Longer Orange 30 is an SLA 3D printer that is perfect for producing models with high details. Read our Longer Orange 30 3D printer review for the specs, features and quality of print to expect from this printer.

3D printer manufacturers have upped their game and are producing versatile and affordable machines. Even better, these machines (both FDM and resin 3D printers )are coming at affordable prices.

During the first years of SLA technology, 3D printers using the technology used to cost several thousand dollars. However, today, there are budget resin 3D printers that cost less than $1000. One of such 3D printers is the Longer Orange 30 3D printer. 

AVAILABLE ON LONGER 

The price difference between FDM and SLA 3D printers is not really that big today. However, SLA 3D printers tend to print higher quality models.

Longer Orange 30 3D Printer Review

In this Longer3D Orange 30 review, we look at the strengths and weaknesses of the machine.

Longer Orange 30 3D Printer Specs

General Specifications

Printing Specifications

Software Requirements

Dimensions & Weight

Unboxing the Orange 3D Printer

The Longer Orange 3D printer comes packed in foam. The printer is quite small and comes pre-assembled.

The printing table is packed separately but the orange protective housing has to be assembled from 5 disks and two rubber bands.

Other items in the package include:

•  2 3M filter funnels
• 5 playing cards
• A pair of latex gloves
• A set with all the necessary Allen keys
• A power supply unit
• 8GB USB stick

Watch the video below for all the items that come in the box:

The package does not include a resin. Therefore, you will need to buy one of your own. We used the Rapid Resin from ELEGOO in green.

AVAILABLE ON ELEGOO

Orange Longer 3D Printer Overview

The Orange 30 SLA 3D printer works in an amazingly simple way. To begin, the printer’s heat chamber measures 120 x 68 x 170mm, which is quite small. Overall, the printer measures 200 x 200 x 390 mm and weighs about 7kg .

The Orange 3D printer is made of sturdy metal while the chamber’s protective housing is made of orange acrylic glass.

The printer’s controls can be accessed through a 2.8-inches touch display screen on the front. On the rear, you will find a USB port, the power button, and the power supply that delivers 72 watts.

 

 

 

Unlike FDM printers, SLA machines have a single moving Y-axis.

Setup Process

The setup process is pretty simple, thanks to the included instructional videos by Longer. The setup videos are available in the included USB stick. You can also watch the videos on YouTube.

Watch the video below to see the setup process:

The first step is to assemble the housing. The five discs are brought into position with the enclosed mounting supports and then fixed with the rubbers.

You can then switch on the Orange 30 3D printer, mount the print bed and then level it. To do this, you’ll have to remove the resin shell, loosen the four screws of the print bed, and move the Y-axis to the zero point.

From there, take a sheet of paper and use it as a spacer, press the print bed to the floor and fasten the screws again.

This is all that is required for the assembly.

From here, you can start printing the sample files or load your own files onto the USB stick.

However, to print your first model, you need to install LongerWare slicer in your PC.

Longer Orange 3D Software

The Longer Orange 3D printer is shipped with a proprietary slicer software known as  ‘LongerWare’. This is a slicer that is specially designed for the SLA printer.

The printer can also be controlled using Chitubox. However, to use Chitubox, you have to reformat the file created in LongerWare to the lsg30 format. There are instructional video guides on the USB stick on how to use third party slicers with Orange 3D printer.

The LongerWare software is intuitive to use and guides you through the slicing process.

Here is an overview of how the slicer works:

To begin, upload an STL file to the slicer. At this stage, you can scale, rotate, or move the model on the print bed. The software will automatically detect any errors in the file, such as holes in the surface. If there are any errors, LongerWare offers the possibility to repair them.

The next step is setting up support structures. These structures are required for objects that start in the “air” . This support is not to be confused with that of FDM printers. With FDM printers, support is required even when the model has strong overhangs. The Longer3D Orange 30 has no problems with that.

Before you can start slicing, you can add a base plate. Adding a base plate is recommended since the object hangs upside down and the first layer gets more stressed with each additional layer. When you don’t add the base plate, large objects may loosen during printing and fall into the resin basin. The object is then become unusable and may also damage the printer if the print bed presses the object into the LCD.

After slicing , you can select the resin used and set its exposure and rest time. These values will depend on the resin used. You can find the exposure and rest time of different resins online.

To save the file on a USB stick, press “Save Job”. Make sure the slicer software selects the correct printer. The different Longer printers are compatible with different file formats. For example, if you have the Longer 10, the file format should be .lsg instead of .lsg30. The .lsg format will not be recognized by a Longer 30 3D printer.

Slicer Errors

The LongerWare slicer works great and leads to wonderful prints. However, we noticed two major problems :

• The program requires admin rights. Before every start, you will be asked whether you really trust the software. This is a little inconveniencing.
• The program does not scale with your screen resolution. We ran it on a laptop with a 4K monitor and an external 1440px screen. In this combination, the laptop screen is scaled to 300%. Otherwise, the programs are too small. But LongerWare can’t handle that. Even the “heading” is cut off and all selection fields are too small such that we couldn’t see anything. When the set the screen scale to 100%, everything works fine and in the right size. However, all the other programs cannot be used. Another problem with scaling is that the slicer cannot run on the external monitor across the entire screen. When we tried running the slicer on the external monitor, it shifted to the laptop monitor.

Here you can see the format errors.

Printing Process

The Longer3D can print models with fine quality, achieving resolutions of up to 10μm per shift. Generally, you can expect fine results from an SLA 3D printer that can reach 50μm achieve resolution.

The printer’s X and Z axes are not implemented by motors, but by exposure of the resin to UV diodes. This is precisely how most SLA 3D printers work.

Instead of a normal backlight, the printing plate has 405nm UV diodes for hardening the resin. The process generates a lot of waste heat. To keep the print area cool, the printer  has an inbuilt fan.

The Orange 30 has a 2K display that manages a  resolution of 47.20μm per pixel in the print area .

The exposure takes place simultaneously and evenly across the entire surface. As a result, the printer always takes the same time to cure the resin, regardless of the size of the area to be cured.

Generally, the Longer Orange 3D printer can print up to 30mm layer per hour. Of course, this will depend on the layer thickness and exposure time.

Printing Your Models

After setting up the Orange 30 3D printer and preparing the first file, you can start printing. Ensure that the printer is in a well-ventilated place  since the resin has a very strong odor and the fumes are toxic.

RECOMMENDED: Best 3D Printer Ventilation System

Also, ensure the printing is done in a dark room. Otherwise, the resin will harden immediately. Close all the curtains to prevent sunlight from getting in the room where you are printing the resin.

When working with resin, you should wear protective gloves that are resistant to solvents. It’s also good to have a roll of kitchen paper ready and to cover the work area with newspaper .

How SLA 3D Printing Works

After putting all safety precautions in place, you can start printing.

Fill the resin bowl about 2/3 with resin.  After that, the print is covered with UV and dust protection. Next, insert the USB disk containing your file, select the file you want to print. and press “Start”.

The 3D printer will start printing and will take a couple of hours, depending on the settings and size of your model.

The settings depend on the resin used. With the Elegoo Green, we achieve great results with 60 seconds burn-in and 8 to 10 seconds exposure time.

Post Processing

As soon as the print is done, the dirty part begins. You need to wear gloves and ensure there is good ventilation in the area. The print bed can be easily removed with a screw and the print object loosened with a spatula. Removing the print can be easy or difficult, depending on the burn-in time.

It is not uncommon for the base plate to break. However, that’s what it’s there for. To begin, you should clean the printed part. We recommend you use isopropanol to clean the prints rather than a generic turpentine substitute. The isopropanol gives the resin a very good solution.

After removing all resin residues, place the print in the sun or in a UV bath for final curing. The liquid resin will harden in the sun within a few seconds.

The next step is to clean the printer.

Wipe the print bed with kitchen paper and then rub it with isopropanol. Pour the excess resin from the bowl back into the bottle through a filter. The 3M filters are too big and unstable. Fortunately, you can buy replacements online or even print templates from Thingiverse.

If you let the residues drip off long enough, almost none of them will remain in the bowl or on the FEP film. You can also remove the residues with isopropanol. If possible, avoid wiping off the film as doing so can leave the print with scratches. When the film gets too many scratches, replace it. To do this, you have to loosen 24 screws with which the new film can be tensioned.

Replacing the film will take you about 30 minutes.

The Longer3D Orange 30 3D printer works very well out of the box. The only issue we have with the printer is the time-consuming cleaning in the post-processing period.

Print Quality

SLA printers produce finer models than FDM printers. With the Orange 30, we were surprised with how accurate it is. The fine structures on the Eiffel Tower or the Pi Tower are terrific. This makes the Orange 30 one of the best 3D printers for miniatures and other applications where details matter.

However, it’s not just about the printer. You should also use a good resin, do a good job during post-processing and use a good solvent .

The only problem we found was air pockets in large, massive objects. Therefore, make sure there are no bubbles floating on the resin when the print is started.

Conclusion: Is the Longer Orange 3D Printer Worth Buying?

The Longer3D Orange 30 3D printer has a slightly smaller build volume but the same display resolution as the Anycubic Photon S. Theoretically, the Photon S can print slightly finer. Whether the result is correspondingly better is questionable because the difference is really small.

Both the Longer 30 3D printer and the Anycubic Photon S deliver first-class results. However, the Longer3D Orange 30 is cheaper than the Photon S.

The difference between the devices is also small in the negative points.

Resin printers should only be used in areas with good ventilation. You should also consider the cost of the resin, which is about twice that of FDM filaments.  Also, you should be ready to do some post-processing work to get good prints from an SLA 3D printer.

The Longer3D Orange 30 3D printer is a cheap SLA 3D printer that offers professional results. It is one of the best resin 3D printers.

AVAILABLE ON LONGER