Looking for a 3D printer for a beginner? The Lotmaxx SC-10 Shark may be for you. However, before you buy, get to know the nitty-gritty of the machine. This Lotmaxx SC-10 Shark review covers everything you should know, from specs to features, price to performance. Read on.
The LOTMAXX SC-10 SHARK is an entry-level 3D printer that is sold without any accessories.
The LOTMAXX SC-10 SHARK has some interesting features. Moreover, its print quality is something worth mentioning. Lets’s get started with the review.
LOTMAXX SC-10 SHARK Features
Printing Specs
X Y Axis Position Accuracy | XY 0.01mm. |
Z Axis Position Accuracy | Z 0.04mm |
Print size ( X Y Z ) | 235*235*265mm |
Print Speed | ≤200mm/s,Normal printing speed 45-90mm/s |
Layer Resolution | 0.1-0.4 mm |
Filament Diameter | 1.75mm |
Nozzle Diameter | 0.4 mm |
Filament Compatibility | PLA,ABS,TPU,Wood,copper-bearing,Gradient,etc. |
Print in multi color | Yes |
Software Specs
3D Printing Software | LOTMAXX,Cura,Repetier-Host,Simplyfy3D |
Supported File Formats | STL,G-Code,AMF,OBJ |
Operating System | Win/mac/linux |
Temperature Specs
Extruder Temperature | 260 deg C |
Heating Bed Temperature | 100 deg C |
Electrical Specs
Power Requirements | 100-120V / 200-240V |
Connectivity (Interface) | USB or SD Card |
LOTMAXX SC-10 SHARK Overview
The LOTMAXX team comprises professional C-level executives that have been in the industry for over 10 years. Therefore, we expect a lot from their flagship printer.
Check the video below for an overview of the printer.
The LOTMAXX SC-10 SHARK looks somehow similar to the Dobot Mooz. If you remember, the Dobot Mooz was realized through crowdfunding platforms and features 3 options: 3D printing, laser engraving and CNC milling.
However, the LOTMAXX 3D printer does not have a milling machine. Instead, it comes with a two-color extruder.
The issue with Dobot Mooz 1 3D printer is that it has a small print volume. Moreover, its CNC frame is too delicate. The SHARK aims to improve on these two shortcomings with a large print volume and a more robust structure. The printer boasts a print space of 235 x 235 x 265 mm, which is larger than that of the popular Ender-3 (220 x 220 x 250 mm).
In a nutshell, the Shark has successfully taken care of the essentials.
We’ve been testing the LOTMAXX SC-10 SHARK for about seven weeks now and have the information you need to know.
Unboxing the LOTMAXX SC-10 SHARK 3D Printer
The machine comes packed well. On the inside, you will find individual parts stored in the foam for protection.
Inside the box, you will get the following:
- Auto leveling kit
- laser engraving module
- Bicolor printing kit
- A two-color extruder
- 2 filament rolls
- Bowden hose/screws
- Accessories (nozzle, temperature sensor, UBS cable, cable ties, screwdrivers, etc.)
- 16GB microSD card
The printer is also shipped with a well-illustrated English manual.
If you have some experience in set up a 3D printer, you will not need the manual. If you are completely new to 3D printer assembly, the manual is easy to understand. You will set up the printer in about 10 minutes.
Build Structure & Quality
The LotMaxx SC-10 Shark features anodized gray (“space gray”) aluminium profiles.
Most of the printer’s parts are made of metal and look sleek. There are also a couple of parts (e.g., the filament holder, filament sensor and mainboard housing) made of grey plastic.
Printer Setup
Assembling the printer takes about 10 minutes. The assembly only involves putting the Z-axis on the base with 4 screws, attaching the screen and filament holder with two screws each, and finally, plugging the cables.
During the setup process, we decided to attach the 3D-Touch Autolevel sensor (but only activated it later in the firmware to test the manual leveling beforehand!). This sensor comes in an extra box and is attached to the right of the printhead with two screws.
The 3D-Touch car level sensor calibrated the printer in 2-3 minutes.
The printer’s cable management looks nice without any add-ons. The cables are led into the housing on the right while the add-ons are plugged into the front of the housing.
Overall, the Lotmaxx SC-10 Shark is of good quality and the assembly process is short.
Print Quality
When you turn on the 3D printer, a quiet fan starts rotating and the display comes to life. The display is in the holder. Therefore, you can easily move it.
The touchscreen display is reasonably fast, taking about a second to load the screen content.
The display screen is intuitive and responds precisely to finger inputs. The instructions are available in English, German and 6 other languages.
Before starting to print, you should manually level the print bed, despite the built-in sensor. On the display, there are 5 positions for leveling the bed, which should be done after setting the heating bed height.
We also tested the autolevel sensor. This ensured that our prints turned out remarkably well.
The printer has a reasonable 235 x 235 x 265 mm print volume. Moreover, it operates quietly thanks to the TMC2208 driver.
However, the printer gets a little louder (1-2 dB) with very quick changes of position (new layer) or many Z-hops (i.e., raising and lowering the print head).
The LOTMAXX SC-10 SHARK has a “Belt Tensioner”, which comes in handy when you want to loosen the corresponding pulleys from the aluminum profiles. This is a better option than the plastic solution implemented in the CR-6 SE.
Coming to the print or heating bed, the Lotmaxx SC-10 Shark has large level wheels, a stable guide with 4 castors on the solid 4040 aluminum profile, and a removable, magnetic, flexible printing surface. Once the 3D print is finished, you can easily remove it from the aluminum plate underneath. Simply bend the print slightly and it will pop off!
However, the underside of the print bed is not thermally insulated. Therefore, the printer “burns up” energy unnecessarily and the temperature cannot be kept even. We were able to observe this using the Octoprint.
The heating bed cools down faster, which means that the firmware has to counteract or heat to ensure that the temperature fluctuates around the specified value. For example, if you are printing PLA, you will want the temperature to fluctuate around 50°C.
The Lotmaxx SC-1o Shark print head has four fans. Three of the fans cool the object from three sides, while the fourth fan cools the hotend. Therefore, you can use the machine to print means that more extreme overhangs.
For the object side that is not cooled by the print head, you’ll have to rotate the object in the slicer to get it to a side with one of the fans for cooling.
The filament sensor does its job well. During our tests, the sensor detected when the filament was over and paused the printing. Without the sensor, the printer would have continued scanning the coordinates/G-code and if you wanted to continue printing, you would have to jump back to the exact point when the filament was over.
The Lotmaxx SC-10 Shark does not have an optical sensor. Therefore, the frictional resistance is a bit high and inserting the filament is a bit fiddly. Still, this issue is negligible, especially considering the budget price of the printer.
The “Power-Cut-Recover” also works reliably, i.e., the printing can continue after a power failure. This means you can print your projects faster since you won’t have to start from the beginning in case of a power outtage.
However, depending on where the 200-250°C nozzle is printing your object when the outage occurs, the printed plastic may melt. This can, of course, happen, with any 3D printer.
The print results are really good! The cooling fans do a good job and, so, hardly any individual layers (even with a layer height of 0.16 mm) are recognizable on the outer walls. The individual layers can only be recognized in the upper layers.
Every now and then, printing was carried out in the air without support structures. As a result, there were mini-unsightly spots. However, this was not due to the printer but the slicer.
The print results are great and comparable to that of the Creality3D CR-10 V2 and the Creality CR-10S Pro V2.
But how does the printer perform with the dual extruder?
Dual-color Printing with Dual Extruder
Attaching the second extruder kit is easy and relatively quick (about 15 minutes). The instruction manual explains the process well.
To install the extruder, opened the printbed housing and remove the hotend.
You have to screw the extruder motor onto the frame.
Finally, open the “Configuration.txt.” file in the firmware on the microSD card can set the value EXTRUDER_NUM to 2. This will allow the printer to operate in dual extruder mode.
From the screenshot, you can see that both the PIDs and acceleration values can be adjusted. We had also set the LevelMode to 1 to use the auto level .
After this, it’s time to print the object with two colors.There is no suitable GCODE on the memory card. So, we looked up a sample on Thingiverse. Since you still have to slice the code, we installed the slicing software that comes with the printer. The software is based on Cura 4.21 and is quite up-to-date.
If you wish, you can use Cura to slice your models. However, Cura only has profiles for the Lotmaxx SC-10 and SC-20 but not for the Shark. In the LOTMAXX software, the profiles for the Shark 3D printer are included
Using the Lotmaxx slicer saved us some set-up effort and reduced chances of error.
We sliced the dual color piranha, added the GCODE to the auto leveling (it is well explained in the instructions), and added a second extruder that merges two models and copies the GCODE to the microSD card.
Before each print, the hotend moves to a 3 × 3 grid (i.e., 9 points) and saves any unevenness. The uneveness is then compensated for during printing. As with manual leveling, automatic leveling works very well.
Dual-color printing is usually tricky. However, the object cam out very fine and detailed. Moreover, the colors were popping.
We found the speed to be quite fast, but this did not affect the final quality of the object.
In general, the prints went without any problems.
While the Lotmaxx SC-10 Shark’s UI isn’t the prettiest, the preview shows the colors accurately.
Even difficult prints like the frog shown below work come out right. There were tiny blobs on the surface that I could scrub down with a toothbrush.
During the test, we did not experience any fails. The software is not buggy, the printer has no issues and installation was easy.
Laser Engraving with the LOTMAXX SC-10 SHARK
To attach the laser module, the autolevel sensor must first be removed. This can be done quickly by unscrewing the two screws holding it in place. The height or the Z-axis does not matter when engraving (apart from the one-time focus) anyway.
Generally, we feel that autolevel sensors are a bit too hyped. If the component quality is reasonable, even with manual leveling, nothing is distorted. The levelig can be done in 3-5 minutes and any errors (e.g., the correct Z-offset) can be eliminated.
So, detach the auto-level sensor and screw on the laser module. This will take you about 5 minutes. The process involves attaching a small electronics box at the front. The cable then also leads to the print head.
The engraving software looks basic and can simply engrave lettering or JPGs or PNGs in black/white or gray. You can also convert the engraved JPEGs or PNGs into vectors. Other things you can do with the software inclue zooming in/out, adjusting the speed, and more.
The engraving works well and everything looks good, even though the resolution is not the best. However, the engraving will easily pass for gift ideas e.g., breadboard for mom, smartphone cover, etc.
Just because “you can’t see a ray” doesn’t mean there isn’t one. There is a lot of energy in the invisible infrared range. At this point, we simply lack the test equipment to verify the specified 1.6 watts.
Either way: 1.6 watts are death for the eyes! The retina is burned in fractions of a millisecond, even before the eye’s closing reflex begins. So before you know anything, it’s too late. Laser beams can also be (invisibly) scattered or refracted!
Technology gadgets can be dangerous. With the laser beams, there is no “second chance”! If you are toying with this gadget, get yourself sensible glasses and a cover box in which you can operate this laser.
The bottom line is: you have to be extra careful with laser engravers.
Verdict: Should You Buy LOTMAXX SC-10 SHARK?
The LOTMAXX SC-10 SHARK straight-out works. The printer comes with a lot of accessories, a well-illustrated instruction manual and is easy to assemble. You can also easily add the laser modules or dual-extruder kit. Finally, the objects printed are of high quality.
This printer has a larger build volume than the Creality Ender 3, and hence the higher price is justified. Moreover, e love the ability to print two colors thanks to the dual-color extruder kit.
If you only want to print in two colors, enjoy getting hands-on with your 3D printer, and would like to do som engraving, we’d recommend you get the LOTMAXX SC-10 Shark 3D printer.