We recently stepped into the world of 3D printing with the Mars 5 Ultra, but how does the Elegoo Mercury Plus 2.0 do as a companion to the resin printer?

If you’re new to resin 3D printers, then one of the most important things you must do after completing a print is to clean it off and make sure it is cured properly. Photo-polymer Resin is toxic and an irritant, so getting it on your hands is something you want to avoid. In addition, until it’s fully set with UV light, the resin is still a little dangerous to touch. One of the things you’ll first have to work out is how you are going to clean and cure your models.

In this review we’ll be checking out the Elegoo Mercury Plus 2.0. This is a dedicated unit that not only helps you clean your models, but also can cure them to make them solid and safe to touch. We’ll be taking a look at what it does, how it performs, and how it can make life easier for a newcomer to 3d printing.

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Massive thanks to Elegoo for sending us over the unit to review.

So without further ado, let’s check out the Elegoo Mercury Plus 2.0

Elegoo Mercury Plus 2.0 Review

One of the trickiest things when starting out 3D printing can be knowing how to properly clean and cure your models. There are a few cheap and cheerful options, though they are perhaps not the most ideal. While some resins are now able to be cleaned in water, most are not unfortunatly. Most resins need to be cleaned in IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) – this is an alcohol solution that is the active ingredient in hand sanitizer and industrial solvents, and can remove uncured liquid resin from your 3D prints.

You’ll find that when you take your models from the build plate and remove the supports that they are covered in liquid resin. Due to the way 3D printing works (lifting a bed out of a vat of liquid resin) this is always something you’re going to have to deal with.

Now you could simply take your models and wash them in a tub of IPA – however this is quite a manual job and can be very messy, which is something you probably don’t want splattered across your table surfaces when you’re dealing with toxic materials.

IPA is also very smelly – You’re going to want to wear a mask while doing this, which can also be a little uncomfortable.

This is where the Elegoo Mercury Plus steps in. This unit covers both sides of the post production process in cleaning and curing your models.

What’s really nice about this is that you don’t need two separate units – both functions are available from the same base plate, with different magnetic sections that clip onto it in order to switch between cleaning and curing.

From a cleaning point of view a 3.5 litre snap lid tub is included – this tub has a magnetically driven fan in the bottom of it that is used for agitating the solution that is put in it. Your prints then go into a metallic basket. This is lifted out of the tub, and the prints that you want to clean are simply placed into it. The basket can then be lowered into the tub ready for cleaning.

Once you have your prints in the unit, you simply set how long you want them cleaned for. The disk in the bottom then spins, agitating the liquid inside and cleaning the models. It’ll spin clockwise for half of the time set and then anticlockwise, which makes sure that they are well cleaned from both directions.

Once the cleaning cycle is completed you simply pull out the basket and take the models out to dry

The great thing with this set up that it allows you to take things in and out of it without having to submerge your hand in the cleaning solution – as mentioned earlier, IPA can stink and it’s not the most gentle on skin, so minimising contact with it is recommended!

Once the models are dry it’s then time to cure them. Now, you could do this a couple of ways – the resin reacts to Ultra Violet Light – so you could use a little UV torch to do this, but again that involves quite a lot of handling of the models, and it can be difficult to make sure you’ve cured each surface. The cheap option of course is let the UV rays from the sun cure them – though you’ll need to leave them in an area that has lots of sunlight, and make sure to turn them regularly. As we get into the winter months that becomes a little harder to do.

This is where the second function of the Elegoo Mercury Plus steps in. The cleaning tub can simply be removed from the dock and replaced with a rotating disk. This has locator magnets that snap it into place which makes swapping between modes really ready.

You then simply load up the base with the models you want to cure! There’s enough space for a number of models, or even some bigger terrain pieces or busts – you can fit something around 8″ tall in here, so lots of room for your prints.

With the UV filter lid replaced, you can set the length of time you want to cure the models for and start it running. The disk will start slowly rotating and the UV lamps will activate, allowing each side of the model to be hit with UV light in order to cure them fully. For some models you may want to do them in batches, turning them over half way through. For 32mm models I’ve been curing for 5 mins each side just to make sure they are fully cured.

This is really easy to do and can simply be left running – it’ll beep when completed and shut off the UV lights when the timer ends, so you don’t need to worry about it running for too long.

Once they are cured, the models are then safe to touch and are then ready for you to prime and paint them!

Summary

So what do I think of the Elegoo Mercury Plus 2.0? For someone new to 3D printing, I was a little worried about how I was going to clean and cure prints. Yes, there are cheap DIY options such as washing models by hand in a tub of IPA and then leaving them to cure in the sunlight. For newcomers to the hobby however those are not the safest, easiest or most feasible options. Especially so if you print your models once the sun has gone down.

Some solutions have multiple different units for cleaning and curing, and that again can take a lot of desktop when a similar size is already taken up by the footprint of your 3D printer.

The Mercury Plus does both cleaning and curing well, and does it in a small form factor that easily packs away in it’s UV shielded cover when not in use.

It’s also pretty affordable at £82.99 direct from Elegoo, or just less than 80 quid on Amazon. if you’re looking to buy a 3D printer, then I’d highly recommend picking up one of these at the same time, as it’s going to make the post production steps much easier. How to clean and cure the models is not something people necessarily think about when they pick up their first printer, but it is something that can cause logistical headaches.

Are you new to 3D printing and looking to get a clean and cure station? Have you had much luck 3D printing miniatures? Let us know in the comments!

Massive thanks to Elegoo for sending us over the Mercury Plus 2.0 to review.