Resin Printing (SLA/DLP)
Detail you can see, straight off the machine
A light source cures liquid resin layer by layer, so the finished part comes out of a vat rather than off a nozzle.
Your file is measured and sliced in your own browser, so a price appears before anything is uploaded.
What it is good at
- Fine detail and a smooth surface straight off the machine
- Small parts where a visible layer line would be the thing you notice
- Transparent and near-transparent parts
What people order
- Appearance models and presentation parts
- Small mechanical parts with fine features
- Patterns for casting
- Dental and lab parts, on the shops set up for them
What to watch out for
- Resin parts are more brittle than filament ones and lose strength in sunlight over time
- Build volumes are small — a large part means splitting it
- Supports touch the part and leave witness marks that need cleaning up
Materials
Standard, tough, clear, flexible, high-temperature, castable and dental resins.
- Standard resin
- Tough resin
- ABS-like resin
- Clear resin
- Flexible resin
- High-temperature resin
- Castable resin
- Dental resin
Availability depends on the workshop quoting your part; the quote shows you which of them can run the material you pick.
What to send us
STL files must be binary. An ASCII STL is refused rather than read incorrectly, so export binary from your CAD package.
How the price is worked out
Price follows the resin the part consumes and the time on the machine, against the rate card of the shop that owns it.
Height matters more than footprint: a vat printer builds a full layer at a time, so a tall part costs more than a wide one.
GST is not included in the quoted price; it is added later, in the order.
Questions we get asked
Drop in your file and see the number
Your file is measured and sliced in your own browser, so a price appears before anything is uploaded.
Price my part