SLA or FDM printer...

[garbage]

Hi guys,

I would like to know your opinion.

I currently owning a Solidoodle 3 printer and really love it. For this price it is a really nice printer but because of this price you have to make some compromises at quality and reliability. I can print at 300 microns quite easily but even after all the hours we spent together printing at 100 microns is still quite tricky and does demand extensive tweaking for every use. In addition the printer head is not reliable enough to let it print for some hours without supervision. Filament gets stuck and when you let it burn in it is a pain in the ass to get the extruder working again...

As I have some money to play with I am now considering to upgrade to a more profound solution. I was always attracted by the SLA printers like the Form1 by FromLabs. They can print with 25 microns and the result really looks astonishing. Last year I had a tough decision not to join the kickstarter campaign but in the end I decided to take a cheaper model for the beginning.

Now I have joined the Pegasus Touch kickstarter campaign as it is offered as an attractive price. There are 12 days left I can reconsider my decision before the campaign closes.

I had a few hours to think about it and decided I would love to get some valued inputs from you guys.

What me attracts of the Pegasus and the Form1 is the 25 microns capabilities. The printed objects really look amazing... Therefore I thought SLA printing is superior over FDM when it comes to quality. On the other hand buying SLA has some serious downsides. The resin is quite expensive when you compare it to the ordinary filament. Pegasus costs USD 125 for one liter, FormLabs asks for USD 150. In addition the choice of material is very limited, even on colors! And my biggest concern: You are at the mercy of the manufacturer when it comes to consumerables. There is no third party market for resin I am aware of and material have always be very special due to the nature of the laser hardening.

On the other hand there are more and more FDM printers promising comparable resolution. For example the Hyrel 3D E5 claims to print with 25 microns on ABS! Even relative cheap printers like the USD 1000 Robox claims even higher resolution as low as 20 microns! Given my experience with my Solidoodle it is hard to believe!

Due to the choices of different materials and third party consumerables a multihead FDM printer is much more flexible in the near future. On the other hand I would really demand some base level of quality. Printing at 100 microns should work out of the box and it should be possible to print with higher resolution if needed. Are these expectations too high for a sup-USD 3000 FDM machine?

Are there any advantages I have not considered for SLA printing? What is your opinion? Will FDM catch up SLA quality? How will SLA manufacturers react?

[KDog]

I think that if you are really looking to go small layer then you should be looking at SLA. You run into speed issues much quicker with FDM printers. For SLA you should have less physical limitations on speed. With small layers you need to increase the speed tremendously for the printer to be at all practical.

[jimc]

for resin there is www.madesolid.com. they are at $100 a liter. if their resin is as good as their pet+ filament then you can make out really good with that. also check out the solidator sla printer. http://www.solidator.com/3D-Printer.html. i dont know if its better or worse than the form1 and others. just giving you another option. it uses a dlp instead of a laser. the build volume is gigantic and it does a whole layer in 1 shot so its supposed to be faster.

[garbage]

Thanks for your comments. Speed is always a concern, but as I am more a kind of hobbyist and don't plan mass production. The Solidator is definitely a nice machine but costs nearly double what the Pegasus is offered for.

I have to think about it a little bit more... Thanks again.

[Davo]

All the Hyrel printers will print FFF at 25 microns in materials that will print that thin (like ABS), but it is NOT a fast process.

You're talking 40 layers for a mm, or 1000 layers for an inch.

[Valter]

Check it http://www.makerwise.com/browse/3d-p...d=y&kit=y&os=0

SLA Printer on Market. If you look for a low cost printer take a look on FSL3D and Form 1.

[Hall_of_Famer]

The Hyrel is pretty amazing for a FDM printer. However I really beliieve that SLA (resin) along with SLS (Laser) is the future of 3D Printing. I think that within 4 years or so we will see FDM printers getting replaced by these more advanced technologies, because it is just too limited.

[garbage]

Thanks again for your replies.

@Hall_of_Famer: I can see that laser based printing has many advantages in precision and resolution. As far as SLA and resin I'm not as confident as you are that this technique has the ability to catch-up in the variety of materials. Specifying the consumables is much more tricky than on FDM printers. SLS is much more promising but I'm not sure if they will come down to prosumer price level. Are there any attempts I should know about?

[KASL]

Very nice page. Usefull! thanks

Check it http://www.makerwise.com/browse/3d-p...d=y&kit=y&os=0

SLA Printer on Market. If you look for a low cost printer take a look on FSL3D and Form 1.

[Compro01]

As far as SLA and resin I'm not as confident as you are that this technique has the ability to catch-up in the variety of materials.

There are some pretty interesting SLA materials available. Take a look sometime at the Polyjet materials Stratasys has available for their Objet printers. Those are SLA resins, printed in a more interesting manner.