Resin Vs. Filament - Benefits of each?

[Razorette3D]

I've always used a 3D Printer that has printed using PLA / ABS Filament. However, now I'm starting to see a bunch of 3D Printers that use Resin in place of filament. To me Resin seems like a better method, in that it is much faster than Filament. Can anyone tell me what the benefits of each of these are over one another?

Why would someone choose Filament over Resin, and vice versa?

[Darksyde]

From what I have read so far resin has better support with smaller points of contact. The layer banding is a lot less noticeable (note the layer 'thickness' is about the same) since you don't have the slightly rounded ends of the smushed layer of plastic. Fine details are easier to achieve. I have seen comparable extrusion detail but they are highly tuned where the resin machines /seem/ to just work (haven't eveer used one myself).

For me the downsides are the resin itself. Resin can be nasty sticky stuff before it is cured. There is residue needing to cleaned off finished parts. Left over resin in the build resivoir. Resin must be stored properly and used within a certain time frame after a container is opened. The peachy printer in particular adds water in to the mix which I'm not sure how you handle when the print is done.

[DerekPeterson]

As far as I am concerned, Resin using Stereolithography (SLA) gives much more accurate prints, without the layer banding that traditional filament gives you. I think it is the future of 3D Printing, along with SLS (Selective Laser Sintering), which uses a laser to melt down powder.

I think filament printers are too limited as far as how good the resolution and minimization of layering can be.

[cokreeate]

I like the finish product off a resin printer than a filament printer.
The problem is the cost of material, resin is pretty pricey.

[AndrewK]

I imagine that prices will be coming down on Resin after some time. SLA and SLS is the future of 3D Printing. Filament won't be around long, I don't think.

[kanningphish]

Are prices for resin really much more than filament? I just think that the quality of resin printers is so much better than filament. I mean you virtually can't see any lines with the naked eye with resin printed objects. I wish I didn't buy my replicator 2, and would have bought a resin printer instead.

[3dkarma]

Resin prices are coming down fairly significantly; makerjuice.com has had a lot to do with it. I believe you can get resin from them for as little as USD $40.00 per liter, which puts it well within the range of the more expensive filament prices per Kg (1 liter of resin weighs slightly more than 1Kg, according to their technical data).

[Compro01]

Are prices for resin really much more than filament?

I did some numbers awhile ago regarding the relative cost of resin vs. filament.

A solid 6" cube would have a volume of 3.54 litres.

For resin :

Makerjuice SubG+ is $45/litre, and the 3.5% shrinkage will require you to print 3.67 litres of resin, so you'd need $165.15 worth to print it.

Makerjuice SubG, which is $40/litre, and the 8% shrinkage will require you to print 3.85 litres of resin, brings the cost down to $154.00.

Formlabs resin is $149/litre, which brings the cost to $527.46. Price will probably be higher than that due to shrinkage, but Formlabs doesn't seem to specify the resin shrinkage anywhere I can find.

For filament :

A 1kg spool of 1.75mm PLA is about 330m long, giving a volume of about 800ml, so you'd need 4.4 spools. Makerbot sells it for $48/spool (ordinary solid colour), so that's $211.20 worth of filament.

A 1kg spool of 1.75mm ABS filament would be about 400m long, giving a volume of 962ml, so you'd need 3.68 spools. Makerbot sells it for $48/spool also, so that's $176.63.

Pushplastic sells both PLA and ABS for $19/kg, which would cut the costs to $83.60 and $69.91, respectively.

Inexpensive resin is roughly twice the price by volume of inexpensive filament.

[3dkarma]

Inexpensive resin is roughly twice the price by volume of inexpensive filament.

I don't think that comparison is necessarily valid. How does the quality of pushplastic resin compare to that of makerjuice?

[NJ_Lifer]

I don't think that comparison is necessarily valid. How does the quality of pushplastic resin compare to that of makerjuice?

I agree. I think there is a lot of inexpensive resin out there that is comparable in price to inexpensive filament (at least the stuff that works). I don't think it will be more than a few years before SLA printers replace filament based printers in peoples homes. The print quality is just so much better with SLA (resin).