How to Choose the Best Resin for Printing Minis

I know how it feels when you’re just getting into the world of 3D printing. Maybe you’ve just finished the last bottle of resin that came as a gift with your printer. Perhaps you bought it with no resin bottles included, and you just need a simple, straightforward product to start the first dozen of the many hundreds of your incredible, spectacular miniatures.

You then type “3D printer resin” on any preferred marketplace, hoping to get your product within a couple of minutes. There shouldn’t be many, pfft, it’s resin!

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Never Knowing When and What to Buy

You hear a low rumble on the horizon. It’s far away, but you know it’s coming, inexorable, menacing: decision fatigue. Now you’ll spend four hours getting an instant Ph.D. on 3D printer resins from 15 YouTube channels (which will ruin your algorithm). You’ll also browse a dozen more websites. Half of them want to sell you something. The other half are just testing how many ads you can ignore before clicking away. Well, it’s either that or buyer’s remorse.

Uncomfortable amounts of authorial projection aside, it doesn’t have to be that way. As with most problems, there’s hardly ever one simple solution. It gets down to each situation and its necessities. It also depends on the compromises you are willing to take. We are specifically talking about miniatures. This makes it easier to narrow down the necessities and uses for your prints.

While there isn’t a standardized cataloging method for 3D printer resins, we can acceptably list the main types. They are standard, flexible, tough, water-washable, clear, heat-resistant (or ceramic), burnout (or castable), and dental.

For the sake of organization, let’s qualify the last three examples as industrial resins. You wouldn’t normally use these for 3D miniatures, statues, or DIY home improvements. Due to that, we won’t touch upon them any further.

Cares you must take while resin 3D printing

Look, I need to put on my grown-up hat for a minute or two. It’s not you; it’s me, but it’ll be good for everyone. Some general guidelines apply when 3D printing with resin, and it’s best to be reminded of them. Don’t fear your printer, but definitely respect it.

First things first, you should know that uncured resin is toxic. With that in mind, don’t let it touch your skin, let alone your mouth, eyes, and nose. Always handle the resin and printed parts that haven’t been washed and cured yet with gloves (nitrile and neoprene – NOT latex!). And I’d throw in some clear goggles and a mask for good measure. Water-washable resin may sound better to handle, but above being a more accessible option, it’s still a resin. Touching this material once likely won’t give you side effects. Still, always wash any areas of contact with copious amounts of water for at least 15 minutes. If any negative effects persist (skin rashes, itchiness, irritation) or if someone ingests it, seek medical help immediately. You can also read more about how to protect your pets from toxic resin here.

Whew! It’s essential to be mindful of safety precautions. You wouldn’t bungee jump without double-checking your equipment, nor would you stick scissors into a wall plug without making sure it’s off first (unless you’re 3-year-old me). Once these warnings are covered, we can jump into what would be best for your project.

Standard Resins

These are…er…standard. They are the most widely available and affordable resins you can find. Their possible uses cover just about anything you’d want regarding miniatures. You can identify these because they don’t contain the keywords that define other 3D printing resins (like water-washable, flexible, clear, etc.). We will list those other types further. These resins offer relatively average mechanical resistance and durability.

This type could be the best choice for 3D printable miniatures, except for the fact that it tends to break when shaped into such small parts. That would make your character’s sword or spear not as resistant as it should be. It is cheaper than the rest of them, though. And because of that, it might be a good idea to get acquainted with this material before experimenting with other resin types, especially if you’re a beginner.

Flexible Resins

These may also contain the words “rubber-like”, “soft”, and “high-elongation” as descriptors. They’re called flexible because… Well, you can guess. While the idea of printing miniatures with flexible resins can sound odd to some, it makes sense according to the miniature you’d like to print. Regular resin, although resistant, can be very brittle once fully cured. Though not as hard, some useful nerds may describe this material as high tenacity. It can absorb shocks and deformations whilst being able to go back to its original shape. That is, it’s squishy. If your piece has lots of tiny, protrusion-like details, will be handled often, or you just wish to be able to twist it a little from time to time, this type of resin is what’s best for you.

Tough Resins

This material gets its name from the fact that it has better mechanical properties compared to standard resins (remember tenacity???), while not being as soft as flexible resins. They may also contain “strong” or “ABS-like” in their name, the latter descriptor being familiar to those who have already worked with FDM printers. At the same time, these parts promise to last longer than standard resin prints (all of them being very durable, overall) and can be useful for prototyping and DIY-ing. It all comes with a cost, though – literally, they’re more expensive than standard 3D printer resins.

Water-washable Resins

As you may be familiar, the process of resin 3D printing requires post-processing that includes washing and curing. For most resins, the former involves some minutes submerged in either isopropyl alcohol or ethanol, followed by some more minutes in a UV chamber (or just under direct sunlight). These kinds of resins are self-explanatory: they work with water instead of alcohol for the washing process. They may require extra post-processing and be less resistant compared to standard resins, though. In spite of sounding safer, all formal precautions for handling resin and 3D-printed parts still apply with this sort of material. Keep in mind the necessity of special procedures to discard the water that’s been used for washing your prints (same process as old resins or alcohol, really: just let the water, container, etc. bask in the sun for up to an hour before filtering solid pieces of resin).

Clear Resins

Come on, you’re a smart one. You know why they have this name, you can imagine. Go you. Also called “transparent” or “translucent”, these are incredible for simulating crystals and glass on your miniatures, statues, or props. When washing, I’d watch out to have a clean, possibly new alcohol tank in order to not stain these pieces and try to make them as clear as possible (you can get some sort of clear coat to further enhance the transparent effect). Also, as resin reacts with UV light, you may expect it to yellow a bit over time. Especially if they get under the sun. Getting a 3D print properly clear takes some practice in order to find the best procedures for each brand. But it’s definitely worth the work!

Now that you know which resin you want, you can read this post about how to remove support marks from your minis.

Conclusions

As with most things in the 3D printing universe, mastering different resins depends on the objects you wish to print, how much you’re willing to spend, and the patience/time you’d like to commit to it. Be aware if the resins you purchase are compatible with the printer you’re using, albeit almost all of the industry operates on a standard 405nm LCD screen. Even though most of the 3D prints can be acceptably done with standard resins, it’s always fun to explore, tweak, and fuss with different materials. Worse that can happen is that you end up with more miniatures in diverse colors and sizes. It’s not like you signed up for this to print half a dozen things and stop there, now is it?

Loot Studios can help you tell your story. Choose your favorite bundle from our previous releases or sign up for Fantasy or Sci-Fi to receive a new bundle every month. You can also check out some tips on our YouTube Channel.