SLA Resin vs FDM ABS.

SLA Resin vs FDM ABS.

Print time: SLA - 11h 27min, ABS - 20h 3m
Resolution: SLA - 0.05mm, ABS - 0.10mm
Layers w/raft: SLA 1580, ABS - 758
Material: SLA - 105.1 mL, ABS - 142.64 g
Cost: SLA - $15.66, ABS - $3.14
Impression: SLA - Wow, ABS - Meh

I think you may have left out the price difference between the two printers.

@Daniel_Kruger Google it.

At 5x the cost of abs, I’ll just keep my pla printer. Looks better though.

You also don’t note the material properties. ABS is going to be much stronger and won’t degrade under sunlight. For just cosmetic parts that won’t be in much sunlight SLA will always be better. For anything structural FDM is much better.

@Kevin_Danger_Powers Luigi! Yeah SLA is quite pricey for sure. BTW, the flexible filament options with FDM blow SLA flexible out of the water. I was a little bummed to learn that.

@Adam_Steinmark I haven’t used it yet, but Formlabs “Tough” resin might poke a hole in your blanket statement.

For clarity, I’m not pushing SLA over FDM. I have 5 FDM printers and I love them. I LOVE THEM!

@Jamie_Laing I’ve used it at work. Works well indoors, parts left outdoors were unusable after a month. We also had a Markforged Mark 2 so nothing really compared functionally to the parts it output. Terrible firmware and software though. The tough resin was still more brittle than ABS after being exposed to sunlight for long periods, haven’t tested it against PLA.

The main issue is that since SLA parts use a specific wavelength to cure the resin, the printed parts degrade under the continued exposure to the same wavelength. Priming and painting should help significantly.

@Adam_Steinmark Thanks for the info Adam, particularly about the tough. I haven’t done any real curing yet (other than with a cheesy nail curing gizmo, but I’m taking delivery of the Wicked CUREbox tomorrow and I’m looking forward to seeing how that affects the brittleness issue and toughness overall.

I agree! WOW!!! That is excellent especially for casting silicone molds. I’ll have to order some just to experiment. Very impressed. Cool design. is that something you created?

I pre-ordered the Bean off Kickstarter which is an LCD based printer with higher resolution than the Form 2 (got the printer for only $200!!!). Scheduled to come January, but I’ll be happy if I get it by March. Getting a post curing setup with it and some other SLA goodies. I ordered a ton of extra resin because I’m expecting them to be on backorder for a while after shipping and the company is based out of Thailand but they’re shipping the printers from the US so I’m not sure how much shipping would be on extra resin.

As far as post curing goes it actually weakens the part, some friends actually did some testing on this with the Form Wash and Form Cure. Since you’re re-exposing it to the light it hardens the exterior giving a crisper look but weakens the structure.

@Kevin_Danger_Powers I think you are confusing SLA (stereolithography, a type of printing process different than FDM) with PLA (A type of 3d printing for which both ABS and PLA are commonly used thermoplastics)

@Jamie_Laing ​ you should expect much better results on toughness when cured properly. Also very important to take part into curing Owen as soon as you wash them in IPA.
@Adam_Steinmark ​ we use bare prints for some stuff and they last over a year with no problems whatsoever. If you paint them, you completely block UV and no deteoration will happen to the material structure.
I have to say I just fell in love with SLA and form2 is worth every penny. I don’t even consider looking at the cheap stuff, this thing works and people behind it really know what they are doing. If this one ever breaks down I’ll order new one in a heartbeat, it’s just so damn good

@Matej_Rozman They tried various different prints, cured and uncured and tested them. They even printed tensile bars with the layers along Z, X, Y, and at 45 degrees and tested them. The uncured prints tested better. I’m curious why you’re claiming cured prints are tougher. They used the Form Wash and Form Cure with Formlabs resin.

@Adam_Steinmark , if you would be willing to share the test setup these people you mention used, I’d be happy to provide independent verification of test results if the tests aren’t expensive. One of my favorite moments in life is when my firmly held superstitions are crushed by hard evidence. On this issue of strength, I have no expectations, only curiosity. If you have interest in sharing data perhaps we could set up a place like Github to share information and track issues, and my invitation is open to anyone.

Wow! that SLA print looks amazing! Good news is a few years time will reduce the cost of the SLA printers and the tech will get better, just like FDM printers today!

I’ll reach out to the other intern that did the testing and see if she kept any information.

@Jared_Eldredge no I know what SLA is. His post just showed a cost comparison between SLA and ABS. ABS and PLA are close to the same cost which means SLA will likely be about 5x the cost of PLA as well. I don’t want to sink that much money into it so I’ll just keep my PLA.