Resin
Is resin printing worth it?
If you already own a filament printer, a resin printer is not an upgrade — it is a second, different machine with a workflow attached. Whether that trade is worth it comes down to what you are actually printing.
The printer is the cheap part
Entry-level resin printers are inexpensive and the price is what makes the question tempting. The printer is not what you are actually committing to.
- A wash and cure workflow. A container and alcohol at minimum; a station if you print regularly.
- Consumables per print. Resin, alcohol, gloves, paper towels. Per gram, resin costs meaningfully more than filament.
- A ventilated space you are willing to dedicate.
- Disposal. Contaminated alcohol and resin are chemical waste Formlabs, which means a process, not a bin.
- Time per print. Every print needs washing, drying, curing and support removal. On a filament printer you pick the part off the plate.
What resin genuinely adds
Detail that filament cannot reach, and it is not close. Faces on a 28 mm miniature, engraved text, fabric folds, thin lattice work — these are not achievable on a 0.4 mm nozzle at any settings.
It also adds isotropic strength. A resin part is similarly strong in every direction because there are no layer bonds in the fused-filament sense. For geometry that would have to be printed in a weak orientation in filament, that is a real advantage — see tough resin.
And it adds surface finish: a resin part comes off the plate smoother than a filament part comes off a sander.
What it does not add
Toughness, in the general case. Standard resins shatter. Size — resin build volumes are small and large resin prints are expensive and failure-prone. Outdoor durability — resin keeps curing in sunlight and gets brittle. Speed for functional parts, since a filament printer producing a bracket in two hours is not competing with a workflow.
The full side-by-side is on filament versus resin.
Buy one if
- You print miniatures, models or figures, and detail is the point.
- You have a ventilated space that is not a bedroom or a shared living area.
- You are comfortable with a chemical handling routine and will actually follow it every time Formlabs.
- You enjoy process. The workflow is a real part of the hobby and it is not going away.
Do not buy one if
- You mainly print functional parts, brackets and enclosures. Filament is better at all of them.
- Your only space is a bedroom or a shared living area.
- You want to print and go. The post-processing is not optional and it is not quick.
- Household members, children or pets would have access to the workspace.
The middle option
Print services exist. If you want one detailed model a year, having it printed is cheaper than owning a resin printer, has no workflow attached, and produces a better result than a first attempt would.
That is a genuinely reasonable answer and it is worth saying plainly on a site that earns commission when people buy things. If resin is not the right purchase for you, we would rather say so.
Common questions
Is resin printing more expensive than filament?
Per gram, yes, and the consumables add to it: alcohol, gloves, paper towels and disposal. The printer itself can be cheap, but the ongoing cost per finished part is meaningfully higher than filament.
Can I keep a resin printer in a bedroom?
We would not. Resin printing produces volatile compounds and needs ventilation, and continuous low-level exposure in a room you sleep in is the worst version of that.
Should I replace my filament printer with a resin one?
No. They do different jobs. Resin is for small detailed models and filament is for functional parts, and neither substitutes for the other. Most people who print both keep both.
Sources
- Formlabs — Safety with Formlabs resin products · retrieved 2026-09-01
- Formlabs — Disposing of resin cartridges · retrieved 2026-09-01
Scooter M. · Enthusiast
I'm Scooter, an enthusiast who's genuinely into this. I read the manuals, compile the published specs, and do the math. No lab coat.
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