Hi everyone,
recently, my brother asked me to print some tabletop miniatures for him on my Prusa MK4S. I know miniatures are most commonly printed with SLA printers, but I found some workable advice and so far my first attempts look decent enough.
However, I noticed most models I find are optimized for SLA printing or at least not optimal for printing with FDM due to difficult forms such as sloping and cavities that are hard to support. Also, I mainly print construction and replacement parts and would like to avoid swapping nozzles often. So I started researching SLA printers.
Owning a Prusa printer and liking it very much, I first looked at their SL1S and fell over backwards when I saw the price tag. Having owned an Ender 3 by Creality before, I checked their offers, which are a lot more budget friendly. However, on the other hand, having owned an Ender 3 I know that you get what you pay for: The bare minimum.
Therefore, my main question is: What is a good starter model for printing miniatures using SLA?
My follow-up question is regarding slicing software. I remember reading a couple of years back that SLA printers have no universal format like gcode and therefore slicing software compatibility is a bit of an issue. Is this still the case?
Check your local maker space / hacklab first to get started. SLA printing isn’t for everyone and cheaper gear isn’t so nice to operate. You should also consider washing & curing station since it’s really a must if you want to print at least somewhat comfortably.
I have done SLA before, so I know what I am getting into. A washing/curing station is definitely on my list as well. Since most manufacturers seem to offer stations with their printers, I guess that’s what I’d go with or are there noticable differeneces as well between vendors?
Mostly the difference is how locked down the printers are. For example I really don’t like Elegoo’s proprietary slicer format as it requires me to use their shitty closed source slicer. Second is the availability and pricing of spare parts.
Washing and curing stations are quite simple and as far as I know there’s no big differences.
The prusa tax is especially big when it comes to resin printers. I suggest an mSLA printer. The Saturn 4 Ultra probably meets or exceeds the Prusa specs and features at a much lower price.
Lychee is a great slicer compatible with pretty much every printer.
Elegoo’s Saturn 3 is pretty budget friendly and decent quality in my experience. I’ve owned an original Mars and a Saturn 3 and I’ve been happy with both.
