Best Resin for Printing Miniatures
Ask ten people what the best resin for printing miniatures is you can expect to get 10 different answers. Its comes down to personal choice and experience. One of the considerations when choosing a resin is what will you use your printed miniatures for. Some resins while providing excellent detail can be a little brittle when cured and this is fine if your main interest is to paint and display your models. If however you want to deploy your printed miniatures into your table top games then you may be happy to sacrifice some fine detailing in favour of durability.
For this article we will focus on the Resins that have worked well for us in a given situation and in a further article we will describe how to dial your Printer Resin settings in to eliminate under or over exposure, its a fine balance. All of the resins featured here fall into the UV 405nm category, perfect for our featured printers.
Fast print times with no odour and great durability and flexibility make this the perfect resin for tabletop miniatures.
Ameralabs TGM-7 LED
Like many of the leading Resin manufacturers Ameralabs have addressed the issue of durability specifically for table top gamers. TGM-7 fast curing resin is designed specifically for 3D tabletop gaming miniatures. Perfect balance between stiffness, impact resistance and flex guarantee miniatures will not break when dropped or in heated gaming sessions. This 3D printing resin allows capturing most detailed miniatures with its hard, non-sticky and paintable surface. More flexibility, less fragility, great print resolution, surface quality, pigment stability and low smell results in a great resin for printed miniatures.
We have created AMD-3 material for modelling artists with one purpose in mind: to bring to life even the slightest expressions of your characters and miniatures. Finest features like hair and wrinkles are captured when printing with this 3D resin and allows you to materialize it just as you have envisioned it.
AmeraLabs AMD-3
AmeraLabs was founded in 2017 in Europe by two Lithuanians. The goal of AmeraLabs is to engineer high quality 3D printing materials that inspire. Producing resins with exceptional physical properties affordable and available to hobbyists and professionals alike. The AMD-3 resin is one of the fastest curing resins in the market for low powered LCD printers. At the same time, it produces great detail and is earning a strong reputation amongst miniature printers. Available in two colours, grey and black the AMD-3 is a low odour high resolution resin. You can read our full review of the AMD-3 here where we achieved impressive exposure times of 2.8 seconds for normal layers. Available directly from AmeraLabs with a risk free 250ml trial sample that includes free shipping.
ELEGOO 405nm Rapid Resin was designed to significantly reduce printing time with its excellent fluidity. Meanwhile its great stability and proper hardness guarantee a worry-free printing experience and successful printing.
Elegoo ABS Like
As one of the biggest players in the 3d printer world it is no surprise that Elegoo’s range of resin products are widely available and popular on Amazon. At a decent price point the ABS-Like does a decent, if not outstanding job. It has a reasonable amount of flex and durability but lacks the definition capability for smaller details on 28mm models. While the detail on smaller models is fine for larger scales it is more than capable and reasonably priced. With decent exposure times, low odour and acceptable shrinkage its a decent starter with good compatibility across printers.
With this printer resin, printed parts will have high detail with no deformation or noticeable shrinkage and the final cured pieces are strong without being brittle.
AnyCubic UV Resin
With very similar performance and slightly cheaper than the Elegoo “ABS Like” the AnyCubic UV Resin is another popular budget Resin. There are a wide range of colours including White, PeachPuff, Aqua Blue, Black and Grey. Steer clear of the white and PeachPuff. Again being a budget resin the results are adequate without being outstanding. Once again compatability across printers is good with decent exposure times and low odour.
Monocure 3D RAPID photo-reactive clear resin has been designed to use in low powered LED type DLP 3D Printers for UV wavelengths up to 420nm.
Monocure3D Rapid 3D
Monocure3D, based in Sydney, Australia is a manufacturing company of advanced 3D printing products with over 30 years experience. As with all the products here the Monocure3D Rapid Resin is specifically formulated to be compatible with low powered MSLA printers in the 405nm range and therefore is capable of swift exposure times. The Raid 3D is a great choice for for those wanting a high quality smooth finish for their printed miniatures and is available in several colours, clear, grey, white, black, blue, red, green and gunmetal grey. The later is particularly great for post print photos.
Very smooth surface with high resolution in metal grey color
Formulated for DLP printer like Moonray and LCD resin printer Like Phrozen Shuffle
High Temperature Resistance HDT 160C
Easy to wash, post cure, paint and sand
Best when resin temperature is above 25C
Siraya Tech Sculpt
Siraya Tech was started by a group of chemists with many years experience developing and manufacturing UV resins. As such you can expect any Siraya Tech resin to deliver great results. Sculpt is formulated for accuracy and fine detail making it ideal for those who display their printed miniatures. The resin is optimised for MSLA printers and available only in one colour, grey. Performance wise this resin will produce a great surface finish but perhaps at the cost of being a little more brittle. the resin is easy to work with, not too difficult to clean up and not overly smelly.
- Strength, flexibility and a hard surface finish
- Can machined, painted or polished for further finishing
- High tensile pressure
Monocure 3D Tuff
Monocure3D Rapid Tuff resin is a unique blend of advanced urethanes specifically designed to produce a part that possesses high tensile strength. These mechanical properties provide a right balance of strength, flexibility and a hard surface finish. Rapid Resin Tuff is specifically formulated to be compatible with low powered MSLA printers in the 405nm range and therefore is capable of swift exposure times. The Raid 3D Tuff is a great choice for for those wanting a high quality smooth finish for their printed miniatures with additional strength and toughness to survive an intense gaming session.
UNIZ zMud photopolymer resins are specially designed for reducing volume shrinkage during the photocuring process, which ensures the high precision of the print model. zMud 3D Printing Rapid Resin can significantly reduce the forming time with its excellent fluidity. Meanwhile, its great stability and proper hardness guarantee a worry-free printing experience and successful printing
Creality low odour has no pungent smelling which makes you safe and comfortable when printing. With high quality pigments, the models printed with Creality resin have a very pure and stunning colour effect.
Some of the links in this article are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether you decide to buy something is completely up to you.
