Monocure3D TUFF Resin Review
We review the Moncure3D TUFF™ Resin to see how good this high strength resin is for printing miniatures. One of the conundrums facing those who want to printing minis for their tabletop games is finding a good balance between printed detail and durability.
For tabletop gamers, durability is increasingly something they are looking towards to ensure that their freshly printed and painted minis can last an intense gaming session. While many of the Resin products on the market today can produce fantastic crisp miniature prints, they can also be a little brittle, especially if your model features weapons and other items.
Some of the resin manufacturers are now formulating higher strength resin products. Thankfully, these newer materials possess the properties that miniature printers are looking for, and one of these that has started turning a few heads is the Monocure3D TUFF™. I have had an opportunity to put it through its paces printing our test model, so I can share my findings with you.
Monocure3D, based in Sydney, Australia is a manufacturing company of advanced 3D printing products with over 30 years experience. Monocure3D TUFF™ resin is a unique blend of advanced urethanes specifically designed to produce a 3D printed model that possesses increased tensile strength and long life durability. These properties provide the right balance of fine detail, strength, flexibility and a hard surface finish.
Our development team has created this unique resin to be much lower in viscosity that does not require heating to help achieve the most significant details possible; this also reduces the build-up of resin that can get trapped behind supports.
Delivery and Packaging
Our order was placed and shipped directly from Monocure3D in Australia and arrived on the doorstep 3 days later! I struggle to get a local parcel delivered in that time frame let along one from Australia, so hats off to the dispatch team. Our products were well packaged in a secure box with plenty of packaging materials and our resin sealed ensuring no damage in transit.
Test Setup
For this review we will be using our Elegoo Mars 2 Pro and have chosen a 28mm miniature from Artisan Guild as our test subject. For the first print we have applied the following print settings offered on the Monocure3D support site found here.
Prior to printing our miniature test piece we downloaded the Monocure3D Calibration Model found on their support site here to test some exposure times. For the second print we increased the normal layer exposure time to 2.2 seconds.
Comparing the result between 2.o seconds and 2.2 seconds for normal layers we can see a little extra definition on some very small details for the 2.0 second exposure time, for example the key in the top left of the shield is a little more pronounced as is the little hammer on the book cover on the top right hand-side of the shield, although these are in the margins.
Summary
The level of detail attained is very impressive considering the scale of the test piece. As you would expect with a high strength resin there were no support failures and removal of supports post print was very simple as they broke away cleanly with little signs of witness marks requiring additional clean up.
I found the resin to be very easy to work and low odour.
The Monocure3D TUFF™ has proven that is it possible to print highly detailed crisp 28 miniatures with the additional bonus of durability and strength for those tough gaming sessions.
Pros
- Packaging and quick delivery direct from Monocure3D
- Great detail achievable on the smallest of miniatures
- Rapid normal layer exposure times
- Low viscosity formula with rigid hard finish without being brittle
- Great printer settings support on Monocure3d.com.au
- Easy clean up and support removal
Cons
Low odour but not odour free
Monocure3D TUFF™ is available regionally at the links below.
North America
UK
EU
Rest of the World
