With the mature development of 3D printing technology, various types of 3D printers have penetrated into people's production and life. Among them, the UV curable resin 3D printer has become a popular choice for most people who want to make high-precision models, and has various applications, such as dentistry, jewelry, education, electronics, architecture, etc.

Nowadays, there are many types of UV curing 3D printers on the market. How to choose the right model has become a difficult problem. In this issue, I invited an expert in the UV curing 3D printing technology industry to tell you how to choose a suitable resin 3D printer.
What are the main differences between SLA, DLP and LCD?

SLA/DLP/LCD belong to the category of photo curing. They use photosensitive resin for printing, but each technology has its advantages and disadvantages.

SLA uses laser to cure resin. It is the most traditional and widely used 3D printing technology. It has few restrictions on printing size, but its printing speed, accuracy and details are generally not as good as DLP/LCD 3D printers. SLA 3D printers are usually large in size, and are suitable for printing large size prototypes or large-scale production scenes.

DLP 3D printing technology first appeared in 2000. DLP 3D printing technology mainly uses UV projectors to project the product cross-section onto the surface of liquid photosensitive resin, so that the irradiated resin can be photosensitive cured layer by layer. Different from the single point exposure of SLA 3D printing technology, DLP 3D printing technology uses surface exposure, which can greatly improve the printing speed. At the same time, DLP 3D printing technology is generally superior to SLA 3D printers in terms of precision and surface quality.

Most DLP 3D printers use a downlight technology solution, with the light source below the resin tank. The advantage of this scheme is that only a few resins are needed to start printing, but the printing size is also restricted due to the limitation of release. DLP 3D printers are usually small in size and can be easily deployed in office environments. They are widely used in dentistry, product development and verification, scientific research and education.

LCD (mSLA) is similar to DLP 3D printing technology, but it does not use a projector to generate images, but generates specific images through the deflection of LCD liquid crystal.

Thanks to the mature upstream industrial chain of LCD 3D printing technology, LCD 3D printers can usually achieve higher resolution and smaller pixel size than DLP 3D printers. However, due to technical limitations, the optical power of LCD 3D printers is generally lower than that of DLP 3D printers, resulting in slower printing speed. However, the price of LCD 3D printer is lower than DLP 3D printer, so it is very popular in the market.

What problems should we consider when choosing a resin 3D printer?
Print size (equipment with large format print size can realize rapid iteration of design prototype and rapid production in small batches.)
Print accuracy (The higher the resolution, the smaller the pixel size, the clearer the surface details and texture of the printed object; the more advanced the optical design, the higher the accuracy of the printed object, which can accurately present the design prototype.)
Printing speed (When evaluating the printing speed, we generally need to limit the material and layer thickness. Even on the same machine, different layer thickness and different materials will lead to a huge difference in printing speed.)
Open materials (Some 3D printers only allow users to use special resin materials, which is a very big limitation. 3D printers with open systems can be compatible with the use of more third-party materials.)
Typesetting/slicing software (Typesetting and slicing are the first step of 3D printing, and a good software can make preprocessing fast and simple. Most 3D printer companies provide free software trials, and users can make simple trials before purchasing.)
Post processing (The resin 3D printing sample needs to be cleaned and post cured. The post cured sample has higher strength and less deformation. Therefore, equipped with a complete cleaning machine and curing box can effectively improve efficiency and reduce labor costs.)

What type of applications are DLP and LCD technologies particularly suitable for?


The first is dental applications. Almost all dental applications can benefit from resin 3D printing, such as orthodontics, repair and planting. Some top orthodontic dental condom manufacturers print more than 700,000 models every day.

The second is applied in the development and verification of product prototypes. Benefiting from the progress of 3D printing materials, more and more engineers begin to use high-precision 3D printers to develop product prototypes in offices.

Resin 3D printer is an ideal choice for rapid verification of product prototype. At present, there are many high-performance resin materials, whose performance can be comparable to ABS, PC or silicone rubber. It is possible to wait several weeks for the traditional outsourcing prototype, while the resin 3D printer can complete the prototype production in a few hours.

The third is the application of education. LCD and DLP 3D printers are usually compact and easy to use. More and more schools begin to use resin 3D printers for education or research.

Jewelry is also an important application of resin 3D printing. DLP and LCD 3D printing technology can print very rich details, even smaller than hair. At present, many jewelry design studios are using 3D printers and wax resins for product development. Finally, can you provide some other suggestions for those who want to invest in resin 3D printers?

Pang Bo: At present, the 3D printing industry is in a period of rapid development, and the products are gradually mature. However, due to the difference in investment in product development, testing and quality control from different manufacturers, users may encounter various problems in the use process. Therefore, we should try our best to choose a company that has guaranteed quality and can provide good training and after-sales service to purchase 3D printers. Here we recommend using the Piocreat DJ89 dental 3D printer.

This high-quality LCD 3D printer independently developed by Piocreat has 4K high resolution, 192 × one hundred and twenty × The 100mm molding size has stable and accurate printing accuracy, and supports continuous and stable printing. It can realize rapid iteration of design prototypes and rapid production in small batches, and can be used in many professional fields such as dentistry, jewelry, industrial design, spare parts/manual printing.