Best Resin 3D Printers in 2024 jordan

Best Resin 3D Printers in 2024

Resin 3D printers have made their way well into the mainstream. Nowadays, home hobbyists, makers, and professionals can pick up a compact, high-resolution machine for less than $200 and rattle off incredibly detailed prints in next to no time.

There are plenty of resin 3D printers for the maker on a budget, but which are best? After countless hours of testing and printing, followed by no small amount of research and debate, we’ve got a list of our top resin 3D printer picks for you.

Here are the best desktop resin 3D printers, from standard-sized and medium-format machines to large-format monsters capable of huge batches of prints.

If you are unsure which is the right one for you, check out our section on how to pick a resin 3D printer to learn what you should look out for in a resin 3D printer. Or, dive right into our picks in the table below.

Best Resin 3D Printer Overall

 

1. Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra

 

Best Resin 3D Printers in 2024

Specifications

Technology: MSLA
Build Volume: 218.8 x 122.8 x 220 mm
LCD Resolution: 11520 x 5120
LCD Size: 10.1-inch Monochrome
XY Axis Resolution: 19x 24 microns
Connectivity: USB, WiFi

Reasons to buy

+
Eye-popping 12K prints
+
Auto leveling
+
Tilting vat
+
High speed printing
+
Camera
+
Tilt back hood

Reasons to avoid

No handle on the lid
Camera can only be used with Chitubox

The Saturn 4 Ultra delivers everything it promises: it’s easy to use, has crispy 12K resolution, and it’s about as automatic as a resin printer can get. It doesn’t need special resin or expensive films in the vat, which also makes it cost-effective. Most of the improvements are within the machine itself – a tilt back hood, auto leveling, a print monitoring camera that can also shoot time lapses, and a vat that gently peels each printed layer off the film by tilting.

The tilting vat

The tilting vat is something I’ve never seen before. Normally, prints are forced off the vat’s delicate film covered bottom by being pulled straight up, fighting suction and causing stress that leads to eventual failure. The Saturn 4 Ultra gently peels the layers off with a rocking motion. This gives the Saturn 4 Ultra a bit more speed while also using the same affordable film Elegoo has been using for years. 

Our only complaints were minor – the camera currently only works with Chitubox, and the lid doesn’t have a handle. 

More: Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra Review 

 
Image of Best Mid-Sized Resin 3D Printer: Mid-Size: Anycubic Photon Mono M5s
The Anycubic Photon Mono M5s

Best Resin 3D Printers in 2024

What’s Great

  • Capable of fast, high-res printing
  • Resin level & print failure smarts
  • Well-implemented Wi-Fi connectivity

The Anycubic Photon Mono M5s

felt like a different breed of desktop resin printer when it launched, introducing print-boosting smarts the likes of which we’ve only really seen in filament 3D printing over the last couple of years. Packing a print plate gantry-mounted sensor, the M5s can detect peel force, resin level, and the vat bottom to effectively automate and augment your printing experience.

In testing, we didn’t find it to be flawless, but that this system pulls off even half of what it does makes the M5s our preferred choice over all the other desktop 3D printers we’ve experienced lately. Not to mention, this is all in a compact frame to boot. the Photon Mono M5s is barely any larger than the likes of the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K S or Photon Mono 2 – both machines we consider to be small 3D printers.

 

Anycubic Photon Mono M5s Review: Innovation, Finally

The M5s is ready to run right out of the box, running a short list of self-checks before letting you rattle off prints at its heightened print speeds, made possible by an alternate vat film material that releases prints easily, less viscous resin works better for fast printing, and, we’ll admit, some shenanigans with thick layer heights are needed to achieve the super duper speeds marketed by Anycubic. It’s important to note that you can print quickly with the Photon Mono M5s and “standard” resins, but it’s more that blistering print speeds are achieved with specific “fast” materials and with a compromise in Z-axis quality.

Other highlights include a 12K masking LCD

which translates to extremely small pixels for very fine print resolution. The M5s pairs seamlessly with Anycubic’s updated slicing software and companion app, giving you the ability to start prints remotely, check the printer’s state and stats, and access troubleshooting tips and user guides. It’s a surprisingly pleasant app experience that contrasts strongly against the likes of some other manufacturer’s ad-saturated equivalents.

The M5s is a quick and compact printer with a medium-format build volume – 218 x 123 x 200 mm – and layers of features that other printers lack or fail to satisfyingly pull off.

Best High-End Resin 3D Printer

3. Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K

 
Best Splurge Resin 3D Printer

Specifications

Technology: MSLA
Build Volume: 218 x 123 x 235 mm
LCD Screen: 10-inch Monochrome
LCD Resolution: 7680 X 4320
XY Axis Resolution: 0.028 mm
Connectivity: USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi

Reasons to buy

+
Large build volume
+
Effortless print removal
+
Wi-Fi

Reasons to avoid

Ships with a non-functional camera
Expensive

If you’re ready to throw some serious cash down for a decent-sized resin 3D printer with quality that will knock your socks off, the Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K is here for you. Its roomy 218 x 123 mm build plate can accommodate an army of gaming miniatures or a gift-worthy superhero statue. Priced at around $899 at press time, this printer isn’t cheap. But in return for the premium, you get crispy details, prints that practically slide off the build plate, a built-in webcam and a machine that’s WiFi ready.

We enjoyed navigating through the Mighty 8K’s menus, thanks to its large and easy-to-use touch screen display. There’s little need to consult the manual – the printer walks you through an onboard tutorial to handle leveling and your first test print. Want to rerun a test file at a different exposure? No problem – the Sonic Mighty 8k will let you change exposure settings and more right inside the printer. I found this extremely helpful while dialing in a new resin.    

The Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K size is closer to what we see in FDM printers, without being so large that it dominates your workshop. The quality and extra wiggle room would be a worthwhile investment for someone running an Esty shop or an artist wanting to showcase their work. We were able to print 12 very-detailed gaming figures at once and the process only took 4 hours and 2 minutes. 

Our only issue with this machine was the camera, which was released for review before it was functional. There’s no set date on when the camera firmware will be ready, but it promises the ability to monitor prints as well as create time lapses.

 

4.Anycubic Photon Mono M5S PRO Printer

Best Resin 3D Printers in 2024

The Anycubic M5S PRO was presented last November at Formnext, the world’s leading 3D printing exhibition held in Frankfurt (Germany) where we already had the first contacts with it where they also showed other models such as the Anycubic Photon D2 (DLP), the Anycubic Photon M3 Max (SLA) and the great Kobra 2 (FDM).

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Kit received by Anycubic : Anycubic M5S PRO + Anycubic High Speed Resin

This Anycubic M5S PRO has been released relatively quickly with respect to the M5S, probably to polish some aspects of it that are going to be more than interesting. Although we have not officially had the M5S due to our experience with two units and experiences of other colleagues, there have been some problems with some of the assistants and this M5S PRO comes to solve and improve significantly.

 

One of the most important aspects of resin printing is the leveling of our printing platform and despite being a relatively simple process, it does generate a lot of problems for new users of this type of printer. Anycubic introduced this feature in the M5S and in this M5S PRO it has significantly improved it with its floating display system and the smart sensors on the Z-axis arm.

This set of technologies and sensors allows this automatic process to be precise

This new generation of resin 3D printers is focusing on providing greater speed to the printing process, all thanks to the improvements introduced at the processing level, the new third-generation ACF films, high-speed resins, and of course a bit of 🙂 marketing.

The M5S PRO,

like the M5S, improves this aspect and can reach about 105 mm/h (*under special conditions) with the use of ACF and high-speed resins.

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On the one hand, the new ACF film in its 3rd generation minimizes the forces when detaching our model from it, allowing a higher retraction speed, as well as significantly improving the % of error-free prints. At the same time, the new Anycubic High Speed Resin resins with their low viscosity allow a smooth movement in the layer change movements, allowing for faster printing times.

Best Resin 3D Printers in 2024

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