If I had to guess, the latest Applied Science video on YouTube which somewhat showcased it.

The upvotes look genuine to me. I guess people are just excited?

[flagged]

> "true" SLA

What is that? Why is it better?

Please, please do NOT buy a resin printer as your first printer; IF you want to print intricate details (where resin excels) at least start with an FDM printer anda 0.2mm nozzle. Lots of information can be found here at r/fdmminiatures.

Resin is extremely toxic and requires a dedicated area and handling and care.

You can wash manually with some isopropyl alcohol in a wash basin and then cure in the sun. It will be a pain to do, and somewhat inconsistent, but its possible. You can also get a cheaper wash and cure station for other 3D printers that would likely work well enough with some tuning.

My first printer was resin without a dedicated wash/cure set up and it was difficult enough that I sold the printer and got an FDM. Currently I'm using an Snapmaker U1 and it's really awesome and much easier. It also prints in multicolor seamlessly.

That said, if you do spend the extra for this along with the wash/cure and the voc extractor, the demos are really impressive. It seems like this printer is blazing fast, for single color prints it will print basically anything at better resolution than an FDM in <2 hours, whereas FDM could take anywhere from 4-12+ for a similar part with bigger layer lines.

You can wash the print in an ultrasonic bath [1] in isopropyl alcohol (IPA).

Then cure using a UV LED strip (5m w USB plug ~2 EUR) inside an empty can (another 2-5 EUR) and a solar-powered rotating base [2].

The light from the LEDs is cures as well as powers the base. All four will set you back less than 50 EUR.

[1] https://aliexpress.com/item/1005010131053964.html [2] https://aliexpress.com/item/1005012796313088.html

Ive been 3D printing for over a decade, SLA printers are just not worth it IMO. There useful for certain applications, especially industry but for home hobbyist, FDM + 0.2mm nozzle would go further as a first 3D printer

We don't have a wash here at our office, we just use a small container with IPA.

We have a UV cure cube, but often I just cure under a $20 amazon desktop UV light.

Honestly a Bambu printer is so insanely easy to use you'd be making printing ^25 harder with this.

For another $250, you can get another box that washes and cures.

Just don't. Resin printers are a pain. Get an FDM (filament) printer first.

In general yes, resin and FDM printers both produce toxic VOCs.

But FormLabs for this printer and resin have focused on safetey and acquired a certification on their Alpha resins which show low VOCs that should be safe to print in an indoor room with low ventilation.

I still wouldn't, I would add ventilation and wear PPE, it's still going to be releasing some VOCs even if it comes under a tolerable limit. But I do appreciate what seems to be the first ever initiative in 3D printing to address the elephant in the room of VOCs directly at the material level.

John Formlab here, I check the referrer and charge extra to people coming from wealthy people websites

Wrote this elsewhere, but this printer prints a full volume in 2 hours. In many scenarios it's 10x faster than FDM with better resolution and compatibility with advanced materials, like food grade / skin contact, ultra strength and rubber-like consistency.

You actually would probably want the wash/cure and VOC extractor upgrades so it's more like 1200$ before it's useful, but if you have the clean room space and ability to handle the toxic resin, functionally resin printing is typically better than fdm for single color prints.

From the hobbyist perspective, the main thing this gets you is much more precise and detailed prints, so they're very popular in the model making community.

From a professional perspective, this gives you access to a bunch of different materials that open up all kinds of options for prototyping.

Amazing detail, a resin allergy, and cancer