[Resin printing] Flexible resin recommendations for tabletop miniatures?
[Resin printing] Flexible resin recommendations for tabletop miniatures?
For tabletop miniatures I prefer to use a flexible resin to avoid small details breaking off when removing supports or when a mini falls off the table. So far I've used Ameralabs TGM-7 but now that my current bottle is almost empty I'm thinking about looking into alternatives. At over 75€ per liter, TGM-7 is really expensive compared to other resins.
Amazon recommended me RESIONE TH72 as an alternative and there are others on the market like Sunlu Standard Plus. So far I couldn't find a good comparison between them. Do any of you have experience with any of those or other recommendations?
I've used TH72 a bit. I'd describe it more as shock proof than flexible. It'll certainly make your miniatures robust, but it's nowhere near as soft as something like TPU.
I've only been printing for a short time, so sorry if I seen ignorant. But I'm assuming you aren't a fan of the ABS-like resins? Minis are the bulk of what I've printed so far, I've done them all in Anycubic grey abs like. A handful of them have taken a topple off the printer shelf (~6 feet / 2m) and so far the only things that have broken are things I don't think a different material would have stood up to anyways (read: large objects attached with a tiny surface area, warhammer heads, a hand holding a glass orb, I think one cloaked arm). Everything has super-glued back together very easily (though they're all still unpainted, if they'd been painted the seam would likely be much more visible).
I had a small model (not quite mini sized) printed in standard resin that fell from a much shorter distance and broke in like 3 places so it's definitely more flexible/ durable than that.
It's also like $15 USD/L...
There is definitely a large difference between ABS-like resins and flexible resins. The latter are much closer in consistency to the miniatures you get for example from CMON board games. I have some printed miniatures with swords and spears and I can easily bend those weapons 20-30° without breaking them which in my opinion is a huge plus for things that get handled a lot.
I see, I did not realize the range of different resin materials. I was led to believe most behave pretty similarly.
I've never had the privilege of paying a CMON game, but the sets I've seen in stores seem so enticing.
I hope you find a resin that is both affordable and meets your needs! Eventually I'll probably want something more bendy too, once I get better at painting I probably won't want my guys to break.