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I've heard you can get a small printer that can do resin in detail high enough to handle 28mm figures for under 200 USD. Since i have trouble enough keeping my cheap paper printers working (Of course they seem made to die quickly) I want to ask some questions before i put my toe in the water.

I want to print some minis from the onepagerules site, and they are not pirated and are legal no matter what gw wishes. I live in america and want to know what is the smallest (i have limited free space) and cheapest printer than can do them right. Also what is a low cost resin that hopefully won't kill me.

From some of the toxicity I've seen on this forum i fully expect some replies to be barrels of flaming dung fired from catapults, so don't think you're going to shock/surprise me with snark laden abusive posts.

These are the legal, non pirate minis i'd start with. https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-robot-snipers-188144

I don't think I've seen anyone hate on One Page Rule's models - they are unique designs and whilst clearly inspired by GW, they are very much their own thing (not quite my thing so I've never backed them but I think I've got a few here and there from cross-overs on other patreons).



As for printers a few thoughts

1) 3D resin printing is a hobby unto itself. Whilst there are good printers that work decently well, there's a skill to many aspects and it does have its own ups and downs. It is very much NOT plug and play.

2) For what you're after the price range is a bit limiting. The Go-To recommendation right now for a solid quality sla 3d printer is a Mars 2 Pro. That gives you a 2K resolution 6inch screen which is more than enough to print those models. Inded its the standard printer many creators cut and support their models for. It's also a very reliable printer in general and the 2K resolution can deliver great quality.

3) Outside of the printer you will need extra things -
disposable Nitrile (latex reacts with resin) gloves. You wear these when ever you interact with wet or uncured or partially cured resin.

4) paper towels (I got a cheap lot of those blue rolls of paper towels). These are for cleaning pretty much everything

5) Microfibre cloths (cheap floor cleaning ones are good - these are for cleaning the FEP and anything delicate - like the LCD if it requires it)

6) Safety glasses - you do NOT want resin in your eyes. I've spoken to someone who spent an evening in the hospital from a tiny speck that got on the eye when they were separating the model from its supports.

7) IPA - most resins wash with this. Some are water washable, but that doesn't actually end up being as good as it sounds as the water is contaminated with resin after and has to be evaporated off and the residue exposed; so the same as IPA just that IPA is much easier to process (it evaporates faster). Water washable resins can also be a bit weaker/trickier to work with.

8) Curing setup - UV LED's in a box if your country doesn't have a lot of sunlight; otherwise leaving a model in direct sunlight for curing.

There are wash and cure stations you can buy which can make washing and curing easier; not essential but they can be nice to own and take some of the hassle out of things.

9) A face mask that filters out organic particles. Like the gloves you wear this at all times when working with liquid/uncured resin.

Off the top of my head that should get your started. When you add up the extras the cost of getting into resin 3D printing does go up somewhat. That said many of them are cheap replaceable extras or one time investments; so once you're going you cna keep going.

Resin wise I can't really suggest, I've only used Aqua 4K resin which has worked great for me with models. I know that there are some decent cheaper options and some excellent higher priced options. That said even some of the upper resins are still much cheaper than buying models.

Overread’s post is pretty comprehensive. I would just add that if you have very restricted space then you might want to think about ventilation. My personal experience is that the resin fumes can be irritating to your system and would recommend that it gets done away from sleeping rooms in particular. Or get a vented case of some kind.

 Flinty wrote:
Overread’s post is pretty comprehensive. I would just add that if you have very restricted space then you might want to think about ventilation. My personal experience is that the resin fumes can be irritating to your system and would recommend that it gets done away from sleeping rooms in particular. Or get a vented case of some kind.

This is a particular problem I am having right now - I want to keep up good ventilation, but also, it's freezing out here right now, so venting the room is pulling in a lot of really cold air.

I think I might need to get a tent for my printer.

I know this is about resin printing, but if you are printing in FDM, you 100% need to vent around humans, FDM printing emits VOCs. I suspect resin printing doesn't output vitamins, but it's newer that there just aren't as many studies.

 Flinty wrote:
Overread’s post is pretty comprehensive. I would just add that if you have very restricted space then you might want to think about ventilation. My personal experience is that the resin fumes can be irritating to your system and would recommend that it gets done away from sleeping rooms in particular. Or get a vented case of some kind.

I totally forgot about the face mask - edited it into my post.

In general terms ventilation can help a lot, but you still need the mask when going to open up the housing for the printer when you come ot deal with it directly.


Resin breathed in/in contact with skin is an irritant but also has a cumulative element to it. So you can encounter it and have apparently no reaction; but repeated interactions will build up and up toward a more serious allergic reaction. It's a bit of a problem because some people hear about it, but then get resin on themselves and don't seem to suffer and thus consider the danger negligible. The protections are really simple, don't cost much and its just so much safer to wear them. Once you get used to 3D printing you won't have to wear the stuff for long anyway; put it on; take the print off, start the next print, process your print and put it in for cure and then the gear can come off.

The first thing I mention when asked about getting into resin printing is the toxicity:

Liquid resin is poisonous and toxic. SLA printing is a hobby that requires responsibility, not just to keep yourself safe, but so as not to contaminate the environment.

I use a water washable resin, so I collect my rinse and cleaning water, cure it in direct sunlight, and filter the cured-residue water through a coffee filter before disposal. Because the last thing I want is liquid resin residue and/or cured microparticles running through either the city water supply or the local water cycle.