3D printing material question

[CPDDET]

Being new to 3D printing I'm a bit lost when it comes to choosing the proper material.

I'm about to submit a file to a 3D printing company but they all require choosing a material, of which there are dozens. 

 

The parts I'm printing are quite small. L-.489 W-.811 H-.378. But detail is important, more so than fragility. Also the parts will be painted. 

 

Any input or advice is appreciated. 

 

Dave

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Dave, list the options or the company and I'll have a look. For best detail you'll want it printed in resin and, generally speaking, for non-functional model parts you are not going to need anything exotic and their default option will probably suffice.

[CPDDET]

Company is:

Advanced Additive Innovations

didn't see a default option.

You may have to upload a file to see material options.

Thanks!

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Go for the elegoo abs-like grey. This will have a bit of flex whereas the elegoo standard will be more rigid and prone to breaking. Grey is a very good colour for seeing the detail quality.

[CPDDET]

2 hours ago, Kevin-the-lubber said:

Go for the elegoo abs-like grey. This will have a bit of flex whereas the elegoo standard will be more rigid and prone to breaking. Grey is a very good colour for seeing the detail quality.

Can this material be milled? I have some parts with voids that need to be filled in order to avoid thin walls, then milled to create some of the voids. So the material would have to meet that requirement as well. 

 

Example:  the foredeck winch has a round protruding tube where the winch handle would be inserted. The walls of the tube are too thin to be printed. But if I have that void filled it could be printed. I can then mount the winch on my mill and drill out that void creating the needed tube for detail.

 

I understand a high detail resin produces a rigid, opaque product?

 

Learning a lot here!

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Yes, this resin can be machined, but do be careful, resin has a relatively low breaking threshold. If I was you I would ask them to give me some scrap pieces if possible, to practice on, or else get an extra print done.

 

That said, you might be surprised at just how thin parts can be printed. I regularly print objects with walls that are only 0.2mm thick, including tubes. However the risk of print failure is higher on these parts, which increases costs, so commercial printers may be reluctant to take that risk.

[Srenner]

I have found the phrozen 8k resin to be the highest detail and pretty strong due to the number of "nano particles" in it.

 

But it is brittle and dont think it would like machining post print.

[CPDDET]

12 minutes ago, Srenner said:

I have found the phrozen 8k resin to be the highest detail and pretty strong due to the number of "nano particles" in it.

 

But it is brittle and dont think it would like machining post print.

Thanks for that input!

[Nirvana]

As Srenner wrote about the nano particles, that will be one of the critical number to look at.

Resin is brittle but does provide very good detailing that regular filament printing can't do.
Another aspect the higher (quality) cost of a printer the better details.

I, myself is looking into purchasing a resin printer as an addition to my filament printer.
 

[CCClarke]

On 3/16/2025 at 7:51 PM, Srenner said:

I have found the phrozen 8k resin to be the highest detail and pretty strong due to the number of "nano particles" in it.

 

But it is brittle and dont think it would like machining post print.

I use Phrozen ABS-like resin (compatible w/8k) exclusively.  It flexes without shattering and handles reasonable (110 direct sun in AZ for hours) heat without warping.

 

Highly recommended.

[Johnny Mike]

Not sure if it is right for your application but

I build 16 and 17 century tall ships so almost everything is wood.

I use Creality Wood filament PLA 1.75 because it is 30% wood.

All the parts were printed on a very inexpensive Creality K1 printer.

This is off the printer with no cleanup, sanding or touchup.

The second picture is right off the printer so need to be cleaned up 

but I will leave the vertical lines in because has the look of sawed rough wood.

 

[LoydB]

If you are milling or sanding resin, please use dust collection and a mask, the dust is toxic.

 

[CCClarke]

On 9/5/2025 at 9:05 AM, Johnny Mike said:

Not sure if it is right for your application but

I build 16 and 17 century tall ships so almost everything is wood.

I use Creality Wood filament PLA 1.75 because it is 30% wood.

All the parts were printed on a very inexpensive Creality K1 printer.

This is off the printer with no cleanup, sanding or touchup.

The second picture is right off the printer so need to be cleaned up 

but I will leave the vertical lines in because has the look of sawed rough wood.

 

FDM printing is ideal for those who enjoy sanding and aren't interested in small, detailed parts.  Using wood-like material is irrelevant since it's going to be painted over anyway and usually requires a larger nozzle diameter, reducing details further.  I cut my teeth on commercial FDM printers that cost thousands, and bought a $350 Phrozen resin printer just to see what it could do.  I was immediately blown away by the intricate details it could produce.  Minimal sanding was the icing on the cake.  My time is the most important commodity I have control over.

 

Cons: Resin printing requires a dedicated, well-ventilated space and parts cleaning can be messy, despite the vortex cleaning stations available.  91 IPA is one consumable along with resin, but I've learned how to minimize how much IPA I need, using a discarded Windex sprayer, foam brush, and compressed air (60 psi from my air brush) to blow the excess resin from the .1 to .4 mm details.  A half quart bottle of IPA lasts weeks instead of submerging the entire part in a plastic bin and contaminating a larger volume of IPA which becomes less and less effective over time and then has to be disposed of.

 

For test fixtures and jigs, I still like FDM prints and farm those out to friends to produce my designs.  

 

Learning how to properly orient parts in a slicer takes time to acquire -usually through multiple failures (part of the learning process.)  Resin printing is not plug-and-play as advertised despite new advances in printing technology.

 

Being able to create parts with injection-molded precision at home is pretty darn cool though, and worth a look if that's what you need.

 

My first resin model renders (for an RC submarine project) and the printed results were virtually identical.

 

Edited 6 hours ago by CCClarke
mo betta explanation