This will be very exciting, when/if they ever perfect a photopolymer resin that is formaldehyde free, doesn't depend on fossil fuel byproducts, and doesn't degrade into some of the worst micorplastics out there.
this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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What about the UV cured polymer that dentists use? Surely that is relatively safe, though probably way too high viscosity. (Note: While I know a fair bit about FDM, I'm not at all read up on SLA, so I may be completely wrong here.)
Oh, afaik even the typical SLA resin is "safe" in the sense that when it's completely cured, it's non-toxic (for now). But that doesn't help with the eventual degradation and microplastics, unfortunately. Also, people are wayyyyyyyy more careless with the uncured stuff and the fumes than they ought to be...
As far as the dental stuff is concerned, I have no idea if it's actually different and in what way. My guess is, either it must be the same, or else it's just so expensive that nobody sells it for the hobbyist market. If you find out different I'd love to know, a chance to sustainably resin print would be awesome!
However, if you look into this, watch out for the massive amount of greenwashing in this industry. They're doing stuff like selling the same old resin and calling it "eco friendly" or w/e just because they've like thrown some seaweed filler in it. Lying about the dangers, all sorts of stuff.
However, if you look into this, watch out for the massive amount of greenwashing in this industry. They're doing stuff like selling the same old resin and calling it "eco friendly" or w/e just because they've like thrown some seaweed filler in it. Lying about the dangers, all sorts of stuff.
This is a big issue, especially considering that most filament/resin manufacturers are tiny companies with virtually no oversight. They do whatever they want and there's practically no mechanism to stop them from doing so.
Super rad