If you’ve been around resin 3D printing for any amount of time you’ve likely encountered arguments about resin safety. How much PPE (personal protective equipment) do you need? What even is water washable resin? Is it ok to touch resin? Are the fumes dangerous? I could write a book on how dangerous resin is to yourself and the environment but a quick google will pull up much better resources than I could create. The bottom line is that resin IS dangerous and highly toxic. The printing bro on facebook that touches resin all the time and is fine is not the trusted source you want to rely on. But what about that water washable resin? A lot of novice users think that water washable equals safe and that is absolutely not true. The same nasty chemicals exist in water washable resin, it just means you can wash it with water rather than IPA. The amount of water washable resin going down our drains is a travesty and environmental crime.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. We love 3D printing at GamingTrend and have reviewed a number of resin printers. With proper understanding and handling, they can be enjoyed by the hobby user safely without poisoning our waterways. However, there is so much misinformation and bad advice out there that mistakes are bound to occur.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a resin that took at least some of the bad stuff out of the equation so we didn’t have to worry so much? That’s exactly what Formlabs aims to do with their new Creator Series resin. Read the press release below and I would encourage you to click the links and learn about the dangerous stuff you may be slathering all over your hands, breathing into your only set of lungs, and pouring down your drain. I’m not a scientist and can’t prove their claims, but Formlabs is a professional company with a good reputation. Any effort to make the hobby safer and more enjoyable is a plus for me.

Formlabs Launches Creator Series Resins for 3D Printing Hobbyists

With these new, low-cost resins, Formlabs delivers a higher standard of performance, safety, and quality than currently available to the hobbyist 3D printing market.

Somerville, Mass. – November 7, 2024 – Formlabs, the leader in 3D printing, today announced the Creator Series, a new line of safe, low-cost resins that deliver performance, safety, and quality to hobbyist printers while maintaining the company’s high performance, safety, and quality standards. Creator Series launches with its first two resins, Creator Tough Resin and Creator Super Clear Resin, for use on non-Formlabs LCD and DLP 3D printers, which are available now for $45 per kilogram on Amazon.com.

“As the hobbyist market grows, it’s exciting to see the impact and power of 3D printing in the hands of creators. However, there’s a concerning gap in the safety of the resin options currently on the market, so we tapped the experience of our leading materials science team to deliver innovative, high performance, safer, and low-cost resins,” said Formlabs CPO Dávid Lakatos. “As another step towards making 3D printing accessible, Creator Series will empower more users to experiment, innovate, and create with confidence.”

Creator Resins include unique properties to produce aesthetically pleasing and tough minis, figurines, and other low-impact parts on non-Formlabs printers. The materials are optimized specifically for top-selling hobbyist resin printers and are put through similar testing and validation processes of Formlabs’ standard materials.

• Creator Tough Resin is a tough, strong, and semi-flexible ABS-like resin, with leading elongation at break. The matte gray finish provides a perfect canvas for painting parts.
• Creator Super Clear Resin is ultra clear, strong, and stiff, making it perfect for creating optically clear general purpose parts. Creator Super Clear can be easily post-processed with clear coat or polishing to achieve superior clarity, and can be dyed to create unique colors.

Creator Resins uplift performance and safety standards for hobbyist 3D printing with a quick and seamless workflow. These resins also reduce the potential health risks encountered with traditional hobbyist resins, with safe ingredients that don’t produce harmful odors or large amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Validated print settings profiles are available on creator.formlabs.com as well as Chitubox and Lychee Slicers. Creator Resins are formulated for use with third-party LCD and DLP printers, including: Elegoo Mars 4 9K; Elegoo Saturn 3 Ultra; Anycubic Photon M2; Anycubic Photon D2; Uniformation GK2; Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K; and the Creality Halot Mage 8K. Creator Series users are encouraged to provide feedback at creator.formlabs.com.

About Formlabs

Formlabs builds the tools that make it possible for anyone to bring their ideas to life. Headquartered in Somerville, Mass. with offices across the globe, Formlabs is the professional 3D printer of choice for engineers, designers, healthcare providers, manufacturers, and decision-makers. Formlabs’ products include SLA and SLS 3D printers, post-processing solutions, best-in-class software, and over 45 materials to suit dozens of applications. In 2024, Formlabs was named one of the world’s Most Innovative Companies in Manufacturing by Fast Company. To learn more, visit www.formlabs.com.

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