Sunlu High Toughness Resin Review

 7.4/10

Sunlu’s high toughness grey resin really lived up to its name with extreme toughness and flexibility. It withstood our durability and flexibility tests admirably, all while maintaining good detail reproduction. The only significant con we found with this resin is its strong odor. We strongly recommend using it in a well-ventilated area.

Overall, its outstanding durability, fine detail reproduction, and affordable price make Sunlu’s high toughness resin an easy and solid recommendation for those looking for a great tough resin to use.

 7.4/10

Manufacturer: Sunlu

The Pros

The Cons

Paul Chow

Co-Founder & CTO

Published on September 9, 2023

Amazon.com Disclosure: As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE: PLEASE READ BEFORE PROCEEDING
This review features the 3D printer, which has been kindly provided to us by the manufacturer for the purpose of this review. While the manufacturer has supported us by supplying the printer, they have not influenced the content of this review in any way. Our assessments and observations are entirely our own, and we have conducted our usual thorough testing to ensure we provide an accurate evaluation of the product. At 3DGearZone, we are committed to transparency and honesty, ensuring that our audience can trust the content we produce.

Sunlu is one of many overseas 3D printing material companies that specialize in both FDM and resin materials. Like many of its peers, Sunlu offers a wide variety of resins aimed at both hobbyists and professionals. One standout is their high toughness grey resin, which is designed for users who need their 3D printed parts to be tough enough to handle falls and impacts while still maintaining great detail and accuracy. Sunlu also mentions that this resin is quite flexible, making it a good choice for printing delicate parts that are prone to breaking with more rigid resins.

Now, let’s get to the heart of the matter: just how tough is Sunlu’s high toughness resin? In this review, we’re going to thoroughly examine its packaging, the printing process, and how it cleans up. Most importantly, we’ll also be subjecting it to an extensive series of drop tests. By the end of this, you’ll have all the answers you need to decide if Sunlu’s high toughness resin is the right choice for your tough resin needs.

74

Overall Score

Learn more about our resin review methodology.

Price and Availability

Sunlu’s high toughness grey resin retails at $35.99/L. This is slightly more expensive than the average $30-33/L for standard or ABS-like resin found among many of its competitors. However, Sunlu has marketed this resin as among the toughest available, and the slightly higher price tag would be easily justified if their claims hold up.

Sunlu sells its line of resins directly on their website along with onshore retailers (such as Amazon) for people who need the resin immediately. However, if you’re willing to wait for overseas shipping, Sunlu often offers bulk order discounts, making their resin even more affordable.

Packaging

Sunlu resin is packaged in a rectangular bottle that features texture on the side to make gripping easier. We do appreciate these design choices as they make it easier to move and store the resin compared to the smooth cylindrical bottles of many of its competitors. Each bottle is also clearly labeled to ensure users know what resin is contained in the bottle. Sunlu then packages its resin bottles in a colored cardboard box with plenty of bubble wrap to protect the UV-sensitive contents within.

Additionally, Sunlu includes a pair of disposable gloves—a welcome addition that no other competitor we have currently reviewed provides. Overall, we are happy with the level of packaging Sunlu employs for its resins.

Ease of Use

The high toughness grey resin is a slightly thicker resin compared to the standard ones employed by many resin manufacturers. That is usually a sign that it requires some heat to ensure printing success. True enough, Sunlu recommends that its resin be printed in a 25c or higher environment. Our office is usually 22c, so we used a spare FDM printer’s heated bed to heat up the resin for 10 minutes before pouring it into our test resin printer. The resin’s viscosity came out a lot lower, which gave us confidence in its printing success. Besides this minor adjustment, we discovered that Sunlu’s high-toughness resin was generally hassle-free to work with.

Smell

Like the majority of UV resins used for 3D printing, the high toughness resin from Sunlu exhibits an odor. However, this resin’s odor is particularly strong. Even with the charcoal filter in our printer, we could easily smell it in our office, and some team members found it difficult to stay in the same room when it was printing. Be sure you have good ventilation when you’re using this resin.

Cleanup & Post Processing

The post-processing of Sunlu’s high toughness resin takes about 50% more time compared to most resins that we have reviewed. It requires a solvent like isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to clean and remove any uncured resin before it can be safely handled. In fact, the company recommends washing their resins with IPA. As such, we used IPA paired with an ultrasonic cleaner to give it the best chance of cleaning success. We found that fully cleaning the resin took two separate five-minute cycles, which is longer than the three minutes for most of the other resins we tested.

Most resins also require post-processing UV exposure to fully complete the curing process. For this review, we used a 60W UV lamp for the highest chance of success. We found that the high toughness resin needed about 10 minutes under UV light to eliminate any stickiness and guarantee complete curing, making the resin safe to handle.

Detail Reproduction

Sunlu’s focus with this resin is toughness, durability, and flexibility. However, it is still capable of good detail reproduction. We put Sunlu’s resin to the test with an extremely detailed 28mm figure, and it was able to reproduce all the minute details in the figure, albeit far softer compared to high-resolution resins. However, many users would be hard-pressed to notice the difference without a direct comparison to another model printed using said resin.

Durability

To really put the high toughness resin to the test, we printed nine of the 28mm miniatures and dropped them from three different heights (60cm, 100 cm, and 150cm) to simulate different heights like a coffee table, a 3D printing table, and a shelf that resin printed models typically find themselves in. These miniatures even represented some of the worst-case scenarios for resin prints with features such as thin blades, ankles, and beaks. We were pleasantly surprised to see that at 60cm and 100cm, none of the models suffered any damage. At 160cm, one model suffered a broken blade and another a snapped ankle, which we partially expected. Still, Sunlu’s high toughness resin is currently the most durable resin we have tested to date.

Flexibility

We used a thin wizard staff model to test the flexibility of our Sunlu high toughness grey resin. In many cases, having some flexibility is good, as it allows resin prints to increase durability and also makes it easier to fit multi-part resin prints together. And true enough, the results were impressive—this resin demonstrated exceptional toughness and flexibility. The wizard staff was even fully able to bend over itself with no sign of stress or breakage, which left us thoroughly amazed.

This is an affiliate link

Disclaimer
3DGearZone.com is a professional review site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we review. We test each product thoroughly and give high marks to only the very best. We don’t guarantee, however, that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services. 3DGearZone.com is independently owned and the opinions expressed here are our own.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Paul Chow

Paul’s been prop making since 2012 and has garnered an extensive experience in woodworking, CNC machining, 3D modelling and printing experience. Getting his first 3D printer in 2016, he dove deep into the world of 3D printer building, repair, upgrading and tinkering. He has built, tested and upgraded dozens of printers ranging from large & small, resin or FDM and ready to print fully custom builds.

Sunlu High Toughness Resin Review

The Pros

The Cons

74

Price and Availability

Packaging

Ease of Use

Smell

Cleanup & Post Processing

Detail Reproduction

Durability

Flexibility

Printer Reviews

Products

Brands

3D Printer Brands

About

Legal