Sunlu Water-Washable Resin Review

 7.4/10

Sunlu’s water-washable resin stands out as one of the easiest to use and cleanest resins we’ve had the chance to evaluate. This resin does not need any isopropyl alcohol to clean, which really keeps operating costs low. We were also pleasantly surprised with its ability to reproduce intricate details while remaining budget-friendly.

However, it’s crucial to highlight the resin’s extreme fragility. This brittleness could be a drawback for tabletop gamers since prints might need frequent replacement due to everyday handling. On the flip side, if you’re aiming to craft large figurines primarily for display purposes, Sunlu’s water-washable resin is a suitable and cost-effective choice.

 7.4/10

Manufacturer: Sunlu

The Pros

The Cons

Paul Chow

Co-Founder & CTO

Published on September 12, 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.

In the world of 3D printing resin, there’s fierce competition among manufacturers, and Sunlu is one of the players vying for your attention. Sunlu offers a wide range of consumer and professional resins for several different 3D printing niches. One of their standout products is their water-washable resin, designed to streamline the cleanup process. What sets it apart is that it leverages water instead of a solvent like IPA for washing, making cleanup easier and more cost-effective. This even has the added benefit of reducing operational costs, as isopropyl alcohol can be expensive compared to tap water.

However, while the convenience of easy cleanup is a definite plus, resin printing involves more than just keeping things tidy. When considering a resin purchase, it’s crucial to weigh other factors like detail reproduction, durability, and cost. So, the question is, does Sunlu’s water-washable resin offer more than just a cleaning gimmick? We’ll take a deep dive into this 3D printer resin and give you all the details to see if it’s worth your consideration.

74

Overall Score

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Price and Availability

Sunlu’s water-washable gray resin retails for $30.99/L when purchased from the company’s website. This is right in line with the industry average of $30/L for most standard resins. This makes this resin an extremely attractive choice for those looking for an affordable resin with the added advantage of not requiring isopropyl alcohol as an added cost.

While Sunlu’s water-washable resin is available directly from Sunlu, users looking for a stateside retailer can also look to Amazon. Just note that Sunlu offers bulk discounts for website customers, so you can reap big discounts if they take this route.

Packaging

Sunlu’s water-washable resin comes in a brightly-colored cardboard box, and the bottle is securely enclosed with a large amount of bubble wrap. The bottle itself boasts a practical rectangular shape, complete with ridges for easy handling and storage.

Additionally, the package comes with a pair of disposable gloves that people tend to go through quickly. All in all, we greatly appreciate the level of thought and detail that Sunlu puts into its resin packaging.

Ease of Use

Sunlu promotes their water-washable resin as having an exceptionally low viscosity, which greatly improves overall printing success. However, many resins can be sensitive to temperature, requiring heat adjustments. In our case, with an office temperature of 22°C, we were pleasantly surprised to find that Sunlu’s water-washable resin had low viscosity right out of the bottle. This suggests it’s not overly temperature-sensitive. We poured the resin into our test 3D printer and experienced no issues, no temperature tweaks required—it was ready to print straight from the bottle!

Smell

As with most 3D printer resins, Sunlu’s water-washable resin does have a chemical odor, but compared to many other resins we have tested, Sunlu’s water-washable resin was extremely faint. Our test 3D printer has a charcoal filter to reduce odors, and we found that it fully eliminated the smell while printing. However, we still strongly advise users to ensure good ventilation when working with resins, as they can emit potentially harmful fumes.

Cleanup & Post Processing

One of the main advantages of Sunlu’s water-washable resin is that it doesn’t need solvents like isopropyl alcohol (IPA) for post-processing cleaning. This offers two significant benefits: first, tap water is much cheaper than IPA, and second, water is easier to clean up and has no strong fumes. During our testing, we used water with an ultrasonic cleaner to ensure that we gave the test prints the best possible cleaning experience. We found that a quick three-minute bath was all it took to clear all uncured resin off our test prints.

Note: We have to mention that water used in the cleaning process should never be poured down the drain because it contains contaminants that can be highly harmful to the environment.

Like nearly all 3D resins, Sunlu’s water-washable resin requires additional UV exposure to complete the post-printing process. In our testing, we used a 60-watt UV source to fully cure any remaining resin to ensure it was safe to handle. We found we only needed three minutes to fully remove any remaining tackiness and cure our test prints.

Overall, Sunlu’s water-washable resin was among the fastest resins to fully post-process among the ones we’ve handled!

Detail Reproduction

Resin printing’s primary advantage over FDM printing is its exceptional ability to capture intricate details, which is especially important for applications like tabletop miniatures, jewelry crafting, and professional dental work. Our test prints reflect what many of these users may print, including a dragon bust, an extremely detailed 28mm tabletop miniature, and a large house model that blended organic and inorganic details.

We’re pleased to report that Sunlu’s water-washable resin handled all these tasks admirably, delivering smooth surfaces, precise organic shapes, and intricate details with exceptional accuracy. In fact, we’re very proud of how the tabletop miniature turned out, as this is amongst the hardest test files we can throw at a resin printer with extremely minute features such as feathers and intricate textures.

Overall, Sunlu’s water-washable resin very much aced the tests in terms of detailed reproduction.

sunlu water washable grey resin mini 28mm 2

sunlu water washable grey resin mini 28mm

sunlu water washable grey resin dragon bust

Durability

Another important aspect of resin is its durability, as many resin prints must handle the rigors of tabletop gaming or constant handling. To test Sunlu’s water-washable resin’s ability, we printed nine of the 28mm tabletop miniatures and separated them into three groups. Each of these groups was dropped at 60cm, 90cm, and 150mm to simulate different 3D printing table heights if a print took an unfortunate fall.

Regrettably, Sunlu’s water-washable resin seems to have the tendency to break if someone merely casts a mean glace in its prints’ direction. Across all three test heights, we observed breakages in areas as minor as beaks, ankles, feathers, arms, and blades. This outcome was somewhat expected, as water-washable resins are known for their extreme brittleness and fragility.

Flexibility

Flexibility is a desired trait in many 3D printing resins as it promotes durability and enables multipart prints to be more easily assembled. In our flexibility test, we used a thin wizard staff as our test print. The goal was to bend the staff as much as possible without causing it to fracture to see how flexible the resin is. Given the brittle and fragile nature of water-washable resins, we didn’t anticipate Sunlu’s water-washable resin to perform well in this regard. As such, we were not surprised to see the staff snap with little force.

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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 Water-Washable Resin Review

The Pros

The Cons

74

Price and Availability

Packaging

Ease of Use

Smell

Cleanup & Post Processing

Detail Reproduction

Durability

Flexibility

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