They can be a bit brittle, unlike the normal resin which can be flexible even with thin parts and can also be easy to work with. A user who was printing at home with no good workshop for cleaning saw the resin by chance and decided to try it out. They found it helpful in printing their miniatures with great details and precision on the models. Bright and Stunning Colors】With high quality pigments and photo-initiators inside 8K water-washable resin, the models printed with ELEGOO 8K water-washable photopolymer resin have a very pure and stunning color effect, just like an artwork. Water washable resin sounds like a great idea. In theory, it allows you to post-process your models easier and clean them with just regular tap water. These are the specs listed by Elegoo: Safe to Use】Water washable, low odor, low skin irritation, no expensive IPA required, just rinse with tap water or soak for a short time to clean your 3D prints. Be safer to use, and improve your efficiency and save your budget by reducing the post-processing time.

Water-Washable Resins of 2023 | All3DP The Best Water-Washable Resins of 2023 | All3DP

As you can see from the Elegoo Mars Resin Settings Spreadsheet, the standard resin and the water washable resin have very similar cure times for the Elegoo Mars & Elegoo Mars 2 & 2 Pro printers. Description ELEGOO Water-Washable 3D Printer Resin, Rapid Resin 405nm LCD UV-Curing Standard Photopolymer Resin for LCD 3D Printer, Grey, 2KG The problem with water washable resins though is that many people think it is safe to wash in the sink and have the contaminated water pour down the drain. This can still be very environmentally damaging so water washable is more likely to have a negative effect due to user error. However, a user once used different types of resin including the Elegoo Water Washable resin to 3D print 3 different miniatures. He noticed that the water washable resin was more brittle and had more tendency to break than the other prints. You don’t want to dispose of water mixed with water washable resin without curing it because it will have negative effects on the environment, especially on aquatic life.Some people did complain about water washable resin being more brittle, but there are mixed opinions on this, with others saying it works just fine as long as you use the correct exposure settings and don’t over cure your models. If you look at other printers and similarly compare their curing times with these two types of resins, you’ll see identical times which shows that they both require about the same exposure time.

Water-washable Resin Space Grey 1KG - ELEGOO Official 8K Water-washable Resin Space Grey 1KG - ELEGOO Official

As you can see, the end results look great. After the print was finished, I first washed the model in a big mason jar filled with water where I removed most of the resin. After the initial cleanup, I washed the remaining resin with hot water over the sink to easily remove the supports. The issue that surrounds mixing water washable resin with normal resin is the right resin setting that should be used after mixing them together. While the sabre pommel was probably not supported well enough, I can’t justify the layer shifts that occurred on the top.It goes without saying to always take the necessary precautions when handling resin, and use gloves when touching uncured resin. Commodity is NOT an excuse to just wash the models directly in the sink, even though the resin is marketed as water washable. In the YouTube video earlier in this article from Uncle Jessy where he reviewed the Elegoo water washable resin, he mentioned that he used about 10 – 20 minutes to cure each side of his Gambit Bust Eastman model. Unofficial suggestions for most brands resin on ELEGOO Saturn Seires Printers (Contributed by our community members): With a strong UV light or Wash & Cure machine, you should be able to cure water washable resin prints in anywhere from 2-5 minutes depending on the size of the print. If you have a weaker UV light, it could take you anywhere from 10-20 minutes to cure a model.

Testing Resin Prints: Is Water Washable Better Testing Resin Prints: Is Water Washable Better

In many cases, curing times of 2-5 minutes can work well so it really depends on the complexity of your model and if it has nooks and crannies that are hard to get through to. High Precision and Low Shrinkage】Designed for reducing volume shrinkage during the photocuring process, ELEGOO 3d printer resin 8k has significantly lower volumetric shrinkage and significantly higher accuracy than others, which brings smooth surface with great resolution for print model.Outstanding Performance】Low shrinkage and better printing precision. Vivid colors, excellent details, cures well with no discoloration, smooth surface with great resolution

Water Washable Resin Vs Normal Resin – Which is Better? Water Washable Resin Vs Normal Resin – Which is Better?

Even though the results are not as expected, I can confirm that the Elegoo water washable resin is easy to clean with just regular tap water. In terms of the overall costs between using normal resin with a cleaning solution and paying more for water washable resin and using water, you would probably be better off with normal resin because IPA can be reused for a long time, while the resin is used just once. Because using water washable resin seems like a great idea (not needing to mess with IPA or other alcohol), this doesn’t mean that it’s good for the environment.Even though water washable resin is known to have less fumes, you still want to operate your 3D printer in a well ventilated area, with some air purifiers to help even more.