https://yesthats3dprinted.com
One evening in 2023, I had a thought that changed how I look at 3D resins.
Here's what happened…
I had just started an online store to distribute resin 3D printers.
I was in the precarious position of being the first and only distributor for the great UniFormation GKTwo in the west, when barely anybody had heard about it outside of Asia.
It was a pretty big gamble.
I knew it was a great machine, but I really only had money to make one bet with the little money I had left after quitting my job.
Thank God, it turned out to be a great bet.
Once Youtubers started getting their hands on the GKTwo and reviewing it, everyone realised what a great machine it was, and the orders started rolling in.
For many hobbyists it was their first ever printer, and I had long chats with them about how to get started.
“Do I need this extra thing?” “Wait, what is curing?” “What resin should I buy?”
It’s the type of conversation I’ve had many times before in my previous job. There we also sold 3D printers, but to professionals, like engineers, researchers, dentists etc
(I don’t think it will surprise anyone that talking to hobbyists turned out to be much more fun 😅)
At the time, almost all of my customers wanted to print the same thing: tabletop miniatures.
And I always recommended them… some resin for engineering.
What? Why?
Well, one day, after having three of this same conversation in a row, it dawned on me that resin manufacturers have it all backwards, and are doing a huge disservice to all of us in 3D printing.
They are formulating around some technical property instead of around the user.
Let me make an educated guess that none of you ever thought “I really want to make an ABS-like thing today.”
We want to make miniatures or dolls or art displays…
We need our materials to be perfect for those things.
It doesn't matter if they hit some record number on a tech spec, if they feel like crap once they're in your hands.
By the way, this is exactly how the dental resin market works.
There are dedicated resins for crowns, dentures etc.
You will never find a “standard”. Standard for what?
...
Anyway, that's why we make special-purpose 3D resins now.
Quite the opposite of general-purpose ones, we try to make them good at just one single job, but to be really damn good at that job.
We want these resins to take shape around the user. Not just what they print, but how they print it, and what they will do with them afterwards.
Sometimes I read comments about our resin online.
Redditors angrily proclaiming that they are perfectly happy with their generic resin, and would never pay more for a specialty resin.
I never know why they are so angry about this, but I completely agree with them.
If someone is already happy with their resin, we don't want to convince them to switch.
We made WARGAMER and DOLLMAKER for people who are NOT happy with generic resins.
Maybe because they're sick of prints breaking too often. Or ugly prints. Or they're making things for loved ones, and care more about quality than price.
Anyway, thank you for reading my rant. More tomorrow.
— Adam from Yes, That's 3D Printed
