ECONOMICAL, ACCURATE 3D PRINTING PROCESS PROVEN OVER 30 YEARS

Stereolithography – better known as SLA – uses a laser to fuse resin into solid objects. As one of the earliest 3D printing processes, it’s been used since the 1980s to produce end-use parts, prototypes and models, initially within the automotive industries. Today, its use is far broader, and it is proving to be particularly effective in medical production and dentistry.

SLA printing highlights

The SLA process is flexible, clean and fast, helping to reduce both costs and your carbon footprint by keeping waste to a minimum. All of the required material transfers to the part, with any excess re-used in subsequent layers.

The only additional parts to consider are supports, common to most 3D printing technologies, to be broken away when the job is complete. These are calculated and built in to the design automatically by the management software.

With a wide range of resins to choose from, and the ability to mix your own colours, SLA offers huge flexibility and range of design options. With fewer moving parts inside the build chamber, SLA printers can maximise the amount of space they give over to part production, reducing the overall size of the printer and making it easier to accommodate.

This ability to produce larger parts also helps SLA-produced tools to maintain structural integrity as it doesn’t require multiple smaller parts to be fused. For this reason, among others, the SLA printing process is renowned for producing hard-wearing, long-lasting, production-ready parts.

SLA benefits

Stereolithography allows for the production of prototype parts in just a few hours, accelerating the development process and allowing for a greater number of iterations in any given time.
While sizes of the X and Y planes will be determined by the dimensions of the printer, the maximum height of the Z plane will often exceed that which is possible with other 3D printing technologies in printers of comparable size.
The liquid resin used in stereolithography is strong and resilient when fused, allowing SLA printers to produce final use parts and tools, as well as patterns for metal casting.