Not all forms of 3D printing are created equal.
What’s the Best 3D Printing Technology – one that’s Fast, Accurate and Smooth!
Many beginners are debating the difference between SLA (laser-based stereolithography) and DLP (digital light processing) – which is the superior technology?
Understanding the 3D printing procedure will help to break down what you can expect from a final print.
SLA and DLP‘s approach are very similar: A vat of resin is exposed to a light source that cures the material and ‘stacks-it-up’ to create one solid object.
Get accuracy down to 10 microns.
Because DLP uses a digital projector screen, the image of each layer is composed of square pixels, resulting in a layer formed from small rectangular bricks called voxels.
In SLA, the laser beam literally ‘draws’ – it uses two motors, known as galvanometers or galvos (one on the X axis and one on the Y axis), to rapidly aim the laser beam across the print area and solidifying resin as it goes along.
When using a DLP 3D printer you achieve faster printing times (for some parts), as each entire layer is exposed all at once, rather than being drawn out with a laser.
No matter how fast the SLA printer goes, it is just a time-consuming strategy.
This is the quick analysis of SLA versus DLP. But is it the whole story? Not nearly — especially if you dig into the multitude of patents filed globally for these procedures.
The rest of the story, as they say, is why experience truly matters when it comes to processing technology in 3D printing.
For dentists, orthodontists and dental laboratories, who demand accuracy, smooth surface finish and production speed, the differences between SLA and EnvisionTEC’s advanced DLP technology is huge.
For the first time, EnvisionTEC is sharing the technical details of why its DLP printers are at least twice as good as its competitors while still using the same HD projectors.