Printed Resin Durability/Longetivity?

[JoeGKushner]

Over on ye old FB, one of the sculptors mentioned offhand that he preferred physical spun/cast etc... miniatures to 3d printing because 3d printed figures will become more brittle over time and threw out a 10 year mark as the durability stage.

 

Anyone have any data/information on that?  Any ideas on how the various tenacious/etc... resins increase/decrease that?

 

It's not something I see talking about.

[Illithar]

I haven't seen it talked about much either. However, I have to wonder if they are thinking of unprotected or unpainted prints that are casually exposed to UV light day today. Even filtered through glass and curtains there's always a small bit of UV light around. If the resin isn't protected in some way this could cause it to slowly 'over cure' overtime.  This could cause shrinkage or make them more brittle. I imagine paint will block most UV light, and sealers/varnishes (if used) usually have their own UV protecting properties.

 

I'm not sure what else might adversely affect resin prints that wouldn't also affect regular resin. Some resins might be more susceptible to regular wear-and-tear, others might not. But, that holds true for traditionally cast resins as well.

[Gadgetman!]

The difference between 3D printed and cast resin is that the 3D printed uses a UV-activated resin, while you use a 2pack acrylic or epoxy resin when casting.    

 

And while the 2pack resins can be formulated to be 'tolerant' of UV light, you can't really do that with 3D print resins.    

It's possible that other types of resin printing uses a more stable resin, though.   

 

 

[TaleSpinner]

I don't think I know anyone doing this long enough yet to know.  I do know that the minis I printed in 2019 that have been sitting around un-protected in my dark basement are now quite brittle, but not unusably so.

[Glitterwolf]

I bought a hollowed 3D printed resin model from shapeways years ago, nothing has changed so far.

Of course I don't play with my minis, they get painted and stay in a cabinet.

 

[Gadgetman!]

I would assume that a few layers of paint and a varnish should protect them reasonably well from UV light.   

 

Anyone feeling up to printing off a few minis(of the same model) and giving all but a few a coat of varnish(two of each with the same varnish) and leave them on a livingroom shelf for a year or two?   

 

 

 

 

[Auberon]

There's no need to wait that long.  You could put both figures in a curing station and blast them until the unprotected one turns brittle.  If the varnished one is still ok, then protection works.