OEM SLA Rapid Prototyping Service 3D Printing Tolerance 0.05mm

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SLA 3D printing is shorthand for stereolithography (SL), a 3D printing technology that has been in used for four decades in various forms of development. The process was first patented in 1986 by Charles Hull, the co-founder of 3D systems, but early technology can be traced to Japan as well.

Along with FDM 3D printing (fused deposition modeling) and SLS 3D printing (selective laser sintering), SLA is becoming more accessible to small businesses, entrepreneurs and other individuals as it becomes more affordable. You might here it referred to by additional terms including rapid prototyping, optical fabrication and resin printing, terms that roughly apply to SLS 3D and FDM 3D printing too.

Stereolithography is often chosen for creating prototypes and models because it produces clean, crisp forms with layering that is difficult to see or feel.

Like FFF (fused filament fabrication, aka FDM) 3D printing, this technology is an additive manufacturing (AM) process. This means that material is formed and added layer by layer to produce the 3D object. However, much about the technology and techniques are quite different.

Here’s are the main steps in SLA printing, though there is some variation between printers and techniques:

It starts with a vat of liquefied photopolymer resin, meaning that the resin reacts to light. The resin is heated a specific, consistent temperature ideal for curing.
Inside the vat is a build platform that starts out at the top of the vat. In most printers, the platform is coated with resin material by a blade or armature that sweeps across it.
An ultraviolet (UV) laser, guided by computer-aided software and a file uploaded for the specific object to be built, is directed into the surface of the vat using two actuated mirrors known as galvanometers. The liquefied photosensitive polymer resins are cured by the laser as it "draws" the preprogrammed design, one layer at a time.
The platform is lowered incrementally a distance equal to one layer of cured resin as each layer of the prototype or product is drawn onto its surface. Each cured layer becomes part of the piece.
For many pieces, support structures are required to eliminate deflection caused by gravity and to support the piece laterally as well. The supports are printed along with the product/prototype, often attached to the build platform.
Once the SLA 3D object is finished, it is gently peeled from the print platform, also called a bed. It is immersed in a chemical solution that removes excess resin.
Next, the entire piece and its supports is placed in an ultraviolet curing oven.
Finally, any support structures are trimmed from the piece, and it is complete.