Resin Cost Calculator

A 30 ml miniature at $0.035/ml costs about $1.05 of liquid resin, but the true per-piece cost adds vat residue (~10 ml per plate), supports and failures. A 15-piece plate typically lands $1.40–$2.20 per piece all-in with standard grey; single-piece plates can double that because the residue is shared by one print.

Roughly the model volume in cm³ — a 28 cm³ mini displaces about 28 ml — plus 10–20% for supports and waste, plus the 5–15 ml film left in the vat and on the FEP after each plate. Hollowing a solid 30 ml model to 2 mm walls with drain holes can cut its share to 12–15 ml.

Per millilitre resin usually beats per-gram filament in raw price ($0.03–0.09/ml vs $0.02–0.04/g) and small high-detail prints use little material, so mini batches can be extremely cheap per piece. But resin adds IPA, gloves, vat-film waste and faster machine depreciation — for large solid objects filament wins on cost.

Stratify and decant it into a dark bottle for reuse where your workflow allows; what cures on the FEP, release film and gloves is waste. Assume 5–15 ml lost per plate — the calculator charges it to your cost, because it comes out of your bottle.

Modest but genuine: a medium washbox consumes 30–60 ml of 99% IPA per plate before it saturates, at $15–25 per litre that is roughly $0.50–$1.50 per wash. Water-washable resins trade that for a higher ml price — switch the resin type and toggle the numbers to compare honestly.

Directly on the volume line: a 40 mm figure that prints solid at 55 ml drops to around 20–25 ml at 2 mm walls with drain holes — often halving resin cost per piece, at the price of 10–20 minutes of modelling time and a pinhole to patch later.

Frequently-quoted community numbers: 5–10% once a printer is tuned and settings validated, 20%+ during testing, exposure sweeps or large flat transfers. Failures cost the resin, the plate time and the IPA — the calculator folds all three back in at your rate.