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The resin printer market has a dirty secret: budget machines are good now. Mono LCD tech improved across every price tier, and the budget end of the market benefited more than the high end. You can buy a functional, table-ready miniature printer without paying flagship money and without settling for borderline results.
What you’re trading at the budget price point isn’t print quality. It’s build plate size. These machines produce excellent resolution at 28--32mm; they just do it on smaller plates, which means more print runs to build an army. If batch army production is your primary goal (printing full 40K squads or large encounter sets) the best resin printer for Warhammer 40K guide covers the larger-plate options that are better suited for that use case.
Specs here come from the manufacturers and performance notes from published reviews. My own printer is an original Elegoo Saturn.
For the full setup workflow once you’ve got your machine, see the complete beginner’s guide to resin printing miniatures.
What “Budget” Actually Buys You
At the budget end, the market breaks down clearly:
You get:
- Mono LCD technology (fast curing, long panel life)
- 4K or better resolution (35µm XY or finer)
- Adequate build volume for single-player use
- Reasonable print speeds for hobby use (rated speeds vary widely, from about 50mm/h to 150mm/h depending on the model)
- A machine that produces genuinely good 28--32mm miniature detail
You don’t get:
- Large build plate (10+ miniatures per run)
- Consistent speed across models (ratings vary a lot, and the two picks below sit at opposite ends)
- 12K or 16K resolution (perceptible difference on very fine detail up close)
For a first-time buyer who wants to print their DnD party or test the hobby before investing more, this trade-off is exactly right. Buy in the budget tier, learn the workflow, confirm you enjoy the hobby, then upgrade to a larger machine if you need the plate size.
The Recommendations
Best Overall: Anycubic Photon Mono 4 (10K)
The Photon Mono 4 (10K) is Anycubic’s 7-inch budget printer. At 10K LCD resolution (17 x 17µm XY), the numbers put it well ahead of the 4K generation for the kind of small detail that budget machines used to struggle with: Space Marine armor trim, DnD face sculpts, weapon texture. That resolution jump is exactly why the print quality argument for spending more money gets thinner at this tier: you’re already past the point where resolution is the limiting factor on a primed and painted 28-32mm mini.
Build plate is 153.4 x 87mm, a bit over half the area of my original Saturn’s 192 x 120mm plate, which fits 10 to 12 standard 28mm figures per run. Expect a bit over half as many per run, or one medium-to-large creature with supports. It’s not a batch machine. For a single player printing their party, NPCs, or small encounter groups, it’s completely workable. For a DM trying to print a full dungeon’s worth of creatures in a week, it’s slow going.
Standard resin is fine for test prints, but plan to buy a bottle of ABS-like resin before printing anything you care about keeping.
Anycubic has sold the Photon Mono line for years, which generally means a search for a specific problem is more likely to turn up a fix than it would for a newer or niche machine. That kind of community support is worth something on a first machine.
Specs:
- XY resolution: 17 x 17µm (10K LCD)
- Build volume: 153.4 x 87 x 165mm
- Print speed: Up to 50mm/h standard resin, up to 70mm/h high-speed resin (rated)
- Price: check current price
Best for: First-time printers, single-player use, hobbyists testing resin before committing.
Best Value: Elegoo Mars 4 Ultra
The Mars 4 Ultra is where the budget market has moved. At 9K resolution (18µm XY, 8520 x 4320) per Elegoo’s spec page, it delivers the kind of resolution that used to be a premium spec. The jump over 4K shows on faces, fine ornamental detail, and anything smaller than 15mm.
The catch: it’s the entry-level Elegoo option but not the cheapest printer on the market. Some Amazon listings are bundles, so compare like with like. When the gap to the Mars 5 Ultra is small, the comparison gets harder to justify.
Build plate is 153.36 x 77.76mm, a little narrower in Y than the Photon Mono 4 (10K)‘s 153.4 x 87mm. Elegoo rates it at up to 150mm/h, well above the Photon Mono 4 (10K)‘s 50 to 70mm/h, though the ratings use different resins and conditions.
If both printers are near the same price on the day, the call is close. The Photon Mono 4 (10K) has the slightly finer pixel (17 x 17µm against 18µm) and the larger plate. The Mars 4 Ultra is much faster on paper and sits in the larger Elegoo ecosystem. Take whichever is cheaper on the day.
If you move up inside the Elegoo line later, check Elegoo’s spec pages for what carries over (FEP size, resin profiles, slicer support) before assuming the workflow transfers.
Specs:
- XY resolution: 18µm (9K)
- Build volume: 153.36 x 77.76 x 165mm
- Print speed: Up to 150mm/h (rated)
- Price: check current price
Best for: First-timer who wants the faster printer in the Elegoo ecosystem, especially when it’s priced below the Photon Mono 4 (10K) on the day.
Budget Printer Comparison
| Printer | XY Resolution | Build Volume | Print Speed (rated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elegoo Mars 4 Ultra | 18µm | 153.36 x 77.76mm | up to 150mm/h |
| Anycubic Photon Mono 4 (10K) | 17 x 17µm | 153.4 x 87mm | up to 50mm/h standard, 70mm/h high-speed resin |
Check current price on both.
What You Actually Need Alongside the Printer
A printer alone doesn’t work. Budget for these immediately:
Wash and cure station (~$50--$80): You can wash prints in an IPA jar and cure them under a UV lamp, but it’s messy and slow. The Elegoo Mercury Plus or Anycubic Wash and Cure Plus turn a 20-minute cleanup into 5 minutes and produce more consistent results. Consider it a required accessory. Full comparison in the wash and cure station guide.
ABS-like resin (~$20--$25/bottle): Don’t print anything you care about in the included standard resin. Siraya Tech Blu (now sold as Blu Tough in Easy Grey) or Elegoo ABS-Like for anything going on a tabletop.
Nitrile gloves and safety gear: Resin is a skin irritant and a potential sensitizer. This isn’t optional. A box of nitrile gloves is $12. A ventilated space matters. Gloves on every time you handle uncured resin, no exceptions.
Flush cutters (~$15--$20): For support removal. Standard cutters leave rough marks. Fine flush cutters (Xuron or Tamiya) cut clean at the contact point. Your prints will look better immediately.
Total Budget Breakdown
Here’s a realistic first-printer budget for everything except the printer itself:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Elegoo Mercury Plus (wash & cure) | $50--$65 |
| Siraya Tech Blu resin (500ml x 2) | $40--$50 |
| Nitrile gloves + safety glasses | $15--$20 |
| Flush cutters (Xuron) | $15--$20 |
| Everything except the printer | $120--$155 |
Resin and consumables are the ongoing cost. The Mono 4 may cost more upfront than older entry-tier machines, but the 10K resolution means fewer reprints chasing detail you just can’t get at 4K pixel sizes.
Common First-Printer Questions
Is the Photon Mono 4 (10K) good enough to start? Yes, definitively. The limiting factor in resin miniature quality is almost always support placement and print orientation: technique issues, not printer resolution. As a general rule in this hobby, good technique on a budget printer beats poor technique on a premium one: support placement and exposure settings matter more to the final result than which machine name is on the box. Learn the process, then upgrade hardware if you hit genuine resolution limits.
Should I buy used? Possible, with caution. FEP film wears out (about $5--$10 to replace), build plates can have minor damage, and you can’t verify how many hours are on the LCD panel. Used printers at 30--40% discount over new can make sense if you’re comfortable replacing FEP on day one and testing the build plate. A small saving on a machine this cheap? Probably not worth the uncertainty.
What about FDM printers at this price? For miniatures specifically: don’t. FDM printers at the same budget (Bambu A1 Mini, Prusa Mini, Creality Ender) produce noticeably inferior miniature detail. FDM resolution is 100--200µm typical. Resin is 17 to 18µm on the printers in this guide. That difference is entirely visible on a 28mm face. For large terrain, FDM is a legitimate choice. For 28mm character models and creatures, resin wins at every price point.
Can I use third-party resin? Yes. You’re not locked to the brand’s own resin. Elegoo’s ABS-Like works fine in an Anycubic printer and vice versa. The settings (exposure time, layer height) may need minor adjustment for different resins, but the printer doesn’t care about resin brand. This is important: it means you can buy whichever resin is on sale and optimize settings to match.
Getting the Most Out of a Budget Printer
The biggest gains from a budget machine come from technique, not upgrades.
Calibrate exposure per resin. Download a calibration print file (Ameralabs Town is free) and run it when you try a new resin. 30 minutes of calibration saves hours of wasted prints.
Learn orientation. Most print failures on budget machines aren’t resolution problems. They’re support and orientation problems. A tilted model at 40--50 degrees prints reliably. The same model upright fails for reasons that have nothing to do with the printer’s quality.
Use Lychee or ChituBox. Don’t use the manufacturer’s included slicer if you can avoid it. Lychee has better miniature-specific features and a more active development cycle. The Lychee settings guide covers the specifics. If you prefer Chitubox, the Chitubox settings guide for miniatures covers the same ground.
Print ABS-like resin from the start. Standard resin looks the same coming off the printer. On the table after three sessions, the difference in durability is stark. Learn the hobby with the resin you’ll actually use long-term.
Stock the right accessories before your first print. The printer box usually includes one pair of gloves and a scraper. That’s not enough. The resin printer accessories guide covers everything you need to have ready: IPA, a proper wash station, filter funnels, flush-cutters, and safety gear. The resin printing safety guide covers the one thing you really should read before you open your first bottle of resin.