Why Resin Miniatures Break: HERO HD vs ABS Style Resin
The short answer: Resin miniatures usually break because the resin is too rigid for thin parts, the print was underexposed, or the part was not fully cured. The fix is a tougher resin like HERO HD, which flexes 30 to 35 percent before it breaks, plus calibrated exposure and a full cure. HERO HD is fully cured with heat at 215 to 275°F for a minimum of one hour, with UV optional.
Why resin minis snap
Swords, spears, fingers, antennae and banner poles are thin, and thin parts take all the stress when a mini tips over or gets packed into a case. Whether they survive comes down to three things.
- The resin itself. A rigid, hard resin holds fine detail beautifully but has little give. When a thin part bends, it cracks instead of flexing back.
- Underexposure. If each layer does not get enough light, the layers do not bond and build strength the way they should, and weak spots form where you cannot see them.
- Incomplete cure. A part that is cured on the surface but soft inside will not reach the toughness the resin was designed for.
Standard vs ABS style vs tough resin
Resin makers group their products in a few broad families. Here is how our own resins map to those families, using the numbers from our product pages.
| Family | 3DRS resin | Elongation at break | Work to break | Shore D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (rigid) | Standard HD | 3 to 4 percent | 1.2 J | 80 |
| ABS style | RPG Medium Grey | 20 to 25 percent | 7 J | 75 |
| Tough tabletop | HERO HD Merchant Grey | 30 to 35 percent | 10.9 to 12.37 J | 77 |
| Tough tabletop | HERO HD Medium Grey | 30 to 35 percent | 12.22 to 15.3 J | 79 to 83 |
Elongation at break tells you how far a material stretches before it fails. Work to break tells you how much energy it absorbs before it fails, which is a good stand in for how well a mini survives a drop. By both measures, HERO HD sits well above our standard and ABS style resins.
HERO HD vs ABS style resin for minis
ABS style resin is a big step up from a standard rigid resin, and RPG Medium Grey is our affordable, non brittle option in that family. It is low odor, easy to clean up and prints fast at 2.5 to 3 seconds normal exposure on most mono screen printers. For most painted display pieces and casual games, it does the job well.
HERO HD is what we call The Table Gamers' Resin. It was designed to survive real gameplay: handling, drops, transport and repeated use, without giving up crisp detail. Fine features like weapons, fingers and thin walls flex instead of snapping, and low shrinkage keeps parts accurate. If you play with your minis every week, sell printed minis, or are tired of gluing spears back on, HERO HD is the upgrade.
The main workflow difference is the cure. HERO HD is fully cured with heat at 215 to 275°F for a minimum of one hour, and UV is optional. We typically recommend starting with a large countertop oven from any big box store, ideally with an air fryer feature, because the moving air heats parts evenly. Heat cures all the way through the part, which drives the deeper cure behind HERO HD's toughness. Our HERO HD curing guide walks through it.
How to print tougher minis with any resin
1. Calibrate your exposure
Print our free Starship or Chip calibration test. The hammer test shows whether your settings develop the resin's tensile strength and layer adhesion. Underexposed prints fail or deform the hammers. We recommend the lowest exposure that still prints all 11 hammers. Starting points for popular printers are in our printer settings guide.
2. Do not over soak
Uncured parts absorb solvent. Clean off uncured resin with high purity IPA or Rhino Resin Cleaner for a maximum of 10 to 15 minutes with agitation, and skip acetone. See how to clean resin prints.
3. Dry, then cure fully and evenly
Let the part dry completely before curing, and make sure every side gets equal exposure so it shrinks evenly. For RPG and Standard HD, that is a 10 minute light cure. For HERO HD, use the thermal cure above.
4. Size your supports for the resin
The minimum contact diameter test on our Chip V2.0 shows how small a support tip your resin and settings can hold. A rigid resin that is slightly over cured can often hold a 0.2 mm contact, while a more flexible resin may need 0.4 or 0.5 mm. Tips that are too small can let delicate parts sag or fail during the print.
Which HERO HD color to choose
Merchant Grey is a deep, dark blue shade grey that makes every detail pop, and it is our most popular color for merchant printers. Flesh shares Merchant Grey's Shore D 77. Medium Grey, Light Grey, Pearl White and Sienna are Shore D 79 to 83, and Pearl White and Sienna match Light Grey. Compare them all in our tabletop resins collection or read the tabletop resin comparison.
Once your minis are tough enough for the table, paint them fast with InstantEffect, our one coat color and shade acrylic. Singles are $9.95. Free Standard shipping applies on orders of $44 and up in the lower 48.
FAQ
Why do my resin miniatures break so easily?
Usually a rigid resin on thin parts, underexposed layers or an incomplete cure. A tougher resin, calibrated exposure and a full cure fix most breakage.
Is ABS style resin good for miniatures?
Yes. It is far less brittle than a standard rigid resin. For minis that see heavy play, HERO HD goes further with 30 to 35 percent elongation at break.
Is HERO HD better than ABS style resin?
For durability, yes. Compared with our ABS style RPG Medium Grey, HERO HD has higher elongation at break and more than one and a half times the work to break.
Do I have to heat cure HERO HD?
Heat is how HERO HD reaches full cure: 215 to 275°F for a minimum of one hour. UV curing is optional.
Will HERO HD work on my printer?
HERO HD supports 365, 395 and 405 nm light engines. Check your printer's light source wavelength to confirm.
The 3DRS Team