Resin priner recommendations for prototyping
Hi, I want to buy a resin printer for sole purpouse of prototyping miniature model car parts using 3d scanning. I want to print masters with pouring holes and vent holes, and negative molds, in order to make silicone molds for profesional resin casting(already casted with different resins and fillers, and I know about rtv platinum cure silicone inhibition caused by 3d printed resin). I want to get a printer thats best for printing cad files in terms of accuracy. I know that I have to dial the settings for each type of resin that I use in order to get minimal distorsion and dimension errors. Also want to mention that good antialiasing is sort of a must because I can't sand parts like new headlights with complex systems or stuff like center consoles with lots of buttons. A heated vat would be important for me, cause I want to move my resin stuff outside on the porch. But as far as I know most resin printers that have heated vats are only with 16k or 14k screens available.
As you guys know 16k is already limited in terms of AA, and 14k options are m7 variants that also have only 4 bit grayscale, and phrozen sonic thats way way overpriced.
I know some of you guys say that AA is not that important for 16k but I think for my use is.
That being said, I think already know the only viable option, the elegoo saturn 4 ultra 12k . There are some models available as used here where I live (saturn 4 ultra and 3 ultra), with curing stations included(anycubic 3 plus or mercury v3) and other acessories for the price of a new saturn 4 ultra 12k. All of them are still in warranty. So my question for you guys are:
Do you have any other recommendations or opinions regarding my needs.
Is the elegoo mini heater efficient? Any other good aftermarket solutions, besides the full printer enclosure? Still plan to put the printer in some sort of heated enclosure like a modified drawer, in order to avoid uv exposure, in case I will buy a resin printer without heated vat.
Is it worth risking and saving a bit of money and buy a the 4U 12k with mercury v3 and resin with some acessories included for 420 or 400 dollars? Both still in warranty and with low usage.
For the people here that make silicone molds, do you have any preffered methods and resins in order to avoid curing inhibition? Besides extra uv curing the parts and baking them plus the coating.
What resins do you recommend for max precission and details for my use, for both masters and molds?(still reasonably priced pls) Im thinking for some molds maybe something like anycubic tough resin2.0 where some concavity is still present( most of the half molds printed will still have a flat surface in contact with master (the desired printed piece that will be casted ).
I know its alot to read, so many thanks in advance!