Because a resin printer cures a whole layer at once, so its speed is the height it can build in an hour rather than how fast a nozzle moves. The figure is a maximum under the maker’s conditions and depends on resin, layer height and exposure times.
Filament and resin printers publish speed in different units because they build parts in different ways.
Why the unit is height per hour
A resin printer exposes an entire layer at once, then lifts the platform to peel it from the film and lowers it again. The time for a layer depends on exposure and lift and retract motion, not on the area of the layer. So the natural speed figure is how much height it builds per hour.
What sets that figure
Layer height: thicker layers build faster and show more steps. Exposure time: set by the resin and the light source; dark, tough and specialist resins often need longer. Lift speed and distance: large layers and viscous resins need gentler lifts to avoid failures. Printer features such as heated vats or tilting release mechanisms that shorten the peel.
What the published maximum means
The maker’s figure is measured under conditions it chooses, usually a fast resin and a thick layer. It is a maximum, reported here as the maker states it, and a real print with a detailed model and a standard resin usually runs slower.
Estimating a real print time
The slicer calculates it from the model height, layer height and the exposure settings in use. That estimate is more accurate for a given file than any figure on a listing.
If this page and the manufacturer’s manual disagree, follow the manual. Every laser power, speed, build volume, resolution, temperature and safety rating on this page is taken from the maker’s own documentation, with its unit as published and its source named — none of it is measured here. A figure is written the way the maker states it and is not converted into another convention, because the converted value would be a different number. And for any print speed: a published maximum speed describes what the motion system can reach, not how fast a good part is printed. The speed that works depends on the material, the geometry, the cooling and the slicer profile. This page quotes the maker’s figure as a maximum and draws no print time from it.
Questions makers ask before buying
Does printing more parts at once slow a resin printer down?
Very little, because the whole layer is exposed at once. A plate full of small parts takes about as long as one part of the same height, which is why resin suits batches.
What makes a resin print take longer?
Taller parts, thinner layers, longer exposure times for dark or tough resins, and slower lifts that some resins and large layers need.
Last reviewed 15 September 2026