Pixel pitch describes the screen, not the tolerance of the part

The best resin 3D printers for 2026

A resin printer hardens liquid photopolymer with light projected through a screen, a layer at a time, and it is bought for detail a filament machine cannot reach. The specification quoted largest is the screen resolution, and the one that matters more sits beside it: the pixel pitch in micrometres, which is the resolution divided across the size of the screen. Neither is a tolerance measured on a finished part — shrinkage, exposure and supports decide that — and a listing that prints a resolution as an accuracy is describing the display, not the model. Build volume is a declared width, depth and height, and it is small on this shelf by design. The light source is described by its arrangement — a matrix of LEDs behind a lens or a collimated array — and by its uniformity where the maker publishes one; resins on this shelf are generally cured at 405 nm, and the machine and the bottle should agree. The vat matters because it wears: its film is a consumable, and a vat that is easy to lift and pour saves a mess. Resin gives off fumes and irritates skin, so the provision a maker publishes — a lid seal, a carbon filter, a fan port — is part of the specification, and the instructions are the ones to follow. We compare screen resolution and pixel pitch, build volume, light source, vat and film, published ventilation provision and kit contents.