We already teased some possibilities of resin mixing in our previous articles, for example when we launched the Prusament Resin Flex80. While resin mixing was possible even with our existing standalone products, now we offer a convenient set with all the accessories and necessary colors. We’ll further elaborate on the kit contents in the paragraphs below. What is worth mentioning right off the bat, though: we also included a neat sample book and a formula calculator with sample formulas for 44 different colors!
What is the Prusament Resin Model Color Kit?
Basically, the Prusament Resin Model Color Kit includes 5 basic colors of resin, that can be easily combined to create almost any color of the spectrum. The basic color setup is similar (but not identical) to the CMYK color palette, that you might know if you work with some sort of graphic software, for example.
An example of mixing a color matching an already existing model. The closest matching formula from our sample book was Lime Green. Little by little, we added Bright Yellow until we reached a perfectly matching color.
The kit consists of these colors of Model resins: Bright Cyan (C), Bright Magenta (M), Bright Yellow (Y), Rich Black (B), and Alabaster White (W). The mixing of cyan and magenta results in blue; magenta and yellow create red; and yellow and cyan create green. The exact shade depends on the ratio of ingredients. Adding black or white would not only darken or lighten the color but also desaturate it – that means you can aim for either rich or subdued tones. Black would give the mix a more natural, earthy feel (for example changing a bright red to a brownish brick red), while white would shift it to more chalky, pastel tones.
The kit is made of products from our newer, fine-tuned Prusament Resin Model line. These offer a great level of detail, short exposure times, and very easy printability overall. They are also much safer to use at home (compared to other, mostly cheap brands) because they don’t contain hazardous chemicals, such as Bisphenol A and TPO. You can learn more about resin toxicity in our older in-depth article.
How does the mixing work?
You can measure the ingredients either by weight or by volume – feel free to pick the method you consider easier. The weighing may be more precise, however, for smaller batches, you will need good scales – regular kitchen scales with 1 or 2-gram precision won’t cut it. We suggest buying scales working with 0.1-gram precision. For the volumetric mixing, you will need nothing more than just the Color Kit package contents – okay, except for the general stuff, like paper towels or isopropyl alcohol.🙂
As for calculating the amounts, we prepared 44 formulas, which are presented on the product page with a calculator. There, you can simply pick a color, type in the desired resin volume and it will show you the exact ratios. Also, all formulas are in the Sample Book in the percentage values. So, all you have to do is find out the total amount of resin you will need for your project (you can get this info from PrusaSlicer or any other slicer of your choice) and easily calculate the amounts of ingredients.
Prusament Resin Model formula calculator
Anyway, we won’t include the whole step-by-step process in this article. You definitely shouldn’t forget to look up the complete Color Kit manual available online, which also includes some useful practical tips.
Why not just a pigment?
You might ask why don’t we make a set made from a basic colorless resin and separate pigments. Well, we thought of that too, but we believe our solution is much more user-friendly. Firstly, all the resins in the Color Kit are usable on their own, without any mixing, unlike the leftover pigments. Secondly, mixing whole resin is more forgiving, while mixing the pigments has to be highly precise.
What’s in the color kit package? And how much does it cost?
Apart from the total of 3 kilograms of resin, the kit includes a set of accessories: syringes, pipettes, and cups for easy mixing. Both syringes and pipettes have their advantages – the syringes are more accurate, but the pipettes are easier to control and can be used to stir the resin. Also, there are protective gloves and opaque bottles that can be used for storing your mixes. Both the resin and the accessories can be bought separately (see below).
Last but not least, there is the beautiful sample book already mentioned above, so if you don’t feel like experimenting, just pick a color and follow the prescribed ratio.
As for the price, the full-color kit package containing all the items listed above will cost you 144.99 USD / 159 EUR (VAT incl.). Just the mixing accessories without the resin can be bought for 17.99 USD / 19.90 EUR (VAT incl.). You can also buy individual 1 kg bottles of Prusament Model resin for 69 USD / 69 EUR (VAT incl.). To make the whole set more budget-friendly, we included 0.5 kg bottles instead, but we doubled the amount of Alabaster White since this is going to be the ingredient you will probably use the most.
Conclusion
So, hopefully, with this product you no longer need to ponder what exact resin color to buy (or ask us what color are we going to release next 😉 ). With this kit, you can buy them all at once!
Do you like the idea of the Prusament Resin Color Kit? Do you already have any plans for mixing some specific colors? Feel free to share your ideas!
Happy printing!
This is a great idea, and I'm glad to see Prusa going in this direction ! Do you have any plans to release filament dyes for the FDM printers (MK4S / Mini) ? I can get very rich color dying translucent filament in PVB / PETG with synthetic fabric dyes, but 1) it is not very easy to control the tone of the color, 2) the retail dyes don't match very well at all to the CYMK colors, and 3) the dyes were intended for fiber and so don't always absorb predictably so color mixing entails a lot of guesswork. I would love to be able to have dedicated dye for filaments as well.