SLA, DLP, CLIP: What's the Difference?

By LMT Communications, Inc.

Posted May 17, 2018 in Digital Dentistry

There are several types of printing technologies and their capacity, accuracy, speed and prices vary. These are some of the most common technologies used in the laboratory: 


SLA (Stereolithography)—widely recognized as the first 3D printing process to be developed—is a laser-based process. A photopolymer resin is put into a vat with a movable platform inside. A laser beam is directed in the X-Y axes across the surface of the resin according to the STL file and hardens the resin precisely where it hits the platform. Once a layer is complete, the platform drops down by a fraction, the subsequent layer is traced by the laser; this continues until the entire object is completed and the platform is removed from the vat. 


DLP (digital light processing) works in a similar manner except it uses a more conventional light source, such as an arc lamp, with a liquid crystal display panel or a deformable...

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About The Author

  • LMT Communications, Inc.

    LMT Communications delivers the business strategies, information, dental laboratory news and education that dental laboratory decision-makers need to succeed. In Print. In Person. Online.

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