Comparing printer resolution either by K (2K, 4K, 8K, etc) or by Microns.
Let’s look at what is behind the poll I did a couple of days ago.
This post is about the XY resolution and not about the Z-axis resolution.
We all seem to get transfixed by the higher the K the better the print quality will be, this is also the same with buying televisions, etc. Have you ever stopped to understand what is really going on?
3D printers in the XY axis print in pixel sizes and the smaller the pixel the better the print quality will be, in a very simple form think you have got a 2x2 pixel screen and draw a circle you will end up printing a square, as the screen resolution goes up the square will start looking more and more like a circle but will never be fully a circle as the pixels are always square. This is why the resolution is important and the better resolution makes your circle look more like a circle.
Comparing a 2K screen with a 4K screen is like comparing apples with oranges, why is this?
Scenario 1: if you have two printers with a build area of 100mm x 100mm with one 2K and another 4K, on the 2K printer the pixel size will be roughly 100 divided by 2000 = 0.05mm x 0.05mm, on the 4K printer the pixel size will be roughly 100 divided by 4000 = 0.025mm x 0.025mm. So in this scenario, the 4K printer will have a better resolution than the 2K printer as the pixel size is smaller on the 4K printer.
Scenario 2: if printer 1 is a 2K printer and the build area is 100mm x 100mm and printer 2 is a 4K printer with a print area of 300mm x 300mm. Printer 1 2K pixel size will be 100 divided by 2000 = 0.05mm x 0.05mm, and Printer 2 4K will be 300 divided by 4000 = 0.075mm x 0.075mm. So in this scenario 2K printer will have better resolution than the 4K printer.
So the conclusion of this when looking at a printer we can’t really compare printers by the K, most of the printers on the market now come with different build plate sizes. We are seeing more and more printers coming available with bigger and bigger build plate sizes and this is why we are seeing 4K, 6K, 7K, and 8K printers available as they grow to keep them printing at the same resolution or better than the older 2K printers with small build plates.
So how do we know what printers have the best print resolution? This is why we compare printers using XY resolution which is the pixel size (microns), the lower this number is the better the XY resolution is (pixel size).
Now you’re asking what is a Micron.
0.1mm = 100Micron [µ]. So if we look at scenario 1 again the 2K printer will have an XY resolution of 50 Microns and the 4K will have a XY resolution of 25 Micron. In Scenario 2 the 2K will still have an XY resolution of 50 Microns but the 4K printer will have an XY resolution of 75 microns. From this, we can see the lower micron size the better the print quality will be.