How is resin volume calculated from a bounding box?

Bounding-box volume = width x depth x height, converted from mm cubed to mL by dividing by 1000. A real model never fills its whole box, so the tool applies a model-fill factor (default 25%) representing the typical fraction of the box a model occupies, then applies your solid/hollow setting on top.

What price per litre should I use?

Standard 1-litre resin bottles run roughly 20 to 45 pounds, so 0.02 to 0.045 per mL. Specialty resins (tough, water-washable, high-temp, castable) cost more. Enter the exact price of your bottle and its volume for an accurate figure.

Why does hollowing matter so much?

Solid resin models cure the entire interior, which wastes resin and can cause suction and curing stress. Hollowing with 5 to 10% wall infill can cut resin use by 60 to 80% on bulky models while keeping the shell strong. The calculator models this with the infill percentage you enter.

Does this include supports and the raft?

The bounding-box estimate is for the model only. Supports and the raft add roughly 5 to 20% depending on orientation and density. For an exact figure, use Slicer volume mode which already includes everything in the slice.

Is this accurate for MSLA and laser SLA alike?

Yes. Resin consumption depends on cured volume, not the light source, so the same volume-times-price math applies to MSLA (LCD), DLP, and laser SLA printers.

Resin Print Cost & Volume Calculator

This tool estimates how much resin an SLA or MSLA print will consume and what that resin costs. Feed it either the volume your slicer reports or a simple bounding box, choose solid or hollow, and it returns the millilitres of resin and the cash cost.

How it works

Resin cost is volume times unit price:

Cost = resin volume (mL) x (price per litre / 1000)

The only hard part is the volume. There are two ways to get it:

Slicer volume mode. Chitubox, Lychee, and most slicers report the sliced volume directly in mL — this already includes supports, raft, and hollowing. Just type it in.

Bounding-box mode. If you only know the model’s size, the tool computes the box volume width x depth x height (mm cubed), converts to mL by dividing by 1000, then multiplies by a model-fill factor (the fraction of the box the actual shape occupies — default 25%). Finally it applies your solid/hollow setting: solid uses 100% of that filled volume, hollow uses only the wall fraction you enter.

Worked example

A 60 x 40 x 90 mm miniature, hollowed at 8% wall infill, with resin at 30 pounds/litre:

Box volume = 60 x 40 x 90 = 216,000 mm cubed = 216 mL
Filled (25% model factor) = 216 x 0.25 = 54 mL of solid model
Hollow at 8% = 54 x 0.08 = 4.32 mL of cured resin
Cost = 4.32 x (30 / 1000) = about 0.13 per print

Solid, the same model would use 54 mL and cost about 1.62 — over 12 times more.

Tips

Always hollow bulky models and add drain holes to release trapped uncured resin.
Slicer volume is the most accurate input because it counts supports and the raft.
Resin price per mL is the metric to compare bottles on, not bottle price alone.
Factor in waste: a little resin clings to the vat and the FEP after every print.

Everything runs locally in your browser — no model data is uploaded.