Buying Guide
Best Wash and Cure Station for Resin Miniatures
A wash and cure station is the second purchase that actually changes a resin printing workflow. The category is far smaller than the printer market, but the differences between the units on offer matter more than the spec sheets suggest. This page is the framework for choosing between combo and dual chamber, the capacity question buyers consistently get wrong, and a comparison table for every unit currently on sale across the four brands worth shortlisting.
Page last reviewed: 29 April 2026
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What a wash and cure station actually does
A model that just came off the build plate is covered in uncured resin and is structurally weak. Cured prints are inert, but uncured resin on the surface is a skin and respiratory irritant, and a model with that residue still in place will not paint properly. The wash step removes the uncured layer with isopropyl alcohol or water. The cure step finishes the polymerisation under UV light, which is what brings the model to its final hardness.
Both steps are essential. Doing them by hand works, but is messy, slow, and inconsistent. A dedicated station makes both steps repeatable and contains the chemistry. For the underlying workflow and what each step is doing, the post processing guide walks through the bench layout step by step.
Combo, dual chamber, or single purpose
Three machine shapes are on offer, and the choice between them is the first decision.
Combo station
Washes and cures in the same chamber. You wash, swap the basket for the cure platform, then cure. One footprint, one mains lead. The Anycubic Wash and Cure 3 family and the Creality UW-03 are the obvious examples. The trade is a single chamber size limit: whichever step has the smaller volume sets the largest model the unit can handle.
Dual chamber bundle
Separate wash and cure units sold as a bundle. The Elegoo Mercury XS and Mercury X Bundles fit here, as does the Phrozen Wash and Cure Kit. Two enclosures on the bench, but a batch can be washing while the previous one is curing. Throughput is higher and the chamber sizes are independent.
Single purpose unit
Does one job only. Phrozen is the brand selling these to hobbyists at scale. The Wash Mega S is a wash only unit at 25 litres of capacity, and the Cure Mega S is a standalone curer with a 70 watt UV array. They are the right answer when one chamber on a combo machine is too small for what you are printing, typically once you are running a Mega class printer or batching terrain pieces.
For a first wash and cure unit alongside a Mars or Saturn class printer, a combo station is the default. Step up to a dual chamber once throughput is the bottleneck. Step out to single purpose once chamber size is.
Capacity: the dimension buyers consistently get wrong
The most common buying mistake is to read the bigger of the two chamber dimensions and budget around that. On a combo station the wash and cure chambers are usually different sizes, and the smaller of the two is the practical limit for the workflow. The Creality UW-03 advertises a 300 mm cure chamber, but the wash basket only accepts a 200 mm tall print. A 290 mm dragon will not wash, which means it will not cure either.
The maximum model figure in the comparison table below is the smaller of the two chamber dimensions for combo and dual chamber units, since you cannot complete the workflow on a model that fits one but not the other. For wash only or cure only units the figure is the chamber's own height.
Two related notes. First, the cure chamber is usually quoted as a diameter and a height, for a cylindrical curing volume. The diameter limits width as well as length, so a 200 mm tall figure with arms outstretched still has to fit on the turntable. Second, several Phrozen and Elegoo units accept a build plate directly: lift the printer's plate off the printer and dunk it into the wash chamber with the model still attached. That keeps the model oriented, avoids the moment where a fresh print falls off into the IPA, and is the cleanest workflow if your printer's plate dimensions match the bracket.
Wash mechanics
The wash chamber moves resin off the model in one of three ways.
Submerged motor
An impeller driven from below or behind, agitating the IPA and basket together. The dominant pattern on Anycubic, Elegoo, and Phrozen units. It works well, but the motor is a wear part and the seal between the wet side and the dry side is the most common failure point.
Magnetic stirrer
A magnetic propeller driven through the base of the bucket, with no mechanical seal between motor and IPA. The Creality UW-03 is the example here. Theoretically more reliable since there is no shaft to seal, but the magnetic coupling is weaker so a heavily loaded basket takes a bit longer to clean.
Spinner
Rotates the basket itself rather than the liquid. Less common today; older Mercury and Anycubic units used a spinner, current ones do not.
For miniatures, the choice between submerged motor and magnetic stirrer matters less than how easy the unit is to drain and refill. A side valve for IPA disposal is a small detail that adds up over a year of weekly washes.
Cure mechanics
The cure chamber is simpler and the differences between units are smaller.
Wavelength
Every unit listed here uses 405 nanometre UV LEDs, matching the wavelength resin printers use. A handful of higher end industrial machines use a 405 plus 365 nm dual array for a slightly more thorough cure on speciality resins; none of the hobbyist units in this comparison do.
Turntable
A rotating platform during cure is what gets light onto every face of the model. Most current units have one. The Phrozen Wash and Cure Kit's cure side does not, which is a real limitation: the model has to be flipped halfway through to cure the underside.
LED arrangement
Manufacturers compete on light coverage, with figures like ten LEDs around the chamber or twenty LEDs plus a gooseneck. For a basic 28 mm to 32 mm miniature, any of them are sufficient. For larger pieces with deep undercuts, more lights and a reflective interior matter more.
Enclosure
A light blocking lid does two jobs: it stops UV from leaking out of the chamber while curing, and on better units it kills the cure cycle if you open it mid run. The Mercury Plus V3.0 has an explicit safety interlock for this. The Anycubic Wash and Cure 3 series does not advertise a light blocking lid by default, which is a corner that most buyers will not notice but is worth knowing.
Sealable bucket and storage between sessions
A small but real workflow detail. Most wash buckets are open: fill with IPA before a wash, then either pour the IPA back into a labelled storage container or leave it in the open bucket on the bench. A sealed bucket means the IPA can stay in the wash unit between sessions without the alcohol evaporating off or the smell escaping.
The Creality UW-03 and the Elegoo Mercury XS and Mercury X Bundles ship with sealable buckets as standard. The Anycubic Wash and Cure 3 sells a sealed container as a paid accessory. The Phrozen units do not advertise the feature, although the side valve on the Wash Mega S serves a related purpose for periodic disposal.
Full comparison
Every unit currently on sale
Curated to the four brands worth shortlisting for resin miniatures. Sorted by brand, in stock first. Prices are the lowest USD seen on the live storefront, not the live retail price. Editorial fields that read as a dash are deliberately blank until I have spent enough time with each unit to have a verdict worth printing.
Table last reviewed: 29 April 2026
| Station | Brand | Type | Max model | Workflow | Cure | Best price (USD) | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anycubic Wash & Cure 3 | Anycubic | Combo | 180 mm | IPA | 405 nm, turntable | $89 | — |
| Anycubic Wash & Cure 3 Max | Anycubic | Combo | 300 mm | IPA | 405 nm, turntable | $339 | — |
| Anycubic Wash & Cure 3 Plus | Anycubic | Combo | 260 mm | IPA | 405 nm, turntable | $179 | — |
| Creality UW-03 | Creality | Combo | 200 mm | Either, sealable | 405 nm, turntable | $129 | — |
| Elegoo Mercury Plus V3.0 | Elegoo | Combo | 260 mm | IPA | 405 nm, turntable | $142 | — |
| Elegoo Mercury XS Bundle | Elegoo | Dual chamber | 260 mm | IPA, sealable | 405 nm, turntable | $171 | — |
| Phrozen Cure Mega S | Phrozen | Cure only | 300 mm | — | 405 nm, turntable | $350 | — |
| Phrozen Sonic Mega Cure | Phrozen | Cure only | 450 mm | — | 405 nm, turntable | $600 | — |
| Phrozen Wash & Cure Kit | Phrozen | Dual chamber | — | IPA | 405 nm | $250 | — |
| Phrozen Wash Mega S | Phrozen | Wash only | 300 mm | IPA | — | $270 | — |
| Elegoo Mercury X Bundle Out of stock | Elegoo | Dual chamber | 260 mm | IPA, sealable | 405 nm, turntable | $152 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is a combo station enough for miniatures, or do I need a dual chamber?
For most miniature printing, a combo station is enough. The reason to step up to a dual chamber is throughput. If you are printing every day and would rather wash and cure in parallel than wash, swap, cure, swap, then a dual chamber starts to make sense. For weekly hobby printing, a combo at $100 to $200 covers it.
Can I just use a UV lamp instead of a curing station?
For very small models on a turntable, yes. The hobbyist trick of curing under a sun lamp on a kitchen turntable still works. The reason to buy a real curing station is consistency: the same wavelength every time, the same exposure across the whole model, and a timer that stops the cycle automatically. Inconsistent cure is a cause of brittleness in miniatures, and a UV lamp on the bench is harder to make consistent than people believe.
How much IPA does a wash bucket use, and what do I do with the dirty alcohol?
A typical 6 to 8 litre wash bucket holds roughly the same volume of IPA, and you fill it at the start of the workflow rather than per wash. The IPA gets dirtier with each batch. The standard answer is the three container method (Dirty, Less Dirty, Wash Station), which keeps wash quality consistent without replacing the lot at once. Disposal is straightforward: pour spent IPA into a glass jar and leave it outdoors in sunlight to evaporate, then dispose of the cured resin sediment as solid waste.
Do I need a wash and cure station for water washable resin?
Wash, not really. You can rinse a small water washable print in a bucket of plain tap water. Cure, yes. The cure step is the same regardless of which resin you use; only the wash chamber changes. If you only ever print water washable, a cure only unit is a sensible budget option.
How does the build plate direct dunk feature work?
On supported units, mostly Phrozen and Elegoo, you lift the printer's build plate off the printer with the model still attached and clip it onto a bracket inside the wash chamber. The plate stays vertical, the model stays attached, and the impeller agitates IPA around the print. It avoids the moment where a fresh print drops off the plate into a clean bath of IPA, which is the second most common failure point in resin post processing.
Why is the maximum model height in the table sometimes smaller than the cure chamber?
Because the practical limit is the smaller of the two chambers on a combo machine. A unit that advertises a 300 mm cure chamber but only takes a 200 mm tall print in the wash basket cannot complete the workflow on anything taller than 200 mm. The table figure is the binding limit, not the bigger marketing number.
The short version
Choose by chamber size first, mechanics second. The unit that fits the tallest print across both wash and cure chambers is the unit to buy, as long as the brand is on the shortlist. Once the size class is settled, the differences between brands at the same price are smaller than they look. Spend the saved energy on calibrating the workflow rather than agonising over whether 24 LEDs beat 20 LEDs for a 32 mm hero figure.
If the printing setup is still being pieced together, the resin printing starter kit covers the full bench layout. For the wash and cure workflow itself, see post processing resin miniatures.