Acrylic vs Resin Drills
Do we sell Acrylic or Resin drills?
The majority of the drills we sell are Acrylic. We understand there has become some renewed interest in Resin drills and some crafters prefer Resin over Acrylic.
Why do we sell Acrylic?
Acrylic provides a consistently high quality product with less flaws, "trash", odor, that can be problematic with Resin drills. The majority of drills manufactured and sold by suppliers are now Acrylic. The majority of the diamond painting kits come with Acrylic drills. There are very few companies that offer Resin drills in their kits. Resin drills can be more expensive because of this supply issue.
Want to know more?
When we first started selling replacement drills in 2018 the manufacturers were only making Resin. Most manufacturers stopped making Resin diamond painting drills in early 2019. The "Huacan popping drills" fiasco was widely discussed on Facebook, Youtube, etc when there were a lot of unhappy customers receiving poor quality Resin drills that would "pop" off the canvas because they had a variety of flaws preventing them from adhering or laying flat next to other drills. We also got bad drills from our suppliers resulting in unhappy customers needing extra packs because of all the trash drills they were throwing out. This prompted the diamond manufacturers to find another way to make the diamonds that provided a more uniform consistency with less flaws.
Why do we prefer Acrylic?
- Less "trash" - Resin packs can often come with extra resin droplets, broken bits, dusty particles, oily substances, and poorly made drills that will wind up in your "trash" container. Acrylic drills have less bits and pieces of extra "trash" and less flawed drills to be thrown away.
- No air bubbles - Resin drills can often have air bubbles in the top of the drills like craters on the moon or swiss cheese effect. Acrylic drills rarely have air bubbles.
- No "tabs" - Square Resin drills often have small tabs or bits that poke off the edges. These tabs are typically what cause the "popping" problem because the next drill you place is going to sit on that tab and not flat on the canvas, resulting in the drill lifting or "popping". Acrylic drills rarely have tabs on the edges.
- No concave "shells" - Resin drills that were not filled properly can result in empty "shells" that have no flat bottoms. Acrylic drills can have small divots on the bottom - this not an air bubble or a flaw. It is part of the manufacturing/molding process. The little dimples are shallow and there is plenty of flat surface area to adhere to the canvas.
- No wet/oily, sticky/clumpy drills - Improperly cured Resin drills can leach an oily residue substance and stick to the bags and to each other. Often these drills need to be washed with soapy water or wet wipes to make them useable. Acrylic drills do not get wet and clumpy and do not secrete any oils.
- No smell/odor - Resin drills improperly cured can give off a foul chemical smell. Typically the odor accompanies the oily drills/sticky drills. Properly cured Resin doesn't have an odor. Acrylic drills have no odor problems.
- No "clamshell" drills stuck together - Improperly cured Resin drills can stick together, continue to harden, and then have to be broken apart. A "grinder" or "shaker" can be used to get the drills to separate. Acrylic drills do not stick together and are easily shaken into trays.
All in all, Acrylic drills are now the broad standard across the worldwide diamond painting community for several years thanks to their consistent ability to be mass produced with high quality and less bad batches and flaws. This means you get more usable drills and less trash.
Will we ever sell Resin drills? This will be considered in the future if our trusted suppliers begin to offer Resin drills more widely that are free from the problematic issues of the past we have detailed above.
Happy Diamond Painting!
