diff --git a/src/three-components/STLModel.tsx b/src/three-components/STLModel.tsx
index e5c41e9d..2295629f 100644
--- a/src/three-components/STLModel.tsx
+++ b/src/three-components/STLModel.tsx
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
-import { useState, useEffect, useMemo } from "react"
+import { useEffect, useMemo, useState } from "react"
+import { useThree } from "src/react-three/ThreeContext"
+import { loadCachedStlDataGeometry } from "src/utils/load-cached-stl-data-geometry"
 import * as THREE from "three"
 import { STLLoader } from "three-stdlib"
-import { useThree } from "src/react-three/ThreeContext"
 import type { LayerType } from "../hooks/use-stls-from-geom"
 
 export function STLModel({
   stlUrl,
   stlData,
-  mtlUrl,
   color,
   opacity = 1,
   layerType,
@@ -23,10 +23,11 @@ export function STLModel({
   const [geom, setGeom] = useState<THREE.BufferGeometry | null>(null)
 
   useEffect(() => {
-    const loader = new STLLoader()
     if (stlData) {
       try {
-        const geometry = loader.parse(stlData)
+        const geometry = loadCachedStlDataGeometry(stlData, (data) =>
+          new STLLoader().parse(data),
+        )
         setGeom(geometry)
       } catch (e) {
         console.error("Failed to parse STL data", e)
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ export function STLModel({
       return
     }
     if (stlUrl) {
+      const loader = new STLLoader()
       loader.load(stlUrl, (geometry) => {
         setGeom(geometry)
       })
@@ -66,7 +68,9 @@ export function STLModel({
       rootObject.remove(mesh)
       mesh.geometry.dispose()
       if (Array.isArray(mesh.material)) {
-        mesh.material.forEach((m) => m.dispose())
+        for (const material of mesh.material) {
+          material.dispose()
+        }
       } else {
         mesh.material.dispose()
       }
diff --git a/src/utils/load-cached-stl-data-geometry.ts b/src/utils/load-cached-stl-data-geometry.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0dc90e13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/load-cached-stl-data-geometry.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import type { BufferGeometry } from "three"
+
+const stlDataGeometryCache = new WeakMap<ArrayBuffer, BufferGeometry>()
+
+export function loadCachedStlDataGeometry(
+  stlData: ArrayBuffer,
+  parseStlData: (stlData: ArrayBuffer) => BufferGeometry,
+): BufferGeometry {
+  let cachedGeometry = stlDataGeometryCache.get(stlData)
+  if (!cachedGeometry) {
+    cachedGeometry = parseStlData(stlData)
+    stlDataGeometryCache.set(stlData, cachedGeometry)
+  }
+
+  return cachedGeometry.clone()
+}
diff --git a/tests/load-cached-stl-data-geometry.test.ts b/tests/load-cached-stl-data-geometry.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..51316a8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/load-cached-stl-data-geometry.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import { expect, test } from "bun:test"
+import { BufferGeometry, Float32BufferAttribute } from "three"
+import { loadCachedStlDataGeometry } from "../src/utils/load-cached-stl-data-geometry"
+
+test("caches parsed inline STL data while returning disposable clones", () => {
+  const stlData = new ArrayBuffer(8)
+  let parseCalls = 0
+  const parsedGeometry = new BufferGeometry()
+  parsedGeometry.setAttribute(
+    "position",
+    new Float32BufferAttribute([0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], 3),
+  )
+
+  const firstGeometry = loadCachedStlDataGeometry(stlData, () => {
+    parseCalls += 1
+    return parsedGeometry
+  })
+  const secondGeometry = loadCachedStlDataGeometry(stlData, () => {
+    parseCalls += 1
+    return new BufferGeometry()
+  })
+
+  expect(parseCalls).toBe(1)
+  expect(firstGeometry).not.toBe(parsedGeometry)
+  expect(secondGeometry).not.toBe(parsedGeometry)
+  expect(firstGeometry).not.toBe(secondGeometry)
+
+  firstGeometry.dispose()
+  expect(secondGeometry.getAttribute("position")).toBeDefined()
+})