Formlabs
Formlabs has announced the latest iteration of its flagship desktop stereolithography 3D printers, promising five times faster additive manufacturing (AM) speeds.
The company, which pioneered a generation of more affordable, professional 3D printing systems, says the new Form 4 and dental-focused Form 4B will ‘set a new standard’ with its new proprietary Low Force Display (LFD) print engine and updates to its materials, post-processing, and user experience.
“Form 4 is a huge leap not only for Formlabs and our customers, but also for the entire 3D printing world,” said Formlabs CEO and co-founder Max Lobovsky. “More than a decade ago, Formlabs created the desktop SLA 3D printer category and set a new standard for accuracy, reliability, ease of use, and affordability in 3D printing. We’ve built on the strength and insights gathered from more than 130,000 printers on the market and over 300 million parts printed to deliver the Form 4, our best SLA printer ever. Its reliability and new level of speed will transform how our customers develop new products.”
Unlike its previous Form 3+ generation based on low force stereolithography, the Form 4 LFD print engine is a departure from the laser and galvanometer technology and instead features an ultra-high power backlight (16 mw/cm2), proprietary release texture, Light Processing Unit 4 (LPU 4), and dual-layer, flexible film resin tank. The machines are said to provide ‘unmatched’ print quality with 50-micron pixels, highly collimated light, advanced pixel smoothing, and light touch supports.
The Form 4's two to five times faster print speeds (compared to the Form 3+ and depending on material, or mSLA technology) are said to have increased productivity for users like Microsoft and Ford, who have both reported significant time savings while using the machine for their product development and manufacturing operations. The systems are said to achieve maximum vertical print speeds of 100mm per hour and complete most prints in under two hours, some in minutes. It is also said to deliver up to 40% lower cost per part with 33% lower resin pricing, 30% larger print volume, and 3.5 times higher throughput, alongside hardware longevity including resin tanks, which last for 75,000+ layers, and Light Processing Units for over 1 million.
Formlabs says the machines' new features such as automatic resin handling, instant material changes, automated post-processing, and quick release build platform technology will enable new users to get started in 15 minutes.
Alongside its new printers, the company is also introducing six resins including four newly reformulated General Purpose Resins with improved toughness and colour, a Fast Model Resin for high-speed prototypes and orthodontic models, and a Precision Model Resin for accurate dental models. The Form 4 is validated for use with 17+ other performance materials from Formlabs’ materials library, while the Form 4B is compatible with 15 additional biocompatible materials.
The machines are available today priced at 4,499 USD for the Form 4 and 6,299 USD for the Form B. Material prices now start at 99 USD.
Visit Formlabs at TCT 3Sixty on 5-6th June at the NEC Birmingham, UK.
