Formlabs announced two new 3D printers, the Form 4L and Form 4BL.
The company had previously announced the Form 4, a major change from their prior flagship machine, the Form 3. The new Form 4L incorporates many of the new features introduced with the Form 4, but in a much larger package.
Formlabs has done this before: the Form 3 was followed by a larger format Form 3L — and subsequently a Form 3BL for biocompatible and sterilizable materials. The appearance of the Form 4L was suspected by many, and now it’s appeared, along with the biocompatible version, the Form 4BL.
The most obvious change with the Form 4L is its build volume. Formlabs said the build volume is “nearly 5X the size of the Form 4”. This means that large parts can easily be produced.
But there’s a corresponding new feature that gives the Form 4L a huge advantage over the Form 3L: speed.
Formlabs introduced a new light engine in their Form 4 series, the Low Force Display (LFD). This is an MSLA variant, able to print an entire layer all at once. That’s quite unlike the Form 3 and prior models that used a laser to tediously trace all solid portions of each layer.
Print speed is not just the solidification of resin; a major component of time is printer movement between layers. LFD reduces this time by a new and quicker approach to releasing each layer after printing, with a special film that reduces adhesion forces.
Combining the new light engine with the new tank design results in a print speed of up to 80mm/hr. Note that because the Form 4L uses LFD, the print duration is directly proportional to the height of the object being printed.
In addition, the LFD resin tanks are more durable than prior tanks, which should help reduce operating costs.
Because of the combination of a large build volume with high print speeds, it’s very possible for the Form 4L to be used for production purposes: part throughput could be considerable.
For materials, the Form 4L is compatible with over 23 different materials that offer a wide range of capabilities. Materials are provided via cartridges, which are intelligently handled in a safe manner by the Form 4L.
The Form 4L is fully compatible with the company’s previously released large-format Form 3L’s wash and cure stations, so there should be no need for upgrading customers to acquire new post processing equipment.
Finally, Formlabs also announced a new “Developer Platform”, targeted at high volume operators. The new program includes the ability to use and tune open materials, connect software via APIs, and lower pricing for materials. Incredibly, the bulk pricing for resin is only US$35 per liter.
The Form 4L looks to be a powerful production option for resin 3D printing, and is priced at US$9,999. We’re looking forward to testing this large format 3D printer very soon.
Via Formlabs
