Formlabs , a leading 3D printing company, announced the Form 3BL, a dental and medical 3D printer for biocompatible materials. Also, Formlabs will start shipping its flagship large format printer, the Form 3L. Both printers signify the expansion of the company’s line of large format stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers. And Formlabs announced Wash L + Cure L, a fully automated post-processing system created for large-scale prints, which will ship in 2021.
Max Lobovsky, CEO and Co-Founder of Formlabs, said: “Our large format printers are poised to have the same disruptive effect on the 3D printing industry as our Form 1 launch did. The companies that have dominated large format printing for the past 20+ years have lacked the innovation and agility needed to move the 3D printing industry forward. At Formlabs, we are changing that. With the Form 3L and Form 3BL, we are opening this powerful technology up to a whole new group of users at an accessible price while maintaining a professional quality. We are looking forward to seeing how this new technology will be used in industries like automotive and aerospace that need the large build platform to best use 3D printing.”
The Form 3L, a large format printer announced in spring 2019, delivers accurate, repeatable prints without compromising cost or quality. The Low Force Stereolithography (LFS) print process and larger build platform enabled Formlabs user Black Diamond, an outdoor equipment company known for its products’ durability and performance, to rethink its R+D process. Given early access to Form 3L, Black Diamond determined it could cut prototype development lead times from seven days to three days and slashed costs by about 85%.
“The Form 3L makes the product design process more cohesive,” said Matt Tetzl, R+D technician at Black Diamond. “The larger printer enables our designers to make tweaks in CAD and work off a full-scale model to close the gap between feedback and design. We have reduced our costs on full-size prototypes from $425 a print to $70 a print – with that savings, Form 3L would pay for itself in only 3 months.”
The Form 3L and Form 3BL’s features include:
● 3D print large-scale parts or many smaller parts in a single build, with good surface finish and detail that resemble final products.
● A build volume of 33.5 × 20 × 30 cm (13.2 × 7.9 × 11.8 in.), five times larger build volume than the Formlabs Form 3 desktop SLA 3D printer.
● An intuitive workflow, with automatic resin dispensing, simple print preparation software, and an interface anyone can use.
● A robust end-to-end system for nonstop throughput with minimal intervention.
● Access to nearly all of Formlabs’ extensive materials library, ensuring a stable supply chain and access to the resins needed for any project — including biocompatible materials on the Form 3BL.
The Form 3BL, similar to the Form 3B, is for biocompatible materials for use in the dental and healthcare industries. The Form 3BL balances throughput, quality, and reliability, and is validated by Formlabs’ dental team to meet the accuracy requirements for dental aligner production, with consistent part quality and accuracy across the entire build plane.
In medical settings, the Form 3BL can print human-scale anatomical models, in-house, on a single build platform. With the Form 3BL, healthcare providers can meet the tight deliverable windows needed to produce the custom surgical guides used to improve care and reduce the time spent in the operating room.
The Form 3L is available and shipping today, the Form 3BL is available for pre-order and will ship in October 2020, and Wash L + Cure L will ship in 2021.
Formlabs
www.formlabs.com
