15th May, Formlabs held a special event to introduce their new 3D printer, the Form 4. This event took place in Pune. The Form 4 is a big improvement over the older Form 3 printer because it can make parts much faster – in about two hours. This is great news for people who design products, engineers, and even dentists, because it means they can make things quicker and get them to people faster, especially in healthcare. Formlabs and Imaginarium, another company, showed everyone how the Form 4 works.
Form 4 sets a new standard for additive manufacturing through Formlab’s proprietary new Low Force Display™ (LFD) printer engine, an industry-leading enhanced materials library, a new automated post-processing system, and an intuitive user experience. Depending on the material, products can be printed at a speed that is at least 2 to 5 times faster than Form 3+, enabling repetitive prototype production or batch production using mSLA (stereolithography) technology. With a vertical print speed of up to 100 mm per hour, most products can be produced within 2 hours and small parts within a few minutes.
It is also reliable and economical. Long-lasting material tanks (over 75,000 layers) and light processing units (over 1 million layers), 40% lower resin costs, 30% larger print volumes, and 3.5x higher throughput save up to 40% in cost per part. It boasts the industry highest print success rate thanks to its precision heating, force detection, and foreign object detection functions. Formlab leverages the Form 4 ecosystem in its materials library to include four newly reformulated general-purpose resins that print 2-5 times faster than Form 3, a fast model resin for rapid prototyping and orthodontic model making and an accurate dental resin. Six new resins have been added, including precision models that can be made into models. In addition, Form 4 has been validated for use with more than 17 other performance materials from Formlabs’s materials library, and new materials will be added regularly. Foam 4B is compatible with 15 additional biocompatible materials, supporting innovation in the dental and medical industries.
Ramnish Sharma, Formlabs said, “Based on our strengths and insights gained from manufacturing more than 130,000 printers and 300 million parts, we are pleased to be able to demonstrate Form 4, the best SLA printer on the market, in India. “It is very meaningful,” he said. “If Formlabs set a new standard for the desktop SLA 3D printer category and 3D printing accuracy, reliability, ease of use, and economics more than 10 years ago, the stability and new level of speed of Form 4 are the first in India.” “It will transform the way our customers create and develop new products across all industries.” Amod Satarkar, Vice President of Sales, Imaginarium Solutions, said, “Imaginarium has been a key enabler in driving the growth of additive manufacturing in India, serving diverse sectors including aerospace, defence, automotive, consumer goods, dentistry, and jewellery. The widespread adoption of Form 4 marks a significant milestone, thanks to Formlabs’ innovation in resin-based additive manufacturing. Positioned at the forefront, Imaginarium is witnessing accelerated progress towards our vision of democratizing additive manufacturing across industries in India.”
