The company announced the release of the Form 3BL for biocompatible printing, including orthodontic aligner production, as well as a new fully automated post-processing system for large-scale prints.
The 3D printing company Formlabs announced the release of the Form 3BL, a dental and medical 3D printer optimized for biocompatible materials, expanding their large format 3D printing line. The company also announced that it has started shipping its flagship large format printer, the Form 3L.
According to Formlabs, both printers significantly expand its line of large format stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers to enable manufacturers and creators to print high-detail large-scale parts.
To accompany the company’s large format 3D printing workflow, Formlabs has also announced that it will begin shipping the Wash L + Cure L, a fully automated post-processing system created for large-scale prints, 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 utilize 3D printing.”
The Form 3L, Formlabs’ flagship large format printer announced in spring 2019, is designed to deliver accurate, repeatable prints across the printers’ larger build platform without compromising cost or quality. It features an advanced Low Force Stereolithography (LFS) print process and larger build platform.
The Form 3L and Form 3BL’s features and benefits include the ability to 3D print large-scale parts or many smaller parts in a single build, with surface finish and detail that resemble final products; and 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. In addition, the two printers reportedly have an intuitive workflow, with automatic resin dispensing, simple print preparation software, and a user friendly interface. These two printers are designed as an end-to-end system to allow for nonstop throughput with minimal intervention. According to the company, customers have access to nearly all of Formlabs’ materials library, including biocompatible materials on the Form 3BL.
According to Formlabs, the Form 3BL, similar to the Form 3B, has been optimized for biocompatible materials for use in the dental and healthcare industries. The Form 3BL is designed to balance throughput, quality, and reliability, and is validated by Formlabs’ dental team to meet the accuracy requirements for orthodontic aligner production, while providing consistent part quality and accuracy across the entire build plane.
In medical settings, the Form 3BL is capable of printing human-scale anatomical models, in-house, on a single build platform.
The Form 3L is available and shipping today and the Form 3BL is available for pre-order, and will ship in October 2020.
