Formlabs Form 2
I am in love with a 3D printer and her name is Formlabs Form 2
Yes, I have seen impressive prints off a 3D printer before, but nothing has ever come close to the prints this machine produces when you know what you are doing (I do not - not yet). The resolution compares to printers worth 10x or more!
Beautiful prints off the Formlabs Form 2
These are just my first impressions. I am going to be spending a LOT of time with this printer.
Thanks to Shannon at Fuse33 Maker Space in Calgary I got a quick overview and will be back for a proper play and some best practices.
As well as beautiful output there are a couple of things to know:
- It's costly - several thousand dollars (in Canadian it works out around $5,000 with delivery).
- You can network it with ethernet or wifi, or use USB.
- The resin is super expensive. Up to $1 per ml! Cost of the machine and resin costs are why I could only really use this in a pro maker space like Fuse33.
- Software is proprietary, but it is a pretty specialized thing, so I can forgive that.
- The build area is ickle but you really wouldn't want to fill it due to resin costs.
- Workflow is not just slice, print, take off the build plate like it is with FDM. It's more involved, and deals with icky substances, but worth it.
Will report back after putting it through its paces!