Formlabs Form 3 SLA 3D Printer Review!

6 thoughts on “Formlabs Form 3 SLA 3D Printer Review!”

1. I recognize that lens…

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2. Great Review Sean! Glad to have contributed some test parts. I am looking forward to they’re having the new touch point features worked out. That could be a game changer.

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3. Why would/should I buy this SLA printer over, for example, a Prusa SL1 which is half the price?

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4. If you watched that entire video and still have that question then you probably shouldn’t buy it.

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5. Credits:

   Pumpkin Monster by Pontus: https://pinshape.com/items/38334-3d-printed-pumpkin-monster

   Skull Box by 3DKitbash: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:478336

   Squid Attack by Bin Li: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:854890

   Camera lens by Amos Dudley – full camera here: https://pinshape.com/items/25871-3d-printed-slo-printed-lens-camera

   Starship front and nametags by our friend Dave Goldberg: http://goldbergarts.com/

   Scuttlefish by me: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3704369

   Special thanks to Kyle at Formlabs for answering a LOT of questions.

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6. CaptAPJT: Fair question, and one that watching the entire video might not answer. The Form is an expensive machine compared with some of the competition (there’s even a SLA printer on the market for under $300 now!). I can only speak for the Form printer, I own a Form 2 and am in charge of running two additional F2s at work. The Formlabs printing system is a very well worked out “architecture”. By that I mean everything involved in the process; printer, tanks, resin cartridges, build tables, wash systems (manual and automatic) and post curing UV chamber. It just all works! A to B to C, right out of the box, very little to have to tweak to get top quality parts. And it’s convenient. Something as simple as being able to use one hand to flip up the build table release lever and remove the table instead of having to hold onto the table to keep it from falling while you unscrew a retaining bolt with the other. Simple feature… but it adds to the cost f the machine.

   While I have no direct use knowledge of the Prusa and other machines I have spoken with other people that have them and they are constantly having to tweak this and that to get consistently good prints. In running hundreds of prints on the Formlabs printers I have had very few failures and those were mostly due to my mistakes. And only one failure due to a defective resin tank, which Formlabs was happy to replace.

   You should be aware that the Form is more expensive to operate as well. The Formlabs’ resins are about double the price of third party resins on the market. And while you can use other brands of resin in the Form2 (not sure about the F3) it disables a bunch of really advantageous features, like automatic resin filling during long prints (and you will have some VERY long prints). There are some people that have had good success with third party resins, but I personally stick with the Formlabs products.

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