If you want a glimpse into the future and an innovative way for products to come to market, consider this latest example of a low-cost 3D printer.
Formlabs, a startup launched by a group of researchers from the MIT Media Lab, has unveiled its Form 1, which it calls a desktop 3D printer for the "prosumer" (think a blend of professional and consumer). It offers professional-quality resolution at a price individual engineers and designers can afford.
What makes the Form 1 interesting, in addition to its price point, sleek packaging, and professional quality printing, is the way it's coming to market. To finance full production, it's being offered on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter.
Click on the image below for a slideshow on the Form 1 and what it can do.
The Form 1 is designed to be an "end-to-end" 3D printer package that individuals can afford. (Source: Formlabs)
For those unfamiliar with Kickstarter, it's a funding platform for innovative ideas ranging from 3D printers to games, music, and films. It uses an all-or-nothing funding strategy. The people behind an idea showcase it to the community and set specific funding and deadline goals. If the goals are met or exceeded, backers are charged, and the idea is financed. If the goals are not met, no one is charged, and the people behind the idea move on to Plan B.
Formlabs seems to be kicking some Kickstarter you know what. It set a funding goal of $100,000 and a deadline of Oct. 26. The Form 1 has already gotten 942 backers, who have pledged a whopping $1.3 million and change to help this 3D printer see the light of day.
So what's so special about the Form 1? Instead of targeting the maker market like a lot of 3D printer companies, Formlabs is taking aim at professional engineers with an "end-to-end" printing package that individuals can afford. Instead of FDM or plastic extrusion, the Form 1 employs stereolithography (SL) technology, printing layers as thin as 25 microns (0.001 inches) with details as small as 300 microns (0.012 inches) in a build volume of 125mm x 125mm x 165mm (4.9 inches x 4.9 inches x 6.5 inches). Its founders say SL, a resin-based printing process, is ideal for detailed and complex parts. The resin is engineered in-house with a neutral matte gray color, but over time, Formlabs plans to develop and sell an entire palette of materials for the unit.
The 3D printer hardware comes with the Form software, which simplifies the process of importing .STL models and sending jobs to the printer. To complete the package, there's the Form Finish Kit, a finishing tray and set of accessories to help users finish off parts and address the cleanliness complaints that often dog 3D printers.
@Bobblehead: Thanks for the very informative response. Would the Form1 or any of these lower cost 3D printers be something you might consider investing in for home use or for workshop use? I'd say given your experience with additive manufacturing and 3D printing on the job, you are one of their target customers!
There are several additive fabrication processes and printer models within those process categories.
STL (stereo lithography) often results in a much higher-resolution part in a weaker material.
It is no competition for laser or electron beam sintering of titanium, or even nylon powders, for part strength.
Its output is single-material/color.
As with all STL printers, models must be designed to facilitate draining and cleaning off the unpolymerized resin.
It is a 'wet' process with post-processing/cleanup/disposal required.
Monomer resins are fairly reactive and often allergenic.
The possible presence of metals as catalysts must be considered.
This product is not a 'killer', since it can only cover a limited sector of the additive fabrication industry.
Don't be drawn in by such exhortations as 'now overhangs can be printed' - this capability has been around in 3D printing processes for a long time.
But it LOOKS capable and well-integrated within its niche.
I would place its output mostly in the 'display model', 'molding form', and 'functional modeling' target areas.
In my prototyping and short production run work I use FDM (fused deposition modeling) parts straight out of the printer with practically no post-processing required. These are around 80% as strong as injection-molded ABS parts, but they don't have the resolution and finish that STL can produce.
Weldon, Formlabs hasn't offered a price yet. They do suggest a price for the materials, at $149/liter. Depending on the solid volume of your part, you might get somewhere between 1 and 50 parts per liter. I suspect the printer will be in the $5K-$10K range, based on my experience as a robotics system mfg. Prices may be lower, given that Kickstarter is funding their IP development so they don't have to recoup those costs.
I haven't donated yet, but intend to. If they do their job right, they're going to crush the 3D printer industry.
There are a dozen 3d printers on the market, MakerBot is the latest high volume, sub $2500.00 range. Desk top printers range from $250K for a 4 media 12" by 12" by 9 " machine to the Makerbot machine. This is a welcome entry, the resolution is acceptable at 1 mil. A search of 3D printers returns amazing ranges of hardware, check out Maker Faire. ObJet has the most impressive bang fort the Buck, 4 color, soft molding for outer bumper, under $250K. The field is opening up to be the next Apple quickly.
The idea of a 3D printer / rapid prototype machine (the difference is purely semantic in my view) in my home is an exciting development that I'm looking forward to.... but I'm not at all sure that handling liquid resins is something that I want to do in my home office. At work, I've gone with the Stratasys FDM system, which doesn't achieve this level of fine detail but does use real ABS material and is completely clean in operation. We use this machine in the office, and shop out work that requires a messier process. To have a machine in my home, it would have to be clean and not present materials disposal challenges.
I think the biggest difference, from what can see, is the scale and scope. Traditionally, rapid prototyping machines have been huge and highly complex, often run as a bureau within a company with their own staff. Materials choices and production methods are also different and we're talking really expensive--hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In contrast, 3D printing is typically the term used for the lower cost, more office friendly systems that employ a more limited choice of materials and are geared more towards the fast output of designs for validation and optimization, not necessary for production-ready models.
Can any one tell me what is the exact difference between rapid prototying machines and a 3D printer? we are already using RPT machines for making new products and the materials which we are using mostly are somos resin or duraform. is 3d printing is advanced than RPT?
Beth, is anyone else in the 3D printer market using stereolithography? Seems to me I heard a lot about stereolithography about 15 years ago. Are others using this technology?
That's certainly the goal, Naperlou, athough not there yet. This printer is interesting because it fits in that low-cost enough category that folks might buy one for home, but yet seems to have more of the robust capabilities for designing parts and models on a professional grade. Also, has some pretty impressive backing, including Mitch Kapor who was the original guy behind Lotus 1-2-3, the program that took PC spreadsheets to the mainstream.
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