hey guys it's Sean from tested we are
back today with a review of the formlabs
form 3 it's their newest SL a resin
printer and we've been using it for
about two months this is a pretty
in-depth long-term kind of review Before
we jump into it I think we should review
SLA printing just for those of you who
may not know you have FDM printing which
is the plastic filament printing you
typically see around home and schools
and is probably the most common 3d
printing that pops up have a spool of
plastic filament that gets extruded
through a hot nozzle and drawn onto the
print bed SLA or stereo lithography
printing works a little different it is
a liquid resin which is getting cured
and hardened by a UV light so in this
case a laser which is the same as their
previous form - and form one plus having
said that once you're done with the
print you typically have to wash it in
alcohol to get off the extra resin
sometimes there's a little post curing
that you have to do with a UV light or
out in the Sun depending on the resin
and the print process itself generally
is a platform that goes down into a
liquid vat of resin a laser or other UV
light hits it through a optically clear
tray bottom hardens it there's usually a
peel process which breaks it loose from
the bottom of the tank so in the case of
the form - it would slide to the side
break it loose lift up the resin flows
back in and it repeats that until you're
all done so what they've done with the
form 3 is kind of a drastic departure
from how SLA has been done before
they're calling it low for stereo
lithography and that involves two
mechanisms which are different than the
two the first is a tray the resin tray
has a flexible bottom and combined with
that is a light processing unit the LPU
which actually moves the laser back and
forth across the bottom of the tray so
it will tent up the bottom of that
flexible tray and basically as it moves
past the printed part it is doing a bit
of a peel process as it goes so it
doesn't move the
afterwards that's it it raises it up to
let the resin flow back in and it
continues that until it's done what that
allows the printer to do is it puts far
less strain on the print and the print
supports so you know when you have these
suspended from the tray there's usually
some kind of support mechanism which
holds the print itself so the low force
carrier lithography allows you to get
finer surface finish and use less
supports or finer point tips which will
break off easier or a combination of the
both and in practice it definitely
worked I got really really nice prints
out of it and we'll go in a little more
how the mechanism on this particular
unit works after we talk about the rest
of the specs
they've also lowered the laser spot size
it is an 85 micron laser spot versus the
140 micron spot size that was on the
forum - so theory should be able to get
finer detail resolved with that laser
the wattage has remained the same
between the two it can handle and print
a layer Heights going from point three
millimeters at the fattest to 0.025
millimeters at the thinnest we printed
most of our stuff at 0.1 millimeter or
point of a 5 millimeter and I didn't
feel a need to go beyond that 4.0 to 5
you'd have to have something very very
detailed to do that the build volume is
roughly the same as the form - it's five
point seven by five point seven by seven
point three inches so it's just shy of
half an inch taller in the z-axis than
the two but otherwise they're they're
identical it uses the same current
platform in fact it has a heated chamber
it has a hot air heated chamber so
that's a hot air blower versus the forum
- which uses the heated tray so now the
entire chamber is going to be heated
with a hot air blower which I found it
did heat a faster than the the Trey
heater typically did has full
touchscreen that you can access all the
maintenance and system information print
times it will store a good many prints
on the printer itself it will show you a
rendering of the model and you can call
those up and
without access to the internet or having
this hooked up to a computer just nice
far as connectivity goes we have Wi-Fi
Ethernet and USB all worked fine for me
I had it hooked up for Wi-Fi for most of
the time and it was able to upload both
firmware and prints without any problem
and that will then interface also with
the their dashboard system which is
their web interface which as of right
now it basically lets you track prints
print times failures materials used tray
use and down the line for the three it's
going to have remote print capabilities
it is not implemented yet so I didn't
get to test that but there is a beta
option a beta program that you can sign
up for via the dashboard interface you
can also interface with it via the
preformed software which is where you're
going to set up the model and these
support structures and etc so that's
kind of like that the general rundown of
the form 3 will get a little more in
detail after we take a look at the
prints because why wait so the prints
the prints were fantastic I was really
really impressed with them I basically
got the print in gray there's standard
gray resin and in the clear and the
surface finish on these is definitely
finer than I would get on the two you
got less stepping on the fatter
resolutions on the fatter layer Heights
and on the medium setting most of these
prints I can't see the lines which I was
really impressed by so we'll take a
closer look at these as well
in particular I found that the clear
prints were even clearer than on the two
the two would come out and they would be
a little foggy no matter what layer
height you use with a little bit of
sanding polishing you could get them
fairly optically clear with this this is
already well on its way they are much
clearer prints coming directly out of
the printer than they were on the - and
I think that a lot of that has to do
with the fact that because the the low
force technology is just put not putting
as much strain on the model or the
supports so it doesn't shift around by
little you know barely perceivable
amounts so that each of those layers
stacks up cleaner and it just makes it
more likely to be optically clear I
printed a lens here from one of formlabs
little camera kits at 0.025 and you can
definitely see through it and if you did
a little polishing than this or maybe a
resin dip you could definitely get it
see-through so very impressed with the
prints I had no real issues for most of
the printing process I had a few
instances where I had a failed print and
failed prints on this are typically
either it falls off the support
structure so falls off these guys or the
whole base comes off of the platform
that that tends to happen with smaller
prints that don't have a very big
footprint I had two instances where the
print did break off of the platform
stuck to the bottom of the tray and I
had to remove that so on the form - it
has a soft layer on the very top of a
glass bottom so it's still fairly rigid
so you could take the putty knife that
comes with the cleaning kit and just
scrape along that and pop it off without
too much trouble
the primary run into with the the three
is that because it has a flexible bottom
on the print tray it makes it much
harder to get those off they've also
reformulated the coating that's on the
bottom so prints tend to stick more I
found than they did on the - when they
fail like that so I had some extra
skirts concerns that I was going to
puncture through the bottom when I was
scraping along that
so what they've done in this case is
they've also upgraded the storage for
the trays they have what they call the
lunch box so it has the UV protective
cover and it has a fully enclosed case
to keep them clean but they also
recommend putting the prints in here
because it should be clean and it gives
you a firm bottom the clean failed
prints I found that I had better luck
just putting on a pair of the nitrile
gloves and using my fingernail to pick
it off and that worked fine and made me
far less nervous than scraping the putty
knife along the bottom they are working
on four specifically for the three light
touch supports this is also not
implemented yet in preform the software
it will basically be a totally different
geometry a totally different way of
generating the sports structures and
they will basically just kind of break
away without leaving much of a mark at
all on the print I suspect that they're
gonna be very much like the very lace
like lattice work structures that I've
seen on higher-end resin printers since
there's not as much force on them you
should be able to print on something
like that without it breaking off and
I'm really curious to see how that works
because I had a really good success with
just lowering the point size and getting
really clean prints right off the
supports so be interesting to see how
the light touch support compares to
those so let's talk about also
orientation and cupping on prints in the
past with SLI printing and particularly
the form 2 you were always encouraged to
angle things on the print bed so for
example we have the pumpkin monster here
and he has this very wide base so
generally you would not want to print
them straight up and down like that
because it has this very large surface
area that it would have to break loose
and peel from the tray bottom every time
and that puts a lot of strain on the
support structure and you're much more
likely for this to tear loose from the
supports and fail the print with the
form 3 I printed a lot of stuff just
flat down like I normally would not but
because it's putting far less strain on
there and it's kind of doing a peel
process as it goes I had no problems
printing those they came out well they
did not break off the support structures
and the
surface finish was was great the other
thing is cupping so if you were printing
say a cup upside down so let's pretend
this cup this pumpkin head is a closed
cup if you're just starting this print
and it is dipping down into the resin
and you just started to build these
walls around here when you dip that cup
down in the resin it's going to build up
air pressure inside of that cup and
sometimes it can force its way out and
blow a hole through the side of the
print wall so the preform software will
generally try to warn you when it has a
cupping situation where you can have a
blowout
once again the way the low force stereo
lithography is working I was able to
print some cupped items that I would
normally either put vent holes in to
alleviate that pressure or reorient so
that it didn't have that Cup on the
print bed and they printed fine as well
so your mileage may vary on that but
definitely the low force technology has
is helped with both the angle of the
print and the cupping on prints
so also good news I did run into a few
other interesting issues other than the
two failed prints that I had which
worked completely my fault on mice
cuttlefish which has been one of our
go-to test prints on the forum printers
I have typically printed it straight up
and down like this because orienting it
this way I was able to use very few
supports and it was a very little clean
up which was really great especially if
you're like gonna sell these or produce
a whole bunch of them or anything like
that when I printed it this way on the
three I got weird what I called varicose
veins they are these weird tubular
disruptions in the surface that looked
like little veins other than that the
surface finish was absolutely great I
talked to foreign labs about it and
they're like oh yeah about that we're
we're looking into it so it is a known
issue that is somewhere within the
software firmware that they said certain
curved objects when oriented straight up
and down on the bed could exhibit these
types of artifacts so I saw it show up
on the bottom of the scuttle fish here
and I saw it show up on the very bottom
of this lens which also has that kind of
curved
surface so that is something to be aware
of in something which I would expect to
see resolved in a future software and or
a firmware update what they had me do is
tilt the model kind of like you
typically would for one of these prints
and they completely disappeared the
surface finish was fantastic
but I had to use a lot more supports so
I hope that they get that one ironed out
in the near future we should also talk
about print times I've heard reports of
those who have gotten the form theory in
their hands that print times are longer
than they were on the two and I found
that that is true sometimes what I want
to do is talk about how this mechanism
actually works and then we'll talk about
the print times because it'll kind of
make it clear what you understand how
everything is working inside here so one
of the first things they did with the
three is they made everything modular so
if any of you have ever had to clean the
optics on the form to it is a pain you
have to take the whole housing off
there's light and dirt baffles that you
have to pull out of the way there's two
little galvo mirrors that are on motors
you have to clean there's a main big
mirror that you have to clean there's an
optical glass that you have to clean and
it's a really difficult process
especially without getting more dirt in
there so unless you have a cleanroom the
likelihood of getting some lint or dirt
or something in there is very high so
cleaning the optic on optics on the -
you didn't have to do it often but you
did have to do it every once in a while
and it was not the easiest thing to deal
with
so approach the three in a more modular
fashion so that the light unit is an
actual cartridge that you can home so
that you can get to it you can pull it
out unplug it put in a new one and
you're good to go
so they've they've kind of like looked
ahead to in field user friendly service
in order to expedite repairs and service
which i think is is a great way of doing
things
the LPU the light processing unit itself
is is an interesting beast as well
because the original setup was basically
the form - as I said the the laser which
bounced off two mirrors onto a big
mirror through the optical glass
a lot of glass to clean the LP you
basically has one long optical window so
there's not much to clean on it it has a
parabolic mirror inside that bounces the
laser at a exact perpendicular angle to
the print tray so that you get really
accurate printing all across the
up-and-down of the tray and then the
cartridge itself is basically on a lead
screw that then moves it across the tray
which is a very unusual way of doing
things combined with the flexible tray
which is even more complicated than just
a flexible bottom at first it has a
flexible soft bottom underneath that is
then a stronger flexible film that rides
on top of the LP you
so the LP u basically has these rollers
these metal rollers on either side of
the glass that tent that film up and
then the film rolls on top of that which
is its to me is a crazy way of doing
things but it it does work the other
mechanism involved with that is that
there is rods on either side of the tray
on the bottom and I thought that those
are rollers at first but they're
actually tensioning rods so when you
insert the tray into the printer there's
a tensioning mechanism that grabs that
and pulls the film tight so that it is
nice and optically clear there's no you
know wrinkles or divots or anything like
that and it gives it a nice smooth rigid
surface to roll against my immediate
thing as a film person is you have metal
rollers running against a clear optical
film on your printer is that not going
to cause problems like what if you get a
piece of dirt in there what if it grinds
into the film to me that seemed like a
real possibility
I talked to foreign labs about that and
they're like yeah obviously yes we have
thought of that and and and that is
something we are aware of that could
happen that's part of the reason why
they've moved to the lunch box system to
store the trays to keep that film
perfectly clean you will i think
occasionally have to dust off the LP u
unit it does Park underneath the top
edge of the printer but you can bring it
out so it's like
exposed to dust it off if need be and I
could see it happening where a piece of
dirt got in that roller and caused a
problem I printed with this for two
months I did not have any of those
problems I did not get a speck of dirt
from that mechanism on the window or on
the film however I did observe that on
the edges of the film if you look under
the tray you could see very faint lines
of dust you could also see a few little
bits of dust accumulating on the metal
rollers that are on either either side
of that optical window and basically I
think what that is is basically just
wear and tear of those rollers going
across that film but it always
successfully pushed everything to the
sides of the film I never had anything
show up on the bottom of the tray so
they have thought this through I'm
interested to see how this goes in the
long run unlike the previous the very
early form two trays which would like
start to cloud up after about one or two
cartridges of resin these have a
somewhat indefinite lifespan with
standard resin so if you're using like
the black white grey the pretty standard
resins these will last much longer than
they normally would on the form too
because they have a different coating
formulation the way the whole mechanism
with the low for stereo lithography
works they will last longer so you may
see a trailer run out on tensioning
before you see it optically run out it
depends how often you take them in and
out because it only tensions when you
put the tray in so I'll be interested to
see how that shakes out in the long run
but my concerns is a film person at
least in the two months I had it proved
to be unfounded let's move on to the
print times so the reason I want to
delay that until after we talked about
the print mechanism is that the way this
works can affect print time so I printed
pumpkin guy pumpkin monster here which
with the head and everything took up
most of the print bed it took 23 and a
half hours at the 0.05 layer height on
the form 3 irena through pre the preform
software and the time estimate for the
form 2 was three and a half hours less
that's a huge difference so it's like
okay what's going on here
so I've ran some more tests so I did I
did another model which took only 15
minutes longer on the form three versus
the form two so not as drastic but still
a difference then I ran the friend of
tested Dave Goldberg this is his cockpit
model I ran this on both of them exact
same time so I started to suspect that
what was going on was that because the
laser has a mechanical aspect to it it's
not just bouncing light off of optics
it's actually moving the laser I thought
that might have something to do with it
so something that would take up more of
the printbed where that cartridge has to
move more across the tray would take
more time on the three than on the two
and I was I did confirm that that was
that's exactly what's happening i
conferred with formlabs
so for example i did an experiment where
i took four cubes i put them at the
corners of the print tray and then i did
the same for cues but in a line along
one side it took 35 minutes longer to
print it at the four corners and it did
in that straight line on the form - you
really wouldn't see much difference if
you scattered them like that in print
times so that's kind of interesting and
what they also told me was that the form
3 is actually capable of printing faster
than the 2 it's just not there yet and
if this has been kind of popping up a
lot during the reviewing process it's
like not quite there yet not implemented
yet give it we're working on it so like
the veining that we had in some of the
prints the some of the engineering
resins that format's has do not
currently work in the 3 so be aware of
that if you're hot to try to get it like
right away and I also found things like
the preform software attendant is it
seems to be running slower than I was
used to which is also confirmed because
a lot of things aren't optimized yet for
the 3 and likes things like the light
touch supports aren't there yet so my
suspicion
is that somewhere along the lines of the
development of the 3-sum department
maybe marketing or something I don't
know was like we have to make this
announcement at this conference that's
coming up or by this date and I think
that they rush to get this like
mechanically and solid and get the
hardware done but they announced before
everything was truly finished so that's
just something to be aware of if you are
looking to get it right away there's a
lead time right now about two months so
they're talking about releasing in
December we're shooting this at the end
of October there's a lead time of two
months on these right now and I suspect
that by that time you're gonna see a lot
of things implemented and improvements
over what I had I have faith in form
labs it is a good printer I got
excellent prints off of it the form too
was an excellent printer and has been
for me so I I have faith in them that
everything will get fixed and
implemented it's just going to take some
time and as far as like would I get this
printer yes I'm gonna be sad to see this
go I still the form to the form too is
still fantastic I will be sad to see
this one go because of the prints were
great pricing on this is $3,500 which
gets you the printer and the basic wash
station which is two containers to put
your alcohol in for post washing and
they have an upgrade for that which is
five thousand dollars which is the
printer the wash machine the cure
machine and the pro service plan so if
you're doing big production work and you
need faster results and more support
that may be the way to go for you they
have also discontinued the form too
although they still are selling some
that have been refurbished with a
one-year warranty for twenty eight fifty
so it might be a good time to pick up a
form too
it's still a great printer they have
committed to supporting the form 2
through 2023 for parts service and
consumables so that's a good length of
time and it may even extend past that so
this has been the formlabs form 3 using
low force
stereo lithography or rethinking of how
SLA is handled we recommended with
reservations just be aware of what
you're getting into since I think it was
released a little bit before it was
fully done but I have faith that
formlabs will come through in the end
and finish things up this has been Shawn
for tested tune in next time see you
later
