Big news from Formlabs

We have some news to share – and it’s big. Join us for a special event on Tuesday, September 22nd on formlabs.com. We’ll be broadcasting live from the Museum of Science in Boston at 10am ET.

We can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on.

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Oh, a teaser.
Any hints?
“big” news = a new, bigger model perhaps?

Did you miss the wiper? :wink:

I’m already wondering about backwards compatibility.

I’m guessing a Form2 with a bigger build area and a wiper that keeps the resin mixed and the PDMS clean. That would solve a lot of issues, even give better surface finish and accuracy, because the stray laser light would not dose the same resin near the model again and again. Finally large prints might actually print successfully.

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As long as they keep making stuff for the older printer … even if i would be interested in a swap to the new model if they offer it at a decent price.

I think that tank had higher walls above the fill line marker. Makes sense, to accommodate the volume of a wiper.

(On a less related topic, the description on this video had some interesting thoughts on wipers and top-down vs. bottom-up printing)

@JoshK You are right that makes much more sense. Even my wishful thinking knows a hardware upgrade is risky business.

@Francesco_Pessolano That is an interesting idea, Not sure what they would do with the massive amount of used Form1s though. Anyone know what FL did with the exchanged printers when they offered this kind of trade for the Form1 to 1+?

Yes. I guess they figured higher quality lasers were more expensive than the wiper. I wonder what the wipers lifespan is and what it does to tank PDMS lifespan? There is also the issue of air being trained into the resin.

Continuity, releasing on the 22nd and not the 26th of September?

Value engineering while striving to maintain the highest quality in output, product and support is Formlabs forte so possibly sticking with the heart of the Form1+ increasing build area but not increasing build times (over the Form1+) therefore using multi scanning units? After all why not utilise what they’ve learned over the last few years.

Just a thought.

Euromolds early this year!

Yeah, we would have liked to make it the exact anniversary, but we need to launch on a weekday (conventional wisdom says it must be Tuesday or Wednesday, specifically). It’s as close to 3 year anniversary as we can get. We will be at MakerFaire NY that weekend, so it will mirror the Kickstarter very closely.

I’m glad you think that is our strength. I couldn’t have described my ambitions for Formlabs better than that.

Cheers Max

I’ll try to introduce myself in London early November.

I was one of your strongest supporters (and sometimes critic) on Kickstarter’s comments.

MarcC
on a rock, Isle of Man

Correction: Birmingham

Did the Form1+ price just drop $500? Might suggest a push to reduce inventory before introduction of a new model.

Indeed. I truly hope they are smart enough not to drop support and supplier for the older printers.

This looks good. What is about guarantee?

I don’t give a monkeys about a wiper mechanism. I hope to god it has a sealed optical unit. I’ve wasted more time, resin and cash cleaning mirrors because of small pieces of dust than I care to admit. The PDMS layer has never been an issue.

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Indeed - sealed optics must be the way forward.

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The wiper makes me think to a top-down design too. But even though the walls are a bit higher, the new resin tank looks very familiar. A top-down 3D printer needs a much deeper tank, doesn’t it?

I can’t wait seeing the form2!!!