Hey, I’m leaning to pulling the trigger on a Form 4B. Seems like Form 4 is a major technological leap from Form 3/+. However, I am concerned that post processing may be more difficult on the Form 4 vs Form 3. It seems Form 4 might have higher peel forces and thus may require thicker supports. Anyone notice a difference? I’d be printing in the bio resins, most likely bio durable. Previously I used a Form 1 and Form 1+.
If your last printer is Form 1, Form 3 and 4 would feel like jumping from 2008 fliphone to 2020s smart phone…
That being said, if you are worried about post processing, I cannot recommend any Formlabs SLA product. Post-processing is way more work that messing with Preform supports then clicking print. Durable is especially bad at curing accurately and can warp in the wash and in the cure.
Many of my projects involves now 2 hours or clicking on preform, 2 hours washing and drying, 1-2 hours curing, then 1-2 hours sanding support marks; many hours of effort for just sometimes a couple hour print for a part in hand. I do think this process is mostly identicle for Form 4 and 3, the support marks are only different from an academic point of view, the post-processing cycle has mostly not changed.
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Also keep in mind that the Form 3 and Form 4 require an Open Materials License in order to use third-party resins. As Formlabs has bio-resins, it may not be a big deal. But if you are trying to use third-party resins, it is a $2,499 license fee to use them (down from $5,999 for the license only).
As a Form 2 owner, I did not know this was a thing.