Form 4 Experience

General Discussion
1

Im about six months into a new Form 3 and now that the Form 4 is out I’m contemplating going over to the newer platform. Im really curious about what you Form 4 users have found in the recent months since launch.

For any Formlabs employees watching the forums, the main selling point for me is not the speed, but the potentially massive reduction in consumables cost over time. I’d love to know if the more aggressive engineering resins are also good to 75,000 layers in the Form 4 tanks (and if you’re expecting to release less expensive Form 4 specific versions of all the engineering resins). Last thing I would want would be to change my whole setup at considerable cost only to find out that my tanks need replacing every few months just like with the F3.

Overall, just gathering info to decide if I should stay with the F3 or move to the F4 so please post your experiences! Thanks!

2

We have been able to get within 1 thou accuracy in some prints. Astounding compared to our not so great experience with an EnvisionOne printer. We will probably post a table of CAD vs print sometime this month.

We had some issues with parts that were readily replaced. PreForm also leaves some things to be desired, especially with scaling on parts, but otherwise we’re very happy and impressed.

1 Like
3

Hey Robot!(Mr. Chicken?)

That’s a great question, and my apologies for taking a day or so on getting you a reply. I wanted to make sure I got the info you were looking for straight from the experts. You can find that information below!

  • Form 4 Resin Tanks have an estimated lifetime of 75,000+ layers with any Formlabs material. Form 4 Resin Tank Lifetime does not depend on time exposed to resin.
  • 75,000 layers is an an estimate of how long an average Form 4 Resin Tank will deliver consistent print results, when maintained correctly. You do not need to replace your resin tank immediately when it reaches this threshold.
  • This lifetime improvement can lead to significantly lower tank consumable costs for customers printing with resins like Tough 2000,
  • See these support articles for more information:

Resin tank lifetime and monitoring (Form 4 generation)
Resin tank lifetime and monitoring (Form 3/Form 3B)

  • Form 3/3L Resin Tanks have components that degrade over time with exposure to certain chemicals in some resins. We were unable to eliminate this failure mode with the Form 3/3L tank architecture. But we eliminated this failure mode in Form 4 Resin Tanks.

As far engineering resins go, we’re not able to get into roadmap specifics, but we’re always looking at ways to improve both the performance, and value of all of our materials. If you have any requests for engineering materials, whether that’s value, or material properties, please don’t hesitate to send us those thoughts!

3 Likes
4

Hi RobotChicken - I’m Nick and I run the Sales and Service teams at Formlabs. One of our main jobs is to educate customers about our products. If you’re interested, I’m happy to set up a 1-on-1 product consultation for you where you can see the Form 4 print live, get an overview of the tech, and get all your questions answers. No pressure to buy, just learn. Shoot me a note at nick.graham@formlabs.com or text me at 240-671-3126.

1 Like
5

Thanks Nick, I’m connected with the right folks and getting a quote.

6

Exactly what I wanted to hear! Much appreciated.

2 Likes
7

When will Silicone 40A be available for the Form4?

8

Hi @Racoon71,

You can see the progress of Form 4 settings roadmaps here. Silicone 40A was just released for Form 4, so you should be seeing it in the upcoming PreForm and Firmware update.