After printing FDM for the last 6-7 years, and resin for the last 5ish (formlabs for the last year), I’m making the move to full on resin printing for my small business. I’ve been so happy with the Tough Series of resins combined with Cerakote C Series finishing. The new formulated Tough series has held up incredibly well to my abuse of riding motorcycles in rough areas around the country, and that was without any protective coating apart from some rattle can UV spray paint. The C Series from Cerakote looks really really good on the resin print quality, and there’s a massive selection of finishes and colors to choose from should I ever move away from the matte black.
I was really hesitant to make this change, as PETG has been very reliable for me for durability, however I was never fully satisfied with surface finish compared to resin printing. Going all resin meant I had to go back and redesign some things as they were modeled with FDM printing in mind, however that has led to some new and improved designs.
I’ve got quite a backlog of projects to share with others in the community to help make the decision if formlabs is a good fit or not - but I’m coming up on my 1 year mark using the Form 4 and it’s time to start making/sharing content about prints on my various channels.
My Prusa printers have been great this whole time, but it’s time to simplify my work area and focus on one system.
