In the European store please clarify if the price of 12098.79 Euro’s includes an extra build chamber as this need not even be in the description as at least one build chamber should be included anyway?
“You will also have the option to purchase the Fuse 1 printer and build chamber for 12098.79€ once units are ready to ship”.
Will be possible to use third party nylon powders?
Do you plan to release a white dyed nylon?
It’s difficult for me to fathom that a box that size/weight would cost over $3,600 to ship to the EU! I can get round trip tickets to EU for less than that.
I am having difficulty wrapping my head around the goal of the Form Cell. In the keynote speech, Max mentioned that their goal was to reduce labor costs, so they have automated some of the steps. In my opinion, the steps they are automating are pretty easy to do, and don’t take much labor at all. Rinsing and curing is just waiting. By far, the most time consuming part is support removal and finishing. With the Form Cell, you will end up with a bunch of fully cured models WITH the supports still on. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Can anyone comment?
But you do have to stop what you are doing and spend time on it. Multiple that by 10 or 20 printers (or more) and I imagine it would become a full time job at some point.
I hear what you are saying, and I get that. But what about multiplying completely cured support removal by 10-20 printers?
It just seems like of all the points of labor involved, support removal and finishing are the most time consuming. I would love to see FL add that to their cell - then you would be cooking with gas!
I think that would take a 5-axis industrial robot with computer vision. I would guess something like that would cost millions.
The benefit here is that you can serial print, without being there… My printers are at my office. I’m not always at my office, and very often not there when a print finishes.
This is where it is valuable. batch processing. Dozens of parts completed, when I’m not there, such that they can be batch finished when I am.
… it’s a huge advantage.
Interesting if it actually works. I can’t find a single video showing the process (seeing is believing). It’s difficult to search for more information since their name is so generic.
Anyhow, if it works, seems like you are all set! If Formlabs Cell automates the rest of the process, all you have to do is dump the parts in one of those machines. 
I feel that the support removal should be similar to what is being done with PVA/PLA, HIPS/ABS
in a FDM printer. All you need is a dual wavelength laser(again you could use a beam splitter),
and a support resin modifier on, which will work as follows:
With Laser1, both the support and the resin is fully cured.
With the Laser2(mainly activated on support contacts with the model), the normal resin
should remain uncured, curing only the percentage of the support resin present.
Later the initial cleaning could attact the support material(since it is already weak,
followed by agitation, should make support removal automatic.
Since Formlabs is already doing a lot of custom resin, this should not take much time,
and could lead to more complete automation.
What about cleaning station? couldn`t find any image.
This is the most important. Powder printers are dirty!!
The finisher looks like a tumbler ( the images of the parts in the rock looking material ) and the support removal sounds a bit like the form wash station with air agitation and detergent instead of IPA.
I am not sure that would work with a bottom up SLA becuase the supports aren’t that much weaker than the parts. On a top down SLA ( like a 3dsystems ) the supports are very weak so I could see it working without damaging the parts, but support removal on a top down SLA isn’t half the problem it is on a bottom up like the Formlabs.
I love the new Fuse 1 printer. I’m also concerned about the price since the full package is about double that. I mean if getting the machine alone without getting the cleaning station is going to hinder the workflow substantially then it is tough to say that the machine is just being sold for $10k.
Also here are the tech specs if you guys are wondering: Fuse_1_Specs.pdf
There is a good chance that this is a pad for the exchange rate. Currently the dollar is pretty strong but it was significantly lower not long ago.
It would probably be better to have everything in dollars and convert at the time of purchase but people tend to complain about that. I’ve seen this with other manufacturers bumping prices up (300% for one) and then blame the exchange rate. Once the Euro dropped we get the same price here.
Actually, the Production Cell makes more sense on the new Fuse printer, as support removal is not an option. What about that?
The prints will be embedded in a canister of powder after the part has been printed. Cleanup will involve removing the part from the canister and spraying or rubbing any excess powder off.
Fuse Recover is a two part system that helps you to re-use powder and makes this process a bit easier by providing a unit that the canister can be poured into. Stray powder will fall through perforations and a compressed air system helps you to cleanup parts. Any remaining stray powder is actively removed and brought into a container.
Powder that has been used in a print must be re-used as a 50/50 mix of old and new powder. This is because powder used in a print is heated beyond the glass transition temperature and some of the Nylon particles will coalesce together. Using old and new powder in a 50/50 mix ensures consistent printing results.
The second component of Fuse Recover mixes previously used and new powder in a 50/50 mix. A new cartridge of powder and old cartridge are placed in the second component of Fuse Recover to create a usable 50/50 mix.
Note: Fuse Recover is in beta and this workflow may change.
The deposit to reserve a printer is $1000 and you’ll be able to choose between the printer itself ($9999) or the printer with Fuse Recover ($19999). You’ll also have the option to choose whether you’re interested in a beta unit or would prefer to wait for full production.
We’ll be publishing more information on Fuse Recover shortly and you can find a basic overview of the process in this thread.
We’re working on establishing an appropriate cooling temperature before parts are removed from the Fuse 1.
Nylon will be sold in cartridges and users can purchase additional canisters if they’d like which would allow them to print prior to cleaning parts from an earlier job.
We’re working on determining whether it’s viable to use 3rd party materials in the Fuse 1 and will look into an ‘Open Mode’ esque system. Currently, there’s Nylon 11 and 12 which are Black and Grey but we’re certainly exploring more colors and materials in the future! Nylon 12 does take well to dyeing but is a Grey color.
How long would the printing take approximately when in the entire volume e.g. 60 door handles must be made?