Posted by mhb 7 hours ago
Don't go with Formlabs, support any of the open-platform alternatives.
And also, be aware that these printers require some serious development work (you need solvent to wash away uncured resin (if you ask me, this basically necessitates a chemical hood... Formlabs will happily upsell the "Form Wash" for this for another 699). If uncured resin falls on your floor (which has happened to me a little too many times), boy is it a horror cleaning it up even if you have industrial grade solvents; FDM printers are easier and their "ink" is much, much less expensive by comparison.
Form resin vats/tanks/tray/bed/whatever you call it are also not just proprietary, but their equivalent of FEP film is not replaceable. The resin vat usually have what is referred to as FEP film, a thin transparent Teflon sheet at the bottom of about a phone screen protector thickness and durability, stretched and pre-tensioned like a drum. The non-adhesion performance of film affects print quality, and it needs replacement eventually(I believe it is characterized as after x thousand layers printed, internally by printer manufacturers). On most printers, the replacement film can be bought and installed by the user. Formlabs printers use something other than regular FEP, and uses tool-less assembly that cannot be reversed, and therefore the whole proprietary tank needs to be discarded and replaced.
It's like Bambu Lab but the printbed is proprietary too and heated bed turns off for non-Bambu filaments. As if proprietary nozzles was not enough.
Just buy an open source version from China that has the necessary hardware in an open format and let Claude adjust the software if there are concerns.
References and links?
There is currently no open source version of the high resolution monochrome LCDs. The LCDs and their drivers lock you into the Chitu ecosystem.
The problem, as Chitu figured out, is that as soon as you cough up the NRE to make the LCDs and make it publicly available, EVERYBODY will copy you and then there will be no profit left to sink the NRE that you just spent.
(Not replying to you directly, but generally to this thread)
Along with some issues with the screen and the non-pro resins.
It’s anti-consumer.
They want to be the HP/Bambu of resin printers.
There no reason for FormLabs to limit supply of the $79 tanks, it would also limit their ability to sell their more expensive resins to Studio 1 customers, and also removes a clear pathway to get people to upgrade to their more expensive machines, capable of working with their even more complex, and expensive, engineering resins.
I'm not saying I hate Prusa here, I'm saying that limited availability is a common practice to drive hype.
1) form studio can use any material out of the box you just have to design your own print settings for it
2) form studio wash + cure is $200, not $699
3) the new resins are UL certified for low voc/indoor use, as well as score as non-skin irritants (OECD 439), and post-processed parts comply with ISO 10993 for long term skin contact
4) the new resins cost $30-$50ish per L, as opposed to fdm ~$25ish per kg. you also have to buy a tank that eventually wears out but imo when i’m printing a lot with the same material the tank cost doesn’t add much to the overall
5) fdm is great too, i have both in my shop. you should always use the right process and material for the job. if you need higher detail than what fdm can provide, more sophisticated materials, and an order of magnitude higher volumetric print speed, the form studio is a great option.
source: i don’t work at formlabs, but i used to
I don't think that Formlabs locks you into their wash and cure stations. Some of their printers lock you into their resin, but it looks like the Form Studio 1 discussed above and the Form 3, 3L, 4, and 4L let you use resin of your choice, although the Studio 1 does require you to buy a special $80 tray.
I would posit from the the getgo the average joe shouldn't consider resin printers, they should opt for FDM printers, because with FDM printers when the printer finishes printing a part... that's it! You more or less just pick it up from the printbed and there you have it... with resin printers, you -HAVE- to wash away the surrounding uncured resin. So, sure, it doesn't lock you into the wash and cure station, but doing it manually is an absolute chore any which way and chances of getting gooey resin on your hands, your clothes, your furniture goes way up and it is the most profoundly annoying thing when it does.
Try out a resin printer at your local makerspace to see what they're all about and the work that's required to print a part and develop it with solvents; for yourself get an FDM printer, they're plenty good enough for the average joe.
Anything small and aesthetic is going to basically require resin. Warhammer minis and jewelry (tiny filigree) come to mind.
FDMs have gotten better, but you're still not going to get those fine sub-millimeter details like you can with resin.
I outsource to a guy a know who's a jeweller and has his workflow down. Tried doing it myself and hated it.
Nitrile/latex gloves + eye protection + respirator are the absolute minimum for resin printing PPE. A long sleeve shirt wouldn't go amiss for rare flicked resin droplets. If you're not confident in your ability to prevent skin contact with resin, you shouldn't be doing resin printing.
As a 3D printer enthusiast (I model stuff in OpenSCAD and print to fix / DIY stuff around the house/car etc.) and seen how easy 3D printing using filament as become, resin 3D printers just seem... Extremely messy to me.
I understand that for people doing stuff like miniatures resin might be more precise (but filament printers with tiny nozzles became extremely precise too) but it just feels like a lot of work compared to... Just 3D print with filament.
I may be wrong though.
I have to say that it is the biggest pain in the arse thing I even own. While the prints come out "good", I find that dimensional accuracy is often really not good at all; and that the whole rinse in isopropyl, finish in the sun process is just a sticky, irritating, and probably carcinogenic drag.
And I can't imagine why USD700 is regarded as a bargain.
So this has served as a fine reminder - I need to sell this damn thing, it just takes up space.
Finally, the UVA cure chamber must be able to kick off the resin. After 15min on each side, then wash the build with a hand cleaner. Place all PPE like gloves in a clear bag, and leave in the sun on both sides for 1 hour.
"USD700" is almost double what a mid-sized Creality printer costs, and aftermarket 3M flex plate kits are about $30.
Without a garage/outdoor/lab work-space people shouldn't buy stinky resin printers. =3
FWIW I run the printer in a downstairs bathroom with its own extractor fan and cure in the sun.
Always protect your skin, eyes, and lungs... even when the SDS/MSDS doesn't explicitly warn of currently known possible exposure hazards.
In general, treat it the same as paint with a booth/tent, exhaust fan, and paper-lined drip pan for when(not if) the membrane perforates. If the object is small, one could also use 100% infill so it may be cleaned properly (coating prints in a automotive UV-resistant clear acrylic spray paint a few weeks later prevents yellowing, and reduces handling risks.)
Around 40% of people will get cancer in their lifetimes, and most will never know. In general, avoiding physical contact with organic solvents is a good idea, and be pleasantly surprised if it turns out to be an overly cautious decision. =3
But although there's a lot of discussion about how large a discount this is from FormLab's 8 billion dollar printers, there is absolutely NO comparison that I can find to other brands! OK, it's a cheaper Bentley - but how does it compare to the Toyota or Honda that we can get down the street? There are loads of options with --on paper-- better specs for half this price or less.
Resin printers, basically, are stereolithographic. They:
- dip the build plate (upside down) into a thin tray of resin
- push it all the way onto onto a screen at the bottom of the tray
- blast that screen with UV through a translucent LCD display that contains a mask image of the current "slice" of the whole plate, enough that the thin layer of resin partly cures
- lift the plate out of the resin so it peels off the screen and the resin replenishes below it
- repeat, with the next slice.
- then the whole model is taken out by hand, washed off, blasted with UV light to completely cure it, and the (more or less inevitable) supports snipped off.
So instead of printing line by line, the entire plate prints layer by layer — a small print takes (approximately) the same time as a full plate.
There are several big differences, notably that it is single-colour, much higher resolution, the various peel/adhesion forces are managed differently, larger parts need to be hollow with a vent so uncured resin drains out, most resin prints are quite brittle, and the whole process is traditionally really rather cytotoxic.
There are eco resins, tough resins, and printers that do a better job of not being chemically evil; this is one.
I've stayed away from it, because it's not the kind of printing I need (for all except one part that I might end up subcontracting) and because it is chemically nastier than b/w darkroom printing, which until now has been about my limit of risk.
The above is a bit of an oversimplification but it covers the main differences I think (happy to have corrections/additional comments)
https://formlabs.com/uk/blog/ultimate-guide-to-stereolithogr...
And then unless you plan only on printing already prepared models you will need to learn how to user slicer software and maybe learn to model things yourself.
It is a product for enthusiasts by nature of how it works.
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2026/formlabs-form-studio-...
For instance, I wanted to buy a smart device to control my mini-split and it was 160$ on amazon for 1. Well I built 5 for 80$ in a weekend (excluding the 7 days shipping from China).
I'm very much looking for someone convince me not to buy this? Seems like people don't enjoy resin because it's a tad messy and it has a ~10-30 curing process.
Yet all parts from my FDM printer feels cheap and looks like nothing I'd be happy to buy unless I spend HOURS sanding and painting.
Desktop CNCs are getting very capable and cheap. It’s hard to beat the tolerances and finish quality of a machined part.
The accuracy was great. They'd hold up. Printing took a while, but generally pretty solid as we scaled from in-house to full lab setup. They're great as resin printers go.
My gut would say economically/technologically prohibitive but a low throughput table top recycler seems like a great way to reduce my recyclable garbage.