With today’s technology growing faster than ever before in every aspect, patents and devices such as the 3D printers are being embodied deeper into our daily routine day by day. From graphic designers and professional to ordinary printing enthusiasts, more and more people turn their attention to the 3D printers, a relatively new device that for the most part, has opened new doors to almost every scientific field.
The industry of 3D printers seems to be highly profitable and with the latest device announced by Formlabs, things will be taken a step further.
Formlabs is a company based in Massachusetts and it is known for quietly working on 3D printers that balance high quality products with a relatively low price. The company’s most recent achievement is the Form 2, a new addition to the Form series with the last one being the Form 1+.
The most noticeable difference between printers designed by Formlabs and equivalent 3D printers that other companies manufacture, is that Formlabs printers don’t build objects by applying small amounts of plastic layer by layer. Instead, they use a technology called stereolithography which is an additive manufacturing process which employs a vat of liquid ultraviolet curable photopolymer “resin” and an ultraviolet laser to build parts’ layers one at a time.
The Form 2 is currently available for $3,499, and offers some worth mentioning improvements compared to its predecessor as well as its rival 3D printers. In more detail, the laser inside the printer is now 50 percent more powerful than the one found in its predecessor, while Formlabs claims that it can also print objects that are up to 40% bigger.
Another significant feature is the ability use cartridges to refill the printer’s resin tank while it’s printing, which means that you won’t have to worry about losing a print due to force stopping anymore. There is also a built in WiFi so you can control your 3D printer remotely without having to worry about all those cables. And on top of all the above, there is an extended 8GB internal memory which as you’d find out is going to come in pretty handy.
The Form 2 may not be destined just for casual users who print 3D objects out of hobby. However, it is probably the one with the lowest price, concerning its capabilities, a move that Formlabs needed to make in order to keep pace with the current trends of the industry.
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