But in the way of pure simplicity, the Form 2 definitely helps to further erase the image of 3D printing as the complicated domain of hardcore hobbyists and professionals.
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The Form 2 features a 50-percent more powerful laser and 40-percent larger build volume, as an entrant in one of those relatively rare consumer electronic spaces where bigger is generally considered better.
The Form 2 is available to purchase now for $3,499 and includes Formlabs’ PreForm software, one litre of resin and a finish kit for post-processing.
At a panel discussion on the 3D printing landscape hosted by CNET at this year’s CES, Formlabs’ chief marketing officer Colin Raney described the “dirty secret” of 3D printers as a legacy of complicated machinery stained by awkwardly large devices, operational errors and a high cost of operation.
With its one-click interface, the Form 2 could not be easier to use, and that is by design. Stereolithography 3D printers, which offer higher resolution and better print quality than 3D printers that use plastic filament, have traditionally been very expensive, sometimes in the six figures.
Then around 2009, there were these projects called RepRap and Fabbit Home, and that’s when they started to make the desktop FDM machines that ultimately became MakerBot and UltiMaker and all this stuff…so the hobbyists really love the fact that they can build this thing and it’s awesome, but then beyond that, this whole thing has kind of stuttered.
The Form 2 has Wi-Fi on-board for wireless printing, and Formlabs has also introduced a new dashboard to let the user monitor print progress on a desktop computer, tablet or phone, plus alerts and notifications can be sent from the printer to your mobile. And now the most futuristic printer out there is getting a much needed upgrade.
“In the last six months, we’ve seen that printers are hitting their limits on how people are being entertained”, says Lobovsky.
Of course, the real challenge with 3D printers is the need to constantly deliver cheaper, bigger, faster machines.
Another improvement is the addition of Wi-Fi, so you no longer have to tether via USB to upload a print. But perhaps one of the more unexpected use cases of desktop SLA has been for stop-motion animation: some two years in the making, French animator Gilles-Alexandre Deschaud completed the 3D-printed three-minute short film Chase Me earlier this year.
Formlabs has already shipped “many thousands” of printers, Lobovsky says, declining to be more specific. They are proprietary and custom created to be used with the printer.
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Somerville-based Formlabs unveiled on Tuesday what it’s calling the world’s “most advanced desktop 3D printer”, and it’s a total reworking of the MIT-born startup’s initial models, the first of which broke a Kickstarter record when it raised almost $3 million in 2013.
