Formlabs
Formlabs Form Cure 2nd Gen
Formlabs has launched a second generation curing system and Tough 1500 Resin aimed at levelling up 3D printing with injection moulding.
The 3D printing company says its updated Form Cure is able to post-cure parts printed from general purpose resins in 60 seconds - or under 15 minutes for engineering-grade resins - making it up to eight times faster than the first generation Form Cure when used in tandem with its latest Form 4 Series desktop stereolithography systems. It can also heat to 60°C in just 60 seconds. According to early user feedback, the speed of the new curing system is allowing users operating in high print volumes to process more parts using fewer curing stations.
Tough 1500 Resin, launched alongside, is a functional resin said to rival the mechanical properties of injection moulded plastics like polypropylene for applications like rugged enclosures with functional elements like self-tapping screw bosses and snap fits, and impact resistant jigs and fixtures. In a press release, Formlabs said this version 2 Tough 1500 Resin provides 10x higher fracture toughness, 3x higher Gardner impact strength compared to version 1, and an elongation at break of over 150%, resulting in high resistance to fractures, impacts, and shattering.
“For 3D printing to compete with injection moulding it needs to take a massive step in terms of material properties,” said Formlabs CEO and co-founder Max Lobovsky. “With our new Tough 1500 Resin, we have made a massive step change that brings us significantly closer to having 3D printed parts compete with injection moulded parts in terms of toughness and longevity, but with much more design freedom and production flexibility.”
Formlabs
Parts printed in Formlabs Tough 1500
Formlabs has also introduced a couple of new features to its online print management platform Dashboard, including a new 'Group Queues' feature for automated print assignment, and 'Cloud Slicing' for faster processing. The company has also announced several updates to its PreForm software including an 'Add to a Running Job' function for its selective laser sintering technology, which allows parts to be added to an in-progress print job; a model grouping option to simplify the management of multiple parts; 'Bulk Model Import' to improve organisation and efficiency in high volume facilities such as dental labs and service bureaus; and seven language options in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese.
These latest updates are said to all be geared towards Formlabs' - and the wider polymer 3D printing industry's - ambitions for 3D printing to compete with the holy grail of injection moulding. The launch of its Form 4 and larger Form 4L printers last year were described by TCT Hall of Famer Lobovsky as a "huge leap not only for Formlabs ... but also for the entire 3D printing world" due to speed and cost per part improvements, boosted by a new proprietary Low Force Display (LFD) print engine. These hardware and materials additions are thought to make SLA 3D printing a more competitive option for end-use production applications, where injection moulding has long been the go-to manufacturing process, but enhanced by 3D printing's unique advantages such as flexibility of design and mass customisation, tool-less production and time compression.
In a keynote presentation unveiling Form Cure and Tough 1500 Resin, Lobovsky suggests tough rigid plastics are one of the biggest areas where 3D printing needs to improve in order to fully compete with injection moulding. As you can see in the video below, which puts Tough 1500 Resin V2 through its paces in a series of tests, even when blasted through a blender, parts printed in Tough 1500 Resin V2 remain largely in tact compared to version 1 and PLA.
