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Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

formlabs.com

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Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#81

Post by ErikHuisman »

tocomment wrote: post #27
sp332 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK this literally is quantum physics and the discovery was Nobel-prize material but it's not that hard to grasp so here's how it works :) If you have a chemical reaction that requires a certain energy level, shining lots of light on it won't help much if each individual photon is below that energy level. Even if you have a really bright reddish light, each photon still only has a relatively low energy. On the other h…

So it just needs energy to solidify? Would heat also work? So the molecules that it's made of up combine into new molecules that are solid? Do you know what the chemical reaction is?

Watch this movie for a brief introduction on quantum states. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJBcXFsFa7Y

I've also googled around and found this picture explaining what is called uv curing. http://www.signindustry.com/flatbed_UV/articles/images/2008-...

So basically the uv light is kicking the electrons up multiple levels in the "photoinitiators", the "photoinitiators" stabilize by dropping levels and giving off photons. These photons excite the "Monomers" and "Oligomers" between which electrons can freely flow (radicals) making it possible to form new bonds, creating longer chains of atoms (a polymer) /amateurexplenation

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#82

Post by ybother »

knowaveragejoe wrote: post #37
BitMastro wrote: post #15

Similar price and technology of B9creator http://b9creator.com/ (also funded on kickstarter a few months ago), more info on the technology here https://code.google.com/p/lemoncurry/wiki/main

It seems the B9 is a tad more expensive and also requires self assembly. I'm not sure why but their site is also incredibly slow and a pain to use in some cases. With that said it does appear to have a higher resolution in the Z plane than the Form 1.

And a much larger print area.

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#84

Post by ReadEvalPost »

Luc wrote: post #83

What 'regulatory approval' does it take to ship a printer to e.g. Europe? Is this to do with CE marks, or shipping chemicals or something? $300 per customer extra seems rather a lot.

I'm guessing has to do with the laser. From their FAQ: "Unfortunately, it is not safe to run the laser without the enclosure." Presumably it's powerful enough to fall under differing regulation in each country.

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#85

Post by [deleted] »

tisme wrote: post #80

It would be really nice if they laid out how far they are on the road to making this 3D printer into an actual product. When you pre-order something the money that you spend should go to manufacturing, the bill of materials, shipping, handling, warranty and so on. It should definitely not go into product development and process development. The reason for that is that those are very long phases with plenty of opportu…

[deleted]

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#86

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

gavanwoolery wrote: post #29
jws wrote: post #2

The call to action link says: "Pre-Order on Kickstarter" They must have not gotten the "Kickstarter is not a store" memo. They appear to be ready to pull the trigger on their manufacturing partners, so this is sort of a "how big should we make the first run?" type of kickstarter rather than a "let's create something awesome". Details… • Stereolithography printer (laser, not extruder) • Much nicer than extruder style…

This might be a kind of dumb idea, but I would love it if somebody created a Kickstarter project to create a manufacturing and distribution plant for Kickstarter projects...(obviously, would require a huge investment for all of the machining equipment).

Actually, I'm waiting for someone to create the Kickstarter that people seem to think Kickstarter is: a way to get pre orders for a new product.

I mean seriously, there are a lot of people using Kickstarter for this and now they've explicitly said that's not what it's for. So, Entrepreneurial Opportunity. There's obviously a lot of people who need this kind of "pre-order aggregator" service. So when will a motivated HN'er build it and rake in the bucks :-)

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#87

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

cottonseed wrote: post #10

Can an expert in 3D printing compare this with, say, the MakerBot Replicator 2? How does the extruder technology compare with SL on resolution, hardness, speed of printing, etc?

There's an interesting discussion about the MakerBot 2 going on at Practical Machinist by people with considerably more manufacturing experience/knowledge than the average HN'er.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/3d-printing-mak...

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#88

Post by replicatorblog »

tisme wrote: post #56
replicatorblog wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep - My company bought a $50K printer 6 years ago - this one is much better performance wise. The annual service contract for that one is $10K, so I could burn through a Form 1 per quarter and come out ahead. This will change product development the way CMSs changed publishing.

You've been telling people to hold off buying a 3D printer from other manufacturers until this one was unveiled. But I don't get the impression this is in the product phase yet. There are some slick pictures and a nice presentation but nothing at all that indicates the thing actually exists in an about to ship state. What exactly is the state of development of the formlabs product?

Estimated ship date is February. I've seen the devices in action, and dozens of pieces that were produced on the machines. Can't speak to the exact level of completion, but this is not just a pretty picture.

I've been advising people to hold off assuming that a 6 month wait is worth it on a purchase of $2,500ish dollars. Some people might prefer the larger size and bigger installed based of FFF/Makerbot machines, but I'm guessing many are happy they waited to hear about the Form 1 before clicking "Buy".

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#89

Post by rorrr »

iamwil wrote: post #70
mcantelon wrote: post #53

Sad prediction: the future of 3D printing will be cheap printers [that require/are subsidized by] proprietary resins.

There are people working on machines that recycle plastics that you find around the house into filament you can use in an FDM printer.

That would be amazing. The amount of non-recyclable plastic that I throw away every day is insane. I feel horrible for the environment.

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#90

Post by tisme »

jws wrote: post #69
mibbitier wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First thing I noticed as well. "pre-Order on kickstarter" screams out "This is a scam!!!! You'll never get anything". I've never understood why anyone would give anything via kickstarter. A "donate now" paypal button would probably be less scammy.

Fully funded in under 12 hours. 708 hours to go. For something that is ready to enter manufacturing I think a pre-order model is appropriate. I'd be alarmed if someone used those words on an idea or something in the middle of the prototyping process. A "donate now" button for a commercial venture is an instant and permanent red flag for me.

> For something that is ready to enter manufacturing I think a pre-order model is appropriate.

Do you have proof this is the case?

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