I had the unique opportunity to sit down with Maxim Lobovsky, co-founder of Formlabs, when we had our meet up in Boston. While the audio was a little rough – it’s hard to handle big, happy crowds – but I think his insight on 3D printing is important. Read More
Formlabs, an MIT Media Labs spin-out and maker of the high resolution Form 1 3D printer – which came up on Kickstarter (where it pulled in nearly $3 million in crowdfunding) – has closed a $19 million Series A, led by DFJ Growth. Pitango Venture Capital and Innovation Endeavors also participated in the round, along with “many returning angel investors”.
The funding round gives Formlabs considerable runway to keep building out a business, a few months after rival desktop 3D printer maker Makerbot was acquired by 3D industrial printing and manufacturing company Stratasys for $403 million. Makerbot now operates as a subsidiary of Stratasys.
Formlabs, which was founded in 2011, said it will be using the funding to expand its R&D, grow its global customer support and servicing, and develop new materials to print with. Software development is another focus: Formlabs said today it plans to launch version 1.0 of its PreForm 3D model-to-3D-print software soon.
Expansion is also on the cards for its own production facility, with the 3D printer maker in the midst of moving into an 11,000 squarefoot facility in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Formlabs previously raised $1.8 million in seed funding, before taking its prototype to Kickstarter and pulling in enough cash to go into production. One year after its Kickstarter campaign, it said it has shipped more than 900 of its 3D printers to backers around the world, and is approaching fulfillment of all the original Kickstarter campaign rewards.
As interest in additive manufacturing builds, more startups are pushing in to attack the 3D printer space from various different angles and price-points. Many of these newcomers taking their printer prototypes to crowdfunding sites are looking to offer a cheaper desktop 3D printer, and/or simplify the 3D print experience, to make it more consumer friendly.
At present Formlabs is unashamedly high end with its pricing – costing more than Makerbot’s Replicator ($2,199) for instance. The $3,299 Form 1′s relatively high price-tag (for a desktop 3D printer) is justified by Formlabs’ focus on high resolution printing.
The Form 1 works by shining a laser onto a metal surface through a layer of resin, using a process called photopolymerization. This results in higher print precision, meaning 3D printed objects can have finer detail.
While Formlabs’ resin-based approach is not cheap, it is serving what is likely to be a growing demand for high quality 3D prints as more lower cost machines enter the market, littering it with lower resolution and therefore poorer quality 3D prints.
Asked if it plans to expand into cheaper tiered segments of the desktop 3D printer market in future, the company told TechCrunch: “We’re focusing on making the Form 1 the best possible desktop printer out there, right now. We’ll definitely be exploring more of the market as we grow, but we’re keeping our focus on what we do best right now. I wouldn’t rule anything out.”
Early leader in the 3D printing space Makerbot may have just been acquired for $400 million, but we still can’t forget about the Form 1 3D printer out of FormLabs.
It started as a Kickstarter project, which received 6x its $100,000 goal in just one day, topping $1.4 million in one week. Since, we’ve had the chance to review it and pit it against the Makerbot.
However, the two are quite different:
The Form 1 shines a laser onto a metal surface through a layer of resin. Using a process of photopolymerization, the slices are laid down one after the other creating a solid object that lifts out of the resin as it is built. Think of the Makerbot as a stalagmite maker — the material is laid down on a platform — while the Form 1 is a stalactite maker where the object hangs from the platform that slowly moves up.
They also have different price tags: The Makerbot Replicator 2 costs $2,199 where the Form 1 goes for $3,299. However, Biggs found that the Form 1′s resin-based approach offered much more precision and a higher resolution result.
Two flys.
“The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed,” wrote William Gibson. He’s right. Luckily, the future is mostly in my attic workshop.
I’ve been lucky enough to have access to a Form 1 3D printer for the past week and have come away with a better sense of the platform, the way forward of 3D printing in general and Form 1 in particular. In short, the Form 1 is one of the simplest and most usable printers I’ve ever used and, barring a few minor peccadilloes, it is well worth the hype — and price tag.
First, a bit of explanation. The Form 1 is a stereolithography machine and this is an important distinction to make. We are probably all familiar with machines like the Makerbot. These machines use fused deposition modeling to extrude a small bead of metal or plastic to “draw” one slice of the shape you’re building over and over again until the object is built. The Form 1 shines a laser onto a metal surface through a layer of resin. Using a process of photopolymerization, the slices are laid down one after the other creating a solid object that lifts out of the resin as it is built. Think of the Makerbot as a stalagmite maker — the material is laid down on a platform — while the Form 1 is a stalactite maker where the object hangs from the platform that slowly moves up.
The objects that come out of the Form 1 look as if they had been injection molded. The layer height of 25 microns ensures that there are no “jaggies” along the object edge and that items that come out of the machine look as solid as, say, a child’s toy. In fact you can see objects made of the same material in stores around the world — it’s a solid, usable, slightly malleable plastic that holds up to abuse.
But the Form 1 itself isn’t a child’s toy. It is a stable, solid, and very attractive lab-quality machine for prototyping and, while usable as an experimentation platform, it is a bit wonky when it comes to printing, curing, and maintenance. In short I wouldn’t recommend this printer for students under the age of, say, 16 but I would recommend it to almost everyone else over similarly outfitted machines.
To make an object you upload an STL file to the Form 1 using a program called PreForm. The program is Windows-only right now, although the team is hard at work on a very usable OS X port. The PreForm software allows you to position multiple items on the build platform and orient them in a position that allows for ideal quality. You then add automatic supports — essentially struts made of plastic — that will form around the object as it builds. Think of the struts as a self-generating scaffolding for difficult parts.
The Form 1 has a plastic cowling that keeps out UV light and hides the laser at the bottom of the machine. The cowling lifts up to reveal a build plate that hangs over a lucite tank. This tank holds enough resin for a few dozen smaller prints, but prints over a certain size require you to pause the print and refill the tank. Running out of resin results in a truncated print but it won’t harm the printer.
Print times are slow for high-resolution prints. The two-inch-high rook — shown below — took about six hours to complete, and less complex prints like an Indian sculpture of Aspara clocked in at 4 hours and 20 minutes. Luckily the printer is nearly silent. Its only sound is a regular, slow clicking as the laser hits the resin, the tank tilts to peel off a layer, and the platform moves up infinitesimally. It is a slow, soothing trance track when compared to Makerbot’s jagged industrial backbeat. When printing at “lower” resolution the print times can fall drastically.
I want to stress that the photos I took of the finish objects are literally just pulled from the curing vat. I did not cut down the small support suture points so as to show a product that has not been modified in any way. The tiny jagged points can be easily cut off and become invisible when you do so.
Resin costs $149 per liter and is available in only clear right now. I’ve seen grey resin and it works beautifully, creating a solid, highly detailed print out of pure plastic. The company is working on a “burn away” resin that will allow makers to print objects and then create molds by melting away the plastic, but that is still in the works.
At $3,299 the Form 1 isn’t cheap – but it’s not obnoxiously expensive, either. The Makerbot Replicator 2 is about $2,200 and the intrinsic difference in the technology and the difficulty and quality of manufacture add a premium to the Form 1.
First, a few notes regarding the product. The build space is “tall” but it isn’t wide. It has a 4.9 x 4.9 x 6.5 inch build envelope compared with the Makerbot’s 11.2 x 6.0 x 6.1 inch platform. This means you can make smaller objects with ease or, if needed, chop them up into pieces for later assembly. Obviously the level of detail and smoothness is what you’re paying for here and so we can excuse the device for producing smaller-than-average prints.
Second, you usually print objects with scaffold-like supports poking off of nearly every surface. As you see below, these prints of my head required quite a few supports which left little lumps on the print that can be easily cut off. It’s not a deal-breaker by any means — I’d prefer the object to be structurally solid and deal with a bit of clean up — but it is a little bit unnerving at first. Luckily all of the supports usually snap right off.
Finally, the curing process takes about 10 minutes after finishing a print. This is obviously not onerous and it’s an important part of the system, but having a vat of isopropyl alcohol hanging out near potential heat sources, especially when printing in schools or a home, is a bit unnerving. Again, this is not a deal-breaker but an important consideration when looking at this device over any other.
3D printing, in many ways, is in its absolute infancy. What Form Labs has done is leapfrog over traditional home and open source printers with a unique system for high-quality stereolithography that is priced for the average consumer. While the Form 1 won’t replace a factory-grade machine, it’s definitely as close as you can get without sending something off to Shapeways.
In the end, however, you’ll want to know whether to buy this over a less expensive model or whether or not to build yourself a RepRap or other “free” printer. As a fairly experienced printer, I’d say that the Form 1 is absolutely stellar and well worth the investment if you are working in a design lab or engineering environment. The prints, resin cost, and machine cost add up to a perfect storm of printing perfection. If you are at an educational institution, especially teaching young children, I think the multi-step curing process could be a stumbling block. It is important, however, to understand that the curing process is as safe as, say, running a dark room, so with proper supervision I see no reason why this couldn’t be injected into an educational curriculum.
The guys from Form Labs, who, only a few months ago came hat in hand to collect pre-orders for their project, have made an amazing product. It is compact, well-built, and exciting. The prints that come off it are mesmerizingly beautiful and the quality is top-notch. I did have some issues with prints falling off the plate and incomplete jobs but most of those were caused by user error. As printers and the attendant software improve, you begin to get the print you want more and more readily. However, the Form 1 is still in its infancy and so it can be excused a few hiccups.
If you’re looking for something that produces more than acceptable prints using a machine that is a bit less expensive but offers a bit less resolution, by all means look at a fused deposition modeling printer like the Makerbot. The ease of use and inexpensive materials makes them an excellent choice for less mission-critical prints. However, if you’re looking for something that can mimic injection molding and other high-quality manufacturing processes, look no further than this printer. The Form 1 is sent here from the future to show us a new way forward in 3D manufacturing and I’m pleased that I could see it take its first few steps.
If you’ve got that summertime sadness, look no further than this week’s TC Gadgets Podcast. In it, we discuss the new Form 1 printer which is meant to compete with the likes of MakerBot, as well as all the upcoming WWDC goodness from Apple, including a revamped iOS 7, the new iRadio, and even some new MacBooks? Maybe?
John Biggs, Jordan Crook, Darrell Etherington and Greg Kumparak discuss this and more below. Enjoy!
We invite you to enjoy our weekly podcasts every Friday at 3pm Eastern and noon Pacific.
Click here to download an MP3 of this show.
You can subscribe to the show via RSS.
Subscribe in iTunes
Intro Music by Rick Barr.
Some might say it’s been a long, long while since October — with “some” referring to the swath of Kickstarter backers who’ve been waiting oh-so-patiently for a Form 1 to call their own. Formlabs has just confirmed via a company blog post that the very first Form 1 3D printer shipped out today, as the Collector’s Edition Form 1 and half of the Initial Formation tier of pledges hopped on a variety of delivery trucks. The rest of you backers can expect to begin printing “by the end of next week.” For those keeping count, the Form 1 is actually a few months behind schedule, but in all honesty, that’s pretty good considering the up-and-down nature of crowdfunded projects that manage to find the limelight.
The outfit is reminding folks that Form 1 units are shipped as they’re produced, fulfilling Kickstarter rewards and preorders by priority. Specifics on group deliveries won’t come for a few more weeks, but those in the Bay Area can swing by Maker Faire (or ICFF if you’re in the Big Apple) to catch an early glimpse. Oh, and if you’re just now hearing of this thing? You can place a $3,299 order right now, but you probably won’t get it until July. Them’s the breaks, kids!
Filed under: Peripherals
Source: Formlabs
After experiencing a roller coaster pre-production period, the folks over at FormLabs have announced that the Form 1 3D-printer is entering into full production.
The “large majority” of Kickstarter orders set for delivery by the end of April. They’ve purchased enough components to build out over 1,000 Form 1 3D printers.
The company first launched the Form 1 on Kickstarter to an awesome reception, scoring over $2.9 million in pre-orders after asking for a mere $100k.
But before the company could begin production, it was hit with a patent infringement lawsuit from 3D Systems, which also accused Kickstarter of promoting the allegedly infringing product.
FormLabs pressed on, and is now ready to begin full production of the 3D printer.
FormLabs claims that it can offer better accuracy than competitive 3D printing offerings, like the Makerbot, at a similar price.
According to FormLabs, the team will begin by vigorously testing the first small batch of Form 1 printers. After that, the company plans on setting exact ship dates.
FormLabs, the same folks that are bringing the Form 1 3D printer to market, has had a roller coaster year. After launching on Kickstarter with a huge reception — backers pledged almost $3 million during the course of the campaign — the company ran into an obstacle when 3D Systems Corp. sued both FormLabs and Kickstarter for patent infringement.
Today, however, the company has announced on its blog that things are still going well, with engineers “hard at work building ten beta Form 1 printers.” The beta units will have design upgrades from the alpha units the team has been working with, and will allow for further prototype testing.
The team hopes to optimize user experience, component durability and print accuracy during testing.
It’s unclear at the moment whether or not the impending lawsuit will affect FormLabs estimated ship times, but from the perspective of this blog post announcement it would seem that Maxim Lobovsky and co. are staying on track despite the slight derailment from 3D Systems.
In related news, FormLabs is currently using Kickstarter funds to grow out the team, adding a few new positions to the software team (which, by the way, has tripled since FormLabs launched on Kickstarter). The hope is that Form 1 owners can transcend the land of CAD and work in FormLabs very own creation software.
This jibes with FormLabs quest to bring 3D printing to the masses, not just the designers and engineers. If you’re interested in a job with FormLabs, check out the job postings here.
3D systems has filed a lawsuit against both Formlabs and Kickstarter for patent infringement. Formlabs is the manufacturer of a low-cost 3D printer called the Form 1. Thanks to the stereolithography printing technique, the Form 1 can achieve professional grade 3D printing in a small hobbyist printer. It quickly became a Kickstarter success. Yet, in 1997 3D Systems patented stereolithography applications and now wants reparation from Formlabs, and Kickstarter who promoted the printer.
The Kickstarter fundraising campaign topped $1.4 million in pre-orders in just under a week, making it one of the notable successes of the platform. Formlabs ultimately raised $2,945,885. Kickstarter is financially involved as it takes a 5 percent cut on each campaign, according to the BBC.
Instead of using traditional melting techniques, Formlabs has opted for the “gold standard” in 3D printing — stereolithography, a high-precision positioning system designed to solidify plastics. It allows you to use thin structures in your original 3D model and achieve a level of detail never seen in home 3D printing, especially for $2,299.
Similarly priced competitors, such as MakerBots, use a more traditional melting technique that doesn’t lead to the same rendering. On the other end of the spectrum, high-end competitors cost anywhere between $10,000 and $1 million. The Form 1 was the printer aiming at bridging the gap between those two categories.
But 3D Systems carefully patented stereolithography when it comes to 3D printing. According to the company, its patent portfolio is well-known in the industry, and feigning ignorance won’t be enough to defend the Form 1.
When we initially covered Formlabs’ Kickstarter success, the company claimed that it managed to keep costs low because a few patents had expired. Co-founder Maxim Lobovsky didn’t state which patent exactly, but 3D Systems believes that Formlabs infringed claims 1 and 34 of U.S. Patent No. 5,597,520.
Aside from direct patent infringement, 3D Systems claims that the crowd-funding campaign has caused “immediate and irreparable injury and damage to 3D Systems” by promoting the new printer.
Formlabs and Kickstarter declined to comment.
Last time we checked in with the 3D printing upstarts over at Formlabs, their Kickstarter was doing splendidly, having over doubled its initial funding target. Well, less than a month later, and with the money still rolling in, the current total stands (at time of writing) at a somewhat impressive $2,182,031 — over 20 times its initial goal. When we heard that the team behind it, along with some all important working printers, rolled into town, how could we resist taking the opportunity to catch up? The venue? London’s 3D print show. Where, amongst all the printed bracelets and figurines, the FORM 1 stood out like a sore thumb. A wonderfully orange, and geometrically formed one at that. We elbowed our way through the permanent four-deep crowd at their booth to take a closer look, and as the show is running for another two days, you can too if you’re in town. Or you could just click past the break for more.
Gallery: Formlabs FORM 1 eyes-on
Filed under: Misc
Formlabs FORM 1 high-resolution 3D printer spotted in the wild, we go eyes on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
