From prototyping to production

The Form 4 prints five times faster than its predecessor, the Form 3+, enabling a new level of productivity in product design, engineering, manufacturing and healthcare. The printer is based on Formlabs' proprietary Low Force Display (LFD) printing system, utilizes an expanded library of resins and offers new automated post-processing solutions.

"The Form 4 is a huge step forward not only for Formlabs and our customers, but for the entire 3D printing industry," said Formlabs CEO and co-founder Max Lobovsky. "More than a decade ago, Formlabs created the category of desktop SLA printing, setting a new standard in 3D printing for accuracy, reliability, ease of use and affordability. Based on the knowledge and experience of over 130,000 SLA printers sold and over 300 million parts printed by our users, we have developed our best SLA printer ever with the Form 4."

The Form 4 is the fourth generation of Formlabs desktop resin 3D printers and takes performance to a new level with its fast print speed, reliability, industry-leading material properties, superior print quality and intuitive operation.

Highlights at a glance

Fast printing: Two to five times shorter printing times than with the Form 3+ (depending on the material) enable iterations within an hour or the production of large batches thanks to masked stereolithography (MSLA) printing technology.

LFD printing system: Instead of laser and galvanometer technology, the Form 4 contains a powerful illumination unit (16 mw/cm2), a specially developed release texture, the new Light Processing Unit 4 (LPU 4) and a resin tank with a two-layer flexible film.

Intuitive use: A printing process that anyone can learn in 15 minutes - thanks to automatic resin handling, material changes in minutes, automated post-processing and construction platforms with quick-release technology.

40 % lower unit costs: due to long-life resin tanks (more than 75,000 layers) and light processing units (more than one million layers), 33 % lower resin prices and 3.5 times higher throughput.

"We supply all hardware departments at Microsoft. The Form 4 is our first choice for projects that require tight tolerances and industrial-grade materials," says Mark Honschke, Head of Additive Prototyping at Microsoft. "It produces high-performance parts in an impressively short print time and allows our model makers to produce multiple iterations within 24 hours."

"The speed and material versatility of the Form 4 allows us to produce multiple prototypes and manufacturing tools every day," said Bruno Alves, additive manufacturing and injection molding development engineer at Ford Motor Company. "The printer has already transformed our approach to design and production and is helping us to drive efficiency in our product development."

New materials

In addition to the new printer models, Formlabs has also released six new resins to complement its materials library. These include four newly formulated standard resins that offer two to five times faster printing than the Form 3 with improved strength and color thanks to the Form 4's ecosystem, a Fast Model Resin for record time prototyping and orthodontic model fabrication, and a Precision Model Resin for highly accurate dental models that always fit.

In addition, the Form 4 is validated to print at least 17 other high-performance materials from the Formlabs material library, with new resins being added regularly, according to the company. An additional 15 biocompatible materials can be used with the Form 4B, which was developed for innovative professionals in dentistry and healthcare.