FormLabs

Razor manufacturer Gillette is piloting its Razor Maker™ concept—a platform that serves as one of the first examples of direct-to-consumer, end-use 3D printed parts. Using Formlabs Form 2 3D printers as its production engine, Razor Maker™ gives consumers the power to create and order customized 3D printed razor handles, with the choice of 48 different designs (and counting), a variety of colors, and the option to add custom text. “Our partnership with Formlabs, and the power of their 3D printers, enable consumers to have a say on how their razors should look. We are excited to work with our Boston neighbors to pilot this breakthrough concept of customization,” said Donato Diez, global brand manager for Gillette and Razor Maker™ co-founder. Unlocking Design Freedom and the Power of Personalization The Razor Maker™ concept unleashes design freedom from designer’s desk to final product, and offers a glimpse into the future of mass-customized products. “Combining our best shaving technology with the power and flexibility of 3D printing opens up a whole new world of product design possibilities,” said Rob Johnson, design engineer and Razor Maker™ co-founder. With 3D printing, complexity and variety are “free”; a 3D printer takes no more time, energy, or [...]

Castable Wax Resin, the newest addition to the Formlabs library of Jewelry Resins for 3D printing, is now shipping. This wax-filled material is designed for reliable direct investment casting with zero ash content and clean burnout. Printed parts are suitable for both custom try-ons and final production. It combines sharp accuracy, smooth surface finish, and high green strength, making it our best all-around material for direct investment casting. The way jewelers work is changing and castable photopolymer resins are leading the way. From independent designers concepting and prototyping in their studios, to casting houses increasing capacity and diversifying their offerings, digital fabrication techniques are increasingly key to growing a successful jewelry business. Capable 3D printing materials like Castable Wax Resin are helping jewelry designers and manufacturers scale their production in-house. Highly capable equipment and materials help designers and manufacturers free up time that would be spent making or preparing pieces by hand. With affordable, intuitive desktop 3D printing options like the Form 2, high quality 3D printing is increasingly accessible and scalable for jewelers at all levels. For more information on the Formlabs 3D printers, please click the button below. More info

Father Helps Son With Cerebral Palsy Walk With Custom 3D Printed Orthosis Seven years ago, Matej’s and Mateja’s son Nik was born one month prematurely. Due to difficulties during childbirth, he suffered severe brain damage that led to cerebral palsy. Despite the grim initial outlook, Nik was tremendously motivated to be mobile, but the symptoms of his condition prevented him from standing or walking on his own. Matej set out with a simple goal: to enable Nik to walk. Months of research and development followed, resulting in a custom-made, 3D printed orthosis that provides support and correction exactly where Nik needs them, which finally helped him take his first steps independently. Inspired by the immediate improvement, the young parents teamed up with experts and set out on a bigger mission to help improve the quality of life of other children and change the status quo in the healthcare industry by offering truly custom, patient-matched orthotics. Watch the full story below. For more information on Formlabs printers, please click the button below. More info

The Form 2 3D printer offers professional-level 3D printing at a lower barrier to entry relative to industrial SLA machines. It is capable of producing detailed models with smooth surface finish, making it a sound solution for iterative prototyping, fixtures and manufacturing tooling. The Form 2 currently has 6 engineering grade materials in its portfolio, each with their own unique characteristics and benefits and they include . . . • Grey Pro Resin is a versatile material great for concept modeling and functional prototyping. It offers high precision with moderate elongation and low creep. • Rigin Resin is a glass filled resin that offers very high stiffness. Great for printing thin walls and features, it is highly resistant to deformation over time and provides a polished finish. • Durable Resin specializes in low friction and wear, making it ideal for bearings, ball & joints, and snap-fits. It offers smooth glossy finish and high resistance to deformation. • High Temp Resin has the highest heat deflection temperature of 289 C and can be used for models with environmental testing, or molds for casting and thermoforming. • Flexible Resin is best used for parts with ergonomic features that bend and compress. It [...]

Formlabs formally recently announced a new ceramic resin for the Form 2 3D printer. This is a notable departure from their traditional materials, which have up to now been various types of photopolymers. While they’ve marketed strong, flexible and colorful materials, they’ve never released a ceramic resin, until now. Ceramic 3D prints are highly desirable in a number of situations, and are produced in quite a different manner. The Form 2’s normal photopolymer process simply involves solidifying the liquid resin with a laser and curing the completed print in a UV bath, ceramic processing requires different steps. Formlabs explains that the ceramic resin is first 3D printed in the same manner, although they do provide a number of tips to ensure a more reliable result, such as adjusting designs to fit within ceramic tolerances and roughening the build platform for extra special adhesiveness. The differences are after the print completes. The “green” part is removed from the Form 2, and supports are trimmed off. There is no need for further UV curing, as the print then is placed in a ventilated kiln. I should point out that Formlabs does not supply a kiln, and you should be able to find [...]

Founded in 1933, leading German wedding ring manufacturer egf Manufaktur is shortening the feedback loop between designer and customer tenfold, blending a custom software solution with desktop digital fabrication to create a modern, highly personalized customer experience. “Every wedding ring is individualized and made-to-order. They’re more important than any other jewelry product in showing the customer’s individual ideas,” said Nick-Maximilian Binder, assistant to the managing director at egf, and leader of the on-site 3D printing project. “That's why it only makes sense to configure a ring in CAD software, print in 3D, and give it to the customer before the ring is hand-crafted by the goldsmith. We find that customers want to modify the original ring to make it either thicker or narrower, or with varying stone settings.” Egf was awarded the quality certificate of the Jewelry Technology Institute of the University of Applied Sciences Pforzheim. To get up and running with little experience in 3D printing, egf turned to Formlabs Form 2 desktop 3D printer. “The Form 2 excited us the most with its speed—less than one hour for printing our rings, the high quality its resins, and ease of use,” Binder said. The company customized their CAD software so [...]

repost from www.formlabs.com Judging by most mass-produced products on the market today, you’d think humans come in just three sizes. We don’t. So why don’t the products we buy reflect that? Custom products perform better and consumers embrace them, but custom manufacturing is often not economical. Collecting personalized data from consumers is tricky, custom tooling is expensive, and tracking customized parts from initial order through production and shipping is complex. 3D printing is changing everything. Falling costs and innovation in materials have made 3D printing practical for manufacturing—and promise to bring the dream of mass customization into reality. Economically Manufacturing Custom Products Tailor-made items perform better, plain and simple. A truly custom-fit earbud can provide unparalleled long-term wear, comfort, stability, and noise reduction. Advancements in scanning technology paired with accessible, high-quality 3D printers make it viable to manufacture custom earbuds and other audiology products at scale. Manufacturing with 3D printing makes producing on-demand custom earbuds a reality. Though it’s not a silver bullet, 3D printing removes many of the challenges traditionally associated with mass-producing custom products: 3D printing is a zero tooling production process–there’s no need to produce thousands of the same item to recoup the initial cost [...]

Cimquest is testing the Formlabs materials and, for a limited time, we will provide you with a complimentary sample printed on the Form 2 Desktop SLA 3D printer and ship to you for immediate assessment. You’ll not only be able to visualize what’s realistically achievable with the Form 2 technology, but determine quickly if your chosen resin will meet or exceed your specific application requirements. Just click the button below to be taken to an online form where you can submit your request. Request Sample