Ever wonder what’s going on inside your Form 2? Wonder no more: we just posted an annotated 3D model in our new and improved 3D Glossary. You can also browse the model on Sketchfab, or right here in this blog post:
A Deeper Knowledge of Your 3D Printer
The main reason we created this interactive 3D model was so you can communicate better with our services team when you’re troubleshooting—it’s the next best thing to having a Formlabs team member in the room with you. We want to give everyone the vocabulary to have technical conversations about their 3D printers.
We hope this model will help inform anyone who wants an inside peek at the engineering behind the Form 2, and give you confidence if you ever need to open up your own machine. Browse the model to find answers to questions like:
- What’s the function of the tinted polycarbonate cover?
- What prevents the laser from firing when the cover is open?
- How does the printer detect which material is in the cartridge?
- What material is the build platform made of?
- Which parts of the printer should never be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol?
- What connects the LCD touchscreen to the motherboard?
Stereolithography, Then and Now
Back in 2015, we posted an interactive tour of the Form 1+ (a printer we recently retired). That interactive 3D model featured 19 annotations; the new tour of the Form 2 includes 50! That’s not because we got annotation-happy. The Form 2 has been redesigned from the ground up, gaining a multitude of features like a heated resin tank, automated resin system, touch screen, and wireless connectivity–just to name a few.
Want to learn more about how much the stereolithography ecosystem has evolved since the early days? Read our Ultimate Guide to Stereolithography to brush up on the process, the science behind it, and what you can achieve with a desktop SLA printer today.