Form 4 generation printers deliver blazing fast print speeds with excellent reliability, print quality, accuracy, materials performance, and build volume size. Most MSLA printers sacrifice one or several aspects of print performance to achieve comparable speeds.

Print speed is mostly impacted by material and layer height and slightly impacted by print geometry. The most accurate way to calculate the print time for your model is by using the Print Time estimation feature in PreForm, our free print preparation software.

For Form 4 generation printers, we measure print speed in vertical height printed per hour, with units of millimeters per hour or inches per hour.

We rigorously validate the print speed, reliability, print quality, accuracy, and mechanical properties for every material and layer height available on Form 4 generation printers. For every material and layer height, we run roughly 100 prints across 40+ different printers, using 20+ unique models covering a range of key applications and part geometries. Then we inspect, measure, and test every one of those prints.

This table shows median and typical print speeds by material, layer height, and print setting, as measured during the Formlabs validation process.

For a given material and layer height, the Typical Print Speed column shows 25th and 75th percentile print speeds measured during our validation process. This range represents the level of variation you might see based on part geometry for a given material and layer height.

For blank cells: we are still collecting data and will update this table when results are available.

On Form 4 generation printers, your expected print speed depends on three main factors:

1. Material: every material has different curing and flow behavior, which impacts how long each step of the print process takes.
2. Layer height: the thickness of each layer in your print. If you print the same part with 100 µm layer height and 50 µm layer height, the print with 50 µm layer thickness will have twice as many layers and take longer to print.
3. Print geometry: When you’re printing with a given material and layer height, you may notice print speeds varying slightly depending on your print geometry. For print jobs with more parts or larger parts, each layer will have a larger cross-sectional area, which may slightly decrease print speeds.

There are four steps of the printing process that occur during every layer of your print. Each of these steps can take a varying amount of time depending on several factors.

How models with cups affect print speed

As noted above, print geometry impacts print speed. In particular, Form 4 and Form 4L generation printers slow down while printing hollow regions in parts, known as cups, to prevent print failures. To reduce this slowdown:

• Use the Hole tool in PreForm to add drain holes to your model.
• Create a custom print setting with the PreForm Print Settings Editor and deselect Cup Mitigation Enabled. Disabling this feature can reduce print times but may lead to print defects.