Formlabs’ extensive line of materials options now includes Rigid 10K Resin, a material that offers high stiffness and resistance for use in manufacturing and engineering. It is the stiffest material in Formlabs’ entire portfolio, meeting engineering and manufacturing customers’ need for a stiffer, more heat and chemically resistant material.
Formlabs, a leading 3D printing company, today announced two new proprietary materials, Rigid 10K Resin and a reformulation of Draft Resin, to expand design capabilities for users and enhance what’s possible with 3D printing. The reformulated Draft Resin enables users to print up to four times faster than currently available resins, while maintaining the highest degree of accuracy and improving part quality. The new formulation offers improved surface finish, post processing requirements, and a new grey colour. Rigid 10K Resin is the stiffest material in Formlabs’ entire portfolio, meeting engineering and manufacturing customers’ need for a stiffer, more heat and chemically resistant material. Together, Draft Resin and Rigid 10K Resin complement the natural progression of product development, supporting customers from quick initial designs through high performance parts.
“One of the most powerful advantages of stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing is the wide range of printing materials,” said Max Lobovsky, CEO and co-founder of Formlabs. “Our customers don’t just need parts with the right geometry, they also need the right material properties. With our expansive library of resins, our users can make anything from surgical tools, to retainers, to jigs and fixtures and everything in between.”
Draft Resin
The reformulated Draft Resin features and benefits include:
- Prints up to four times faster than standard materials.
- Minimal support removal, wash, and cure times.
- Ideal for:
- Initial prototyping
- Rapid iterations
- Live 3D printing demos
- High throughput
Aside from use in manufacturing, engineering and product design, the new Draft Resin is also key within the dental and orthodontic fields. Capable of printing aligner and retainer models in-house in under 20 minutes, Draft Resin opens up chair-side or same-day delivery for orthodontic practices. For dental labs, Draft Resin enables improved throughput and efficiency, producing over 95 models per day on a Form 3BL. Compared to Formlabs Grey Resin, which can print eight models in 9 hours and 48 minutes, Draft Resin accomplishes this in just one hour and 30 minutes. From set-up to post-processing, Draft Resin builds on Formlabs’ easy-to-use, accurate, and reliable 3D printers, while bringing print speeds to new levels.
Rigid 10K Resin
Rigid 10K Resin features and benefits include:
- Stiffness that simulates glass or fibre-filled thermoplastics.
- Resistance to heat, chemicals, and intense pressures resulting in a prime choice for precise industrial parts that need to withstand significant load without bending.
- Smooth matte surface finish.
- Ideal for:
- Short run injection mould masters and inserts
- Aerodynamic test models
- Heat resistant and fluid exposed components, jigs, and fixtures
Rigid 10K has enabled users like Novus Applications, an engineering and consulting company focused on the consumer packaging industry, to create 3D printed moulds and inserts, making their injection moulding workflow more efficient. The company utilizes Rigid 10K Resin to 3D print short-run injection moulds and cores while reducing both costs and manufacturing time. Rigid 10K Resin was extremely valuable for the company as its ability to withstand high temperatures and immense pressure was unmatched by other materials.
Mark Bartlett, President and Founder of Novus Applications said, “It was performing at a level that we hadn’t seen historically capable in the traditional Rigid [4000] material. I can print complex forms accurately, way faster than I’m going to machine them.” The advanced strength ensures a mould made from Rigid 10K Resin can withstand the clamping and injection pressures without breaking, while the high stiffness enables the mould to maintain its shape under these pressures and produce accurate parts.
Formlabs collaborates with countless clients to support their workflows with new materials, empowering them to bring products to life quickly, from dental and orthodontic models to prototypes of new consumer products. Formlabs’ team of 30+ material scientists are increasing access to high-performance materials to enable companies to iterate faster and bring better performing products to market. These new materials, along with Formlabs’ deep library of resins, prove that an end-product is better when users combine the benefits of use-specific materials with the geometries and designs only achievable through 3D printing.
