//Formlabs’ new pro 3D printers claim 2–5x speed by ditching lasers for an LCD screen

Formlabs’ new pro 3D printers claim 2–5x speed by ditching lasers for an LCD screen

Formlabs was one of the early Kickstarter success stories, and its laser-blasting 3D printers are now used by model makers, prototypers, dentists, and maybe even action figure companies around the globe. But its newest printers are ditching those resin-blasting lasers because they’re comparatively slow.

With the new Form 4, Formlabs says you can print two to five times faster than its predecessor, the Form 3 Plus — by switching to an LCD screen and a bright backlight that can cure an entire layer of resin at a time.

That’s a common technique in prosumer resin printers already, one called masked stereolithography (mSLA), but Formlabs claims it’s managed to build a printer to do it at a higher quality than ever before. Even so, it may…

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