Why the Form 2 is worth $3499 - SLA 3D Printer Review

Today we're checking out the Formlabs Form 2, a SLA 3D Printer promising incredible detail, reliability and ease of use. But does it live up to expectations? Watch to find out!

Maker's Muse only produces unpaid, unbiased reviews and all opinions expressed in this video are my own.

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[joachimfriberg]

I got one of those at work, thou since IPA is expesive in Sweden I started using concentrated windshield cleaning fluid and it works great while being very cheap.

[PaulBraddock]

Great to see your review! If you use "open mode" you can use 3rd party resins. It switches off some of the automatic features, such as refill sensing, so you have to add resin directly into the vat. I've not tried to use it yet, but apparently, Maker Juice should work fine and is much cheaper.

[InsertAwesomFaceHere]

Mate your reviews are absolutely brilliant.

[Antenociti]

We've had a FOrm 2 for about a month now and it runs pretty much 24x7 exclusively @ 25 micron to produce model-masters for us - haven't had a single failure from the machine. I've had two failures due to my trying to stretch the system capabilities - such as using 0.3mm supports, rather than 0.4 or 0.5, and 1 error due to (us) badly aligning a part for printing.

I would call those user-error more than a print error though, otherwise, a good many hundred thousand layers later - not a single error.

[milesnapue]

This review was highly informative, thank you very much here at almost 2024. My company owns one of these Form 2's and I get to clean and use it on Monday, HYPE! First time ever 3d printing is with a FormLabs machine, I'm lucky.

[SuyePhoto]

Cant wait to see the Anycubic Photon Review to see how much Formlabs is sweating now :D

[Fixitt]

Hey MakersMuse! You appear to be removing the supports after curing instead of before. If you remove the supports after washing but before curing they produce far less noticeable marks and are removable by hand.

Side note, the Form 2 works fine with non-branded resins, you just turn on Open Mode.

[josephf]

My high school is getting one, good to hear that it is worth it.

[Mirraslog]

I really hope for new tech breakthroughs so SLA's and other systems of 3D printing become cheaper. As someone who works with characters and illustration I can see my work being greatly improved from switching from FDM to SLA. But that price tag is still too expensive for me, at least for now :(

[PrintThatThing]

Stellar review Angus! I'm loving it too. Compared the XYZ Nobel 1.0a ($1K less) I'd GLADY pay the extra money for the Form2. Its badass, a more enjoyable workflow, and better quailty acrosss the board.

[DPrintingNerd]

Good words, dude. I agree with you, and my review is going to echo much of the same. However, I *have* had print failures, so I'll make sure to mention those. However, you can bet I'm going to link back to this video.

[kacheric]

We have one at work, and I have to agree with everything you said. I had zero training the first time I used it, just downloaded the software load my model and let it do the rest. In my experience this as close to plug and play as it gets with 3d printing.

[LazerLord]

While an SLA printer wold be fantastic for good D&D miniatures, I've successfully printed out a bunch of reasonable figures on my FDM printer with a 0.2mm nozzle. They don't look _great_, but they're still recognizable.

[DesktopMakes]

Great review. I've been debating on getting one but I'm pretty happy with FDM for now. Is Formlabs really making you return this?

[justinz]

I have friends in the medical device field that use this for prototyping. It's an amazing machine.

[MakeItWithCalvin]

I have to say as a model maker, and having worked with one, it should be noted it was originally a pre release model so it had some bugs, but it is a nice machine for the money. That said the Form 2 is more geared to a professional hobbyist but that is not a bad thing! I will admit if I had one it would be epic ;)!

[Monkeyby]

Looks like a technology that will only get better and cheaper with time, just like the filament extrusion 3D printers. Only time will tell. :)

[Culky]

Interesting that one of your IPA buckets was damaged, I had the same thing. Unfortunately I only discovered it was cracked after I had poured a litre of IPA into it.
But Formlabs sent out a replacement immediately, so thumbs up for that.

[ElectricWheelz]

We must have got the same shipment! We got ours at Modelcraft last week and are already using it on architectural models. The layer lines on FDM printing just wasn't worth the sanding time but the Form 2 prints only need the slightest touch ups. Really happy with it so far.

[afganistan]

What do you think about the new Bean SLA 3d printer designed by Kudo3D?