Can 3D Printing Finally Compete with Injection Molding?

#form4 #injectionmolding #3dprinting #formlabs #msla3dprinting #stereolithography

Witness the lightning-fast capabilities of Form 4 as it outpaces traditional injection molding methods in speed and quality. Explore how 3D printing is revolutionizing manufacturing, rendering injection molding obsolete. Dive into this Fast and Furious clash of technologies!

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[zangarkhan]

Missing material cost for key metric. Also 2ndary process like cleaning, waste, UV cure, printer maintenance.

[twistymcfistysback]

Form 3 was my 1st printer, the operating cost is insane. $100 for a replacement tray that doesn’t last long, $150 for 1 leader of resin, chipped so you can’t use 3rd party resin.
Saturn 4 is under $500, prints at 12k Ai intergraded, cheap to operate and maintain.
5k for a resin printer is insane.

[ExtraHandyAndy]

I think a key point that was missed in this video was the cost and leadtime of even a simple plastic injection mold. This technology allows you to have 1000 parts today/tommorow instead of weeks/months. Then take into account that if you have a mold and need to make a change to the part, your back to high cost and downtime to get that change made. If the resin material is sufficient for your needs, I can see the justification behind resin printing plastic parts for end use.

[MystElectric]

Cost per part is going to be wildly different since your resin costs significantly more than, if we also include the cost for the build platform, tanks, etc. price per part will be 4-10x more. Also tooling lead time is true for a full production tool but not a rapid tool made in China which is typically 3 weeks, and can last for 10, 000parts typically.

[SeanLumly]

What about cleanup? The time/labour required for cleanup of resin parts should be accounted for in such a comparison. So to for injection molding cleanup.

I'm an avid 3D printer, so this isn't a knock on printing or your products, more an appeal for clarification, or asserting a requirement of fairness.

[conorgilligan]

Cool video but you've just cherry picked your cycle time to suit the study. From the video that 2 cavity mould is running a cycle time of 50 seconds. Ive a medical manufacturing backgroup and we have extremely conservative holding times and our cycle times are about half that. I've worked in high volume manufuring where 64 cavity moulds have cycle times of 3.5 seconds. 3D printing is great and has its place but injection moulding is almost always a better process for high volume manufacturing of plastic products.

[DrinkiD]

What resin is used for the 3 D printing.

[CYKuo-yllg]

Most 3D printing resins will deform over time. They are not made to last long and stay robust. I would argue that even for low production, these printed parts are not suitable for long-term use. (We have several Form 3s in our shop, and they are definitely one of the best tools for prototyping.)

[airbornex]

What material is used here? How does its material properties and useful temperature range compare with ABS, the gold standard of injection molding plastic?

[jacobsharf]

I see each print makes a bunch of clips but each injection molding only makes 1. Why couldn’t the injection molding machine make 10-20x more by injection molding multiple at once? I assume quality/reliability?

[tatcyr]

Why you removed parts from spruce in injection molded parts and it’s ready to seal In blister package but 3d printed one still has support.

[JohnDoe-rxvn]

Resin is fast, but has so far been weaker than most plastics

[AnselmWiercioch]

Material cost, man hours of postprocessing, final part strength and finish? How far does this scale? Linear to 1M+ parts? Not saying it's impossible to compete, but I want more info.

[ElieAnquetil]

Really cool. Are those parts can handle outside use?

[Dougwar]

I dont understand what the proporse tô compare a single simple mold with 4 3d printers? Why not 100 printer then.

[RexAnothership]

The real win for Formlabs SLA printing is that you can do plastic injection mould production volumes while being able to produce part designs that can't be injection moulded. It is the only way to justify the added cost. Large production volumes of small high value, low material volume, high detail parts is the best niche for this style of manufacturing. It opens design possibilities that were previously unattainable.

[ArvinAbadilla]

Does this account for Form Wash & Form Cure?

[awareaction]

So, MSLA is as good as IM, except for the per part material cost? I would be more interested to have a side by side comparison of any similar MSLA printer compared with Form 4. That would definitely drive the purchase decision.

[hughjassstudios]

And? It's resin. Nothing strong like PPGF or Nylon.

[nevin_co]

How did formlabs print 24 parts in the first 16 seconds vs 2 for Injection moulding? The time/counter is BS