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SLA Printing | Formlabs Form 4
](https://github.com/VT-DISCO-LAB/Getting-Started-in-the-Discovery-Lab/wiki/Formlabs-Form-4)
The Formlabs Form 4 is a large-format SLA printer that is ideally suited for high-resolution printing. With Formlabs' Low force Display (LFD) Print engine, the Form 4 delivers speed, resolution, and reliability.
SLA (Stereolithography) printers use a laser to cure a liquid resin into solid parts. This allows for high-resolution prints with great detail. If you need high material strength and print accuracy SLA is the technique for you. Prints that are made with SLA printers require a post-processing step to remove excess resin and cure the part.
The Formlabs Form 4 uses inverted SLA for the build process. This means that the part is drawn from a vat of liquid resin.
- Build Volume: 200 x 125 x 210 cm
- X-Y Resolution: 50 µm with pre-tuned anti-aliasing for subpixel resolution
- Smallest Feature: ~50 µm
- Layer Height: 25–200 µm
- Available Materials: Total of 38 Formlabs materials, including 15 biocompatible, or third-party materials using Open Platform.
- Stocked Materials: White V5, Black V5, Clear V5, Fast Model, Flexible 80A
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Typical Print Speed:
- Average - 40 mm/hour (across all materials)
- Range - 16-50 mm/hour (depending on the material)
- Technology: MSLA, 405 nm LFD (Low-Force Display)
- Dimensional Tolerance: 1-30 mm features: ±0.15% (lower limit: ±0.02 mm) 31-80 mm features: ±0.2% (lower limit: ±0.06 mm) 81-150 mm features: ±0.3% (lower limit: ±0.15 mm)
- High resolution and detail
- Smooth surface finish
- Translucent (clear with polishing) material options
- Wide range of material options, including biocompatible, flexible, and autoclavable options
- Higher material costs (in comparison to other printing techniques)
- Greater processing costs and time
- Materials can be limited to set available proprietary materials*
- Greater Environmental impact
*The Discovery Lab's SLA printer is able to print third-party resins and prototype photopolymer resins.
In general, for SLA prints it is best to keep parts small with a maximum wall thickness of 5-10mm. On the Form 4, parts that have a wall thickness greater than 10mm are possible, but the final print may have a poor exterior surface finish. More detailed information on design specifications is below.
