Formlabs

Every time I presented this 3D printed blow mold in Formlabs Rigid 10K at a trade show, the customer's reaction was always a "WOW, this is heavy!" This is a use case of 3D printing that is not discussed enough: print the pre-production tool that makes the "looks-like, works-like" part. Unilever validates new Dove and Axe bottle designs by blow-molding them in 3D printed molds before they ever go to steel tooling. Serioplast, Unilever's packaging partner, runs about 4 billion bottles a year. Before cutting steel for the production run, they switched to 3D printed resin mold for pilot runs and consumer testing: pre-launch panels of a few hundred bottles per design. The process conditions are not soft. Stretch blow molding runs at up to 30 bar and ~100°C. The mold is printed with Formlabs Rigid 10K Resin, a glass-filled photopolymer with HDT 218°C @ 0.45 MPa and tensile modulus of 10,000 MPa. The impact was clear. Lead time per design went from 8 weeks to 2 weeks. Tooling cost went from $10,000 to $1,000. Each mold runs up to 1,000 bottles a day, in production-grade PET, close enough that the bottles go through real consumer blind tests. Another example where 3D printing has quietly become a crucial part of the manufacturing value chain. Where have you been most surprised to see 3D printing quietly show up in your manufacturing process? #AdditiveManufacturing #RapidTooling #Packaging #ProductDevelopment

SLS 3D printing in drone defence. The team at Palladion Systems created a print-in-place counter-UAV system, manufactured as a single build with deployable arms integrated directly into the design. Manufactured on the Formlabs Fuse SLS ecosystem, this approach reduces assembly, accelerates iteration, and enables scalable production. Make sure to follow Dan Andrei Luca , Mara Hutart , Jacopo Angeloni and Christopher Randall to stay up to date with the latest news about Palladion Systems. More videos coming soon from our collaboration.

We have way too many interesting problems to solve and are looking for smart, technical, and curious problem solvers like Dominic to help tackle them. Come join the fastest growing $ (and absurdly efficient) team at Formlabs. We’re hiring for an Application Engineer role to work with our highest volume production customers. Apply here or reach out to me if you have any questions https://lnkd.in/e5bYyQcr

Have you ever vapor smoothed your SLS prints? In this video, I walk you through the complete workflow for giving Formlabs Nylon 12 a extra premium finish using the AMT PostPro SFX.

Most of the top product managers at Formlabs founded companies in the area they work in (hardware, software) Matt Ewertowski Seth Berg Kyle McNulty Hasan Khan Joseph Eilert If you started a company and are looking to join a company that has figured out how to repeatedly commercially successful products that users love, while still running like a small company, send me a message.

Formlabs TPU 90A Powder is a tough elastomer with high elongation at break and tear resistance, making it ideal for flexible, resilient, and skin-safe prototypes as well as end-use parts. What I love about SLS 3D printing is the design freedom it offers. No support structures are required, which allows even highly complex geometries to be produced efficiently and with strong mechanical performance. In this video, I also tested the VX1 from DyeMansion for chemical smoothing to further refine the typical SLS surface finish. For more information, visit: https://lnkd.in/dETiUWP2

My daily routine: designing, 3D printing, post-processing, quality inspection, and lessons learned. This time, I’m vapor smoothing a 2 mm SLS 3D-printed flexible TPU 90A material from Formlabs , printed on the Fuse 1+ 30W. I’m using the AMT PostPro SFX for post-processing to enhance patient comfort in an orthotic device, designed with Spentys . If you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment!

Why give your robot hands when it can have tentacles instead? Formlabs hackathon project from interns Margaret Lee and Vishesh Garg

Exciting to have RAPID in Boston for the first time ever. Already had lots of customers and partners visiting Formlabs HQ yesterday and looking forward to getting to the show floor tomorrow.