I’m in the process of buying a SLA 3D printer. The two that jump out at me are the
FormLabs Form2 and the DWS XFAB. Does anyone have a preference? Pro and Cons would be nice
At a glance they seem to run the same materials but the XFAB has a alittle bigger build size
What about customer service and tech support
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one that i just noticed was on XFAB website I believe there customer service is bad. Do you guys agree?
I balked at the Form2 for a long time since I prefer not being locked in to vendor specific resins at high costs, single vendors for trays, etc. I really wanted to dislike the Form2 for those reasons. Unfortunately, the darn thing just works. All the time. Even being stubborn as I am, I dropped all of those views/concerns and buy everything from FormLabs without balking. I’m at over 95% print success rate, with most (but not all) of the failures due to me trying risky orientations or low levels of support density. As for customer service, I never wanted to use it. The galvo(s) in my system started to fail and I had lowered print fidelity over time. Support did troubleshooting with me, then took the printer back and fixed it under warranty. No issues with their service at all. In short, get the Form2. I even put a deposit on a Fuse1 because of how well the Form2 worked and the level of support you get with the printers.
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I’ve been using a form2 since the first release and I’m generally very happy with it. I use 3rd party resins to keep my costs down. As I understand it the XFAB is a more expensive machine to purchase, the material selection is much larger, but the materials are also more expensive and I don’t think it allows the use of 3rd party resins.
Voudas
June 13, 2017, 10:22am
6
i have both they are not comparable at all… f2 ftw…
print quality, resolution options, resin cost, printer cost, software, workflow, reliability… difference is just huge…
support on xfab is decent not bad at all. but on form it’s just fantastic
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This depends on what you’re going to be printing.
Both machines use similar technology The build volume is actually similar because the slightly smaller Formlabs is square.
Formlabs has proprietary cartridges of material and a poorly supported open mode. No idea how DWS supports 3rd party resins. The materials are similar with the DWS material being more expensive at about 24 cents per mL vs. Formlabs 15 cents (standard materials).
I have a Formlabs and they have a fairly active online forum. Formlabs is actually good about leaving the good and the bad on the Forums so it’s a good place to find out what issues other people have. I would recommend looking to see if DWS has a similar forum.
What 3rd party resins are you using?
I want to give some different resin a try and see how it works. Never really did a research on it.
CusPro
June 13, 2017, 1:18pm
9
We are running 3 large format SLA machines manufactured by Z Rapid Technologies. They have been the workhorses of our operation.
Currently we have put one of those machines on the market. Please take a look.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/292134502061?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&\_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
We have also a smaller machine with 18" X 18" X 12" build envelope for 99k.
We provide service, installation and also can put you in touch with DSM Somos who will fill up your resin vat for free.
Please advice if you need more info.
Andy
Custom Prototypes
3DVR
June 13, 2017, 1:36pm
10
This is a no brainer XFAB has almost no videos of their product because it is not preferred so you will basically be buying a machine that few people have and with SLA that is a no no. I looked at both of these machines like you because I wanted the larger volume I studied the XFAB. From a common sense level I just could not go with XFAB. Formlabs has does have proprietary resins but SLA machines are not for printing pokemon’s all the time so you need well researched and well formulated resins to accomplish what you need to accomplish. Many of the cheaper resins are sub par and if you are not wasting resin you will have enough. Learning how to build parts properly in CAD also can save loads of resin. I trust this will assist.
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I use resins by a UK company called photocentric, mainly hard grey and hard clear. It’s less than half the cost of formlabs resin and I’m happly with the results I get.
3DVR
June 13, 2017, 2:38pm
12
What machine are you running that on?
3DVR
June 13, 2017, 2:54pm
13
Checking youtube for videos of DWS XFAB only brings back videos made from them after almost a year in production. What does that sound like to you?
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Lol! He was asking about a recommendation between 2 desktop SLA printers in the sub-$10k price range. And you try to sell him your used $150k machine? Or another one for $100k? Nicely done.
Maybe he should just buy a Stratasys J750 Polyjet, I’m sure that will meet all his needs now and in the future.
3 Likes
CusPro
June 13, 2017, 3:36pm
15
Polyjet is not SLA.
However you are right it is a cheaper machine.
I thought that but i wasn’t going to say anything
Hi Jcamper,
It’s Jensen from Attenborough’s Hub.
We have own 3D printer using daylight liquid which is a lot easy to do the post-processing and the material is much more cheaper than formlab and XFAB.
The printer come with 2 sizes, small printer cost £680 and large one is £1550, material for 1Litre is only £45.
If you are interest, please can you email us?
Of course, if anyone interest welcome to email me.
Our email is info@attenborough.com
Thank you and Best Regards,
Jensen
