Formlabs.

Formlabs' company page says three MIT graduate students built a desktop stereolithography printer in 2011 and that the firm has offices in ten global locations. The November 2019 dental launch release says headquarters are in Somerville, Massachusetts, and lists offices then in Germany, Japan, China, Singapore, Hungary, and North Carolina. It announced Formlabs Dental and the Form 3B printer, with dental resins including an in-house Surgical Guide Resin and denture shades, and said materials and print settings were aimed at labs and orthodontic workflows.

On 17 April 2024 Formlabs announced the Form 4B from Somerville, quoting CEO and co-founder Max Lobovsky. The release says Form 4B uses a Low Force Display print engine rather than the earlier laser-and-galvanometer approach, cites print speeds two to five times faster than Form 3+ depending on material, and says most prints finish in under two hours. Those speed lines are Formlabs' claims. The dental about page lists Form 4B with Form Wash, Form Cure, Fast Cure, and PreForm Dental software, and says dental materials are made in an FDA-registered facility under an ISO 13485 and EU MDR quality system.

The 2019 release said Formlabs then had more than 50 materials scientists and process engineers and more than 10 dental materials. The 2024 release says the company drew on more than 130,000 printers and more than 300 million parts printed. Those are company figures from the dates of the releases. A Form 4B is not a Form 3B. Resin tanks and light engines differ.

The 2024 release also prints a starting price. This profile does not repeat prices. Ask the current quote for the printer, the wash and cure units, and the resin kit, because a printer without the validated resin does not complete a dental workflow. The 2019 release said a Key Group survey had Formlabs as the most installed printer in small, medium, and large labs. That survey claim is in Formlabs' press release. It is not a measurement this page repeats as its own. The dental about page also lists Fast Cure beside Form Cure. Post-processing time is part of the cycle the release summarizes as finishing most prints in under two hours, and it still varies by the part.

Formlabs Dental suits a lab or practice that wants a resin printer with the company's own materials and cure units. Printers are compared on the dental 3D printer guide.

A surgical guide resin and a denture resin are not interchangeable. Read the indication before you load a tank.

Form 3B is the 2019 laser-based dental printer in Formlabs' Low Force Stereolithography line. Form 4B is the 2024 display-based printer. Parts and speed claims do not transfer.

SLS printers such as the Fuse line in the 2019 about blurb are a different process from the dental SLA machines. A dental quote should say Form 3B or Form 4B, not merely Formlabs.

Headquarters in the press releases are Somerville, Massachusetts. The dental page also lists offices in Germany, Hungary, Japan, China, Singapore, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Ask which office supports your serial number.

ISO 13485 and EU MDR on the dental page describe the quality system for materials. They do not clear every print for every patient. Keep the resin IFU with the case.