Formlabs has announced the Form Studio 1, a resin 3D printer priced from $699, according to Martin Cid Magazine. The company, known for machines used in dental labs, jewelry workshops and engineering prototyping, is now targeting people who print miniatures, scale models and props at home. Orders opened on October 14, with shipping scheduled to begin on November 16.
The price is roughly a quarter of the $2,625 Form 4, Formlabs' current professional model. It marks a new direction for a company whose main customers are businesses such as assembly shops and dental practices. According to Wired, nearly 200,000 Formlabs printers are in use, most of them costing $2,500 or more.
Why it matters
Formlabs is stepping into a segment it has largely left alone. Budget resin printers from Elegoo, Anycubic and Phrozen already sell to hobbyists at lower prices, and 3D Printing Journal reads the Studio 1 as a direct challenge to those brands. The company is betting that home users will pay more for the kind of workflow it sells to professionals.
The move also puts Formlabs closer to the audience that made Bambu Lab a major player. At an industry conference in March, Formlabs CEO Max Lobovsky said the company was focused on professional users. He described Bambu Lab, which he estimated sells more than a million filament printers a year, mostly to hobbyists, as "by far the biggest player in 3D printing." The Form Studio 1 is the first Formlabs printer priced for the people who made Bambu so large.
What the printer offers
The Studio 1 uses a screen-based light engine that works with 35-micron pixels, finer than the 50-micron pixels of the more expensive Form 4. According to Martin Cid Magazine, that resolution lets a miniature figure hold the texture of a cloak or the sharp edge of a sword. The build volume of 5.9 liters is slightly larger than the Form 4's and tall enough for a part measuring 23.5 centimeters. With the new Alpha Fast resin, the printer runs at up to 130 millimeters per hour, and Formlabs says the full build volume can be filled in under two hours.
Six Alpha resins launch alongside the machine: gray, white, black and clear, plus a Model resin with a matte finish and a focus on detail, and the Fast resin. The first bottle costs $29. An Open Material Mode for third-party resins is included, but those materials require the optional Resin Tank Pro, which has a film designed to withstand chemicals better.
Formlabs also says the Studio 1 is the first resin printer to receive UL GREENGUARD Gold certification for low chemical emissions. That certification applies only when the printer is used with Alpha resins and the $179 VOC Extractor, an accessory with two carbon filters that last about 330 printing hours. Without both, the certification does not apply, and parts still need to be washed in isopropyl alcohol or a similar solvent.
Where the savings show
The lower price comes with some cuts. Compared with the Form 4, the Studio 1 has no mixer for filled materials and no system for detecting particles in the resin tank. It carries five monitoring systems instead of six and supports nine Formlabs materials rather than 22. On paper it is also less precise, with a stated accuracy of plus or minus 0.5 percent against 0.15 percent for the Form 4.
For $699, buyers get only the printer, the tank and the platform. Every resin print must be washed and cured before use, so most buyers will also need the Form Studio Wash+Cure at $199. Formlabs sells that unit together with the flexible platform for $948.
Space is another consideration. Wired's reviewer described a printer the size of a small refrigerator, and a test shipment of more than a dozen boxes containing the printer, the wash unit, tools and resin cartridges. Formlabs product manager David Lakatos played down the footprint. "It doesn't take up much space," he told the magazine. "If you have a desk, I think you should be well set up."
Pricing varies by region. Formlabs' online stores in the United States, Europe and the UK list the printer at €639 before VAT in the eurozone — about €773 with tax in Spain — and £549 before VAT in the UK. The company has not announced prices for Latin America or most of Asia.
Founders Edition colors in aqua, teal and violet come in a limited run that ends on November 30 or when stock sells out, while graphite will remain in the lineup.
What to watch: whether Formlabs can convince hobbyists to pay a premium for a professional-style workflow, and how budget resin brands respond.
