Repeatedly in life, you hear the phrase “practice what you preach.” A charge to show the world what you’re saying is true and viable. Well, that’s exactly what we did and continue to do here at EAC headquarters.

EAC’s popcorn machine recently had a broken part rendering it difficult to produce popcorn that wasn’t blackened to a crisp. 

Our design engineers took one look at the problem and took action. Using PTC’s cloud-based Onshape, one engineer began the initial CAD design of the part off-site simultaneously as another designer was able to edit the part geometry on-site. This increased collaboration and excelled design iteration with updates in real-time.

With the initial design completed in Onshape, minor tweaks were made and work through versions 2 and 3 were finished in just a matter of days. The CAD file alone, however, was not going to fix the burnt popcorn issue – it was time for prototyping.

Unfortunately, the original part had deteriorated over time which made it difficult to capture accurate measurements. Adjustments to the prototype would have to be made along the way to make sure that it fit just right.

Using our Formlabs 3D printers, the designers printed V1 and V2 on the Form 3+ printer due to the accuracy and speed in which they could turn around a prototype. Since our team wanted to test out their iterations quickly, they took advantage of the new and improved software and hardware offerings on this printer. The off-site designer was able to print the prototype after the on-site designer prepped the printer before leaving the office that same day. As a result they produced functional, high-quality prototypes and end-use parts in record time.

The prototype material used accelerated necessary edits, but was not used for the final product due to the level of heat it would take on sitting above the popcorn kettle. The final piece was printed with Nylon resin on the Fuse 1 printer. This new SLS printer not only sped up the production process, but allowed for long-lasting results using an incredibly durable material. It was time to install the ready-made part – our popcorn machine was going to pop again. 

By using modern collaborative design tools in Onshape, our team was able to seamlessly work together remotely and also quickly iterate a quality design ready for prototyping. Formlabs’ connected printers with remote access, printing, and monitoring created an accurate and durable part that was ready to be put to use.

Together, the two solutions streamlined design, prototyping, and part production processes. Our design engineers saw a problem and practiced what they preach – filling the halls of EAC with the smell of fresh popcorn once again!

Formlabs is making their Tough resin even tougher – with a reformation  – offering Tough 2000 as the more advanced 3D printing material.

Formlabs and EAC will continue to sell the Tough resin until it is sold out – then it will be replaced with Tough 2000. If you’ve been using Tough resin – it will be available through the end of 2020.

You can use the Tough 2000 resin on Formlabs desktop stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers – specifically on the Form 3+.

Tough 2000 vs Tough

Compared to Tough Resin, this material reformulation brings:

Tough 2000 Resin is the strongest and stiffest material in the functional family of Tough and Durable Resins, with “2000” representing the material’s tensile modulus. The resin is improved elongation, strength, and stiffness, which are typically competing mechanical properties.

Due to its high strength and modulus, Tough 2000 Resin can handle higher stress and will hold its shape better under load compared to Tough 1500 or Durable Resins. When pushed to its stress limit, Tough 2000 parts will bend significantly before ultimately breaking.

Note that Tough 2000 Resin requires specialty resin tanks, Form 2 LT Tank or Form 3 Tank v2.

Other Tough and Durable Resins

This video clip shows a stress test between the Tough 2000, Tough 1500, and Durable Formlabs resins.

Tough 1500 Resin is the most resilient material and is ideal for: prototypes that repeatedly bend and quickly return to shape; jigs and fixtures requiring repeated deflection; and simulating the strength and stiffness of polypropylene (PP).

Durable Resin is the most pliable, impact resistant, and lubricious material and is ideal for: squeezable prototypes and low friction assemblies; non-degrading surfaces as a result of repeated wear; jigs and fixtures that will experience significant impacts; and simulating the strength and stiffness of HD/LD polyethylene (PE).

When should I use Tough 2000 resin?

Tough 2000 Resin offers more advanced mechanical properties and a new dark grey look. It is ideal for:

Choose Tough 2000 Resin for prototyping strong and sturdy parts that should not bend easily, such as housings and enclosures, jigs and fixtures, mechanical connectors, and prototypes undergoing wear and tear.

You can use this resin with applications across engineering, product design, and manufacturing. Tough 2000 resin can be printed for prototypes undergoing wear and tear, mechanical connectors, and housing and enclosures such as the below motor mount.

The improved strength, stiffness, and elongation allow engineers and product designers to iterate with higher confidence and reduce brittle failures.

Download the Tough 2000 resin data sheet to read on material properties and tech stats.

This video clip shows a motor threading with the Tough 2000 resin.

Where to find Tough 2000 Resin

You can find Tough 2000 resin in our Formlabs Resin Library where you can either order a sample part or order the actual resin.

Formlabs is adding to their Tough and Durable family of engineering resins – they’ve released the Tough 1500 resin recently – and it’s the most resilient material they have.

You can use Tough 1500 resin on your Form 3+ SLA 3D printer.

Tough 1500 Resin for Resilient Prototyping

Tough 1500 Resin is also the most robust, functional, and dynamic group of materials. Choose this resin for parts undergoing bending, tension, compression, or impacts that will bend or deform slightly before breaking. It produces stiff and pliable parts that bend and spring back quickly under cyclic loading.

The family of Tough and Durable Resins share numerous characteristics and is great for functional prototypes, jigs and fixtures, connectors, and other shared applications. Identifying the best material for your specific use case involves understanding your design constraints and the key tradeoffs between the materials.

Tough 1500 Resin is ideal for:

Due to its high elongation and moderate modulus Tough 1500 Resin is ideal for parts that bend, but require high memory retention. When pushed to its stress limit, Tough 1500 parts will strain significantly before permanently deforming and ultimately breaking.

Download the Tough 1500 resin data sheet to get more details on material specifications and tech stats.

Why was there a need for another tough 3D printing resin?

“Unfortunately Tough is WAY too brittle in a lot of applications!”

“I see a bit of a sag with Durable after the print finishes.”

These are direct quotes from one of Formlabs customers when using the only existing engineering resins at the time. Formlabs understood there was a gap in the Engineering family and decided to add the Tough 1500 resin to stay competitive in the market and to increase their value proposition to customers.

Customer Testimonial for Tough 1500 Resin – Unplugged Performance

Unplugged Performance is the world leader in premium performance upgrades for Tesla vehicles. Some of these upgrades involve installing customized car bumpers.

Before 3D printing, it would take Unplugged Performance roughly 45 minutes to remove each sensor mount from the existing bumper and another 10 minutes to bond it onto the new bumper. At six sensors per car, in addition to other custom upgrades, they were only able to complete one car every one-and-a-half days.

With their Formlabs printer, Unplugged Performance now prints new sensor mounts in batches of 30. This eliminates the costly time spent removing the sensor mounts from the existing bumper and leaves them with only the bonding step of their workflow. This helped improve their throughput to three cars per day.

Unplugged Performance uses Tough 1500 Resin for the printed mounts due to its compliant nature, which enables it to clip onto and secure the various sensors. Tough 1500 Resin’s high impact strength enables safe mounting of the sensors in the car’s bumper as well.

Unplugged Performance also prefers the grey color of Tough 1500 Resin compared to Tough Resin and Durable Resin. This has opened up new opportunities to create visible custom parts that blend seamlessly into the car’s interior.

How to order Tough 1500 Resin

Check out our Formlabs Resin Library where you can order a free sample part or order the resin if you’ve already decided it will work for your application. Watch this video of our Additive Manufacturing Specialist with a part made from Tough 1500 – which would be the exact part you’d receive if you order the free sample.

Follow Lauren on LinkedIn for more Formlabs tips and tricks.

Formlabs new 3D printer, the Form 3B, is an advanced stereolithography (SLA) desktop 3D printer optimized for biocompatible (thus, the ‘B’ in Form 3B) materials (resins) and validated workflows.

Form 3B vs Form 3: Which one should I use?

If you are an early adopter and you have already purchased a Form 3 before November 12th of 2019, then you can print all compatible resins on your Form 3 (or Form 2). If you purchase a Formlabs 3D printer AFTER November 12th of 2019, then you have two options.

Form 3B: Exclusively prints ONLY biocompatible resins (surgical guides, hearing devices, etc.)

Form 3: Prints only non-biocompatible resins (anatomical models, device prototypes, etc.)

Form 3B Price

The Form 3B is a little more expensive than the Form 3 – The Form 3 Basic Package starts at $3,499, whereas the Form 3B Basic Package starts at $4,999.

The Form 3B Basic Package includes the 3D printer, Finish Kit, Build, and Tank.

New Surgical Guide Resin

The newest surgical guide resin is an autoclavable, biocompatible resin for 3D printing surgical guides for implant placement. This next generation 3D printing material is for premium-quality surgical implant guides.

This resin is only available for the Form 2, Form 3B, and early 2019 Form 3 printers.

When speaking to beta testers, we found they enjoyed the print clarity, superior mechanical properties, and improved accuracy of the Surgical Guide Resin.

The Surgical Guide Resin is sold at $249.00 per liter and is ideal for:

Available for the Form 3 (Early 2019), Form 3B, and the Form 2. It is not available with the Form 3 (non-biocompatible, purchased after Nov 12).

What does this look like in PreForm software?

Formlabs 3D printing software, PreForm, will update with the PreForm 3.1.3 version and will include print setting for the following resins on Form 3B and early 2019 Form 3:

The PreForm software will also include the following printer model options:

The 'regular' Form 3 (model released after Nov 12, 2019) will come at a later date.