Formlabs

Formlabs

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Basic information
Founded
Legal structure
Industry
Official website

Formlabs, a Massachusetts based 3D printing company started in 2011 founded by Maxim Lobovsky, David Cranor, and Natan Linder, all three MIT Media Lab students. The company got it's start by raising nearly $3 million on it's Kickstarter campaign to release the Form 1 as their first 3D printer.

The company provides software and consumables as well as entire machines, and has branched into the industrial sector providing full machine service as well as a "Pro Service Plan" that includes training videos and prioritized customer support options.

Initially championed as an underdog fighting to bring 3D printing to the hobbyist, the company has since changed their business model and have taken a live service approach to their machines as well as choosing to make their systems more proprietary, as well as including a paid "Open Material Mode".

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Consumer-impact summary

Overview of concerns that arise from the company's conduct regarding (if applicable):

• User freedom
• User privacy
• Business model
• Market control

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3D printing has always been a consumer first field, with many of the first printers available for home use were RepRap machines, a printer created with the express purpose of being able to replicate itself with minimal external hardware that is commonly available. Much like coding bases such as Github, being open source and creating communities that work together to further 3D printing for the home user as a method to fight back against anti consumer practices has been a key tenet of 3D printing for home users.

Formlabs has been accused of many negative business practices that harm their initial goal of creating a low cost way to create high precision parts , however these will require more research to confirm before addition. Listed below are verified anti-consumer practices.

Incidents

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This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Formlabs category.

Open Material Mode (November, 2024)

Main article: link to the main article

Open Material Mode was initially launched in 2024 with the Form 3, and featured the ability to pay for a license to use your own materials. Virtually unheard of in 3D printing, this license does not change the function of the machine in any way and only gives you permission to use your own materials. If you do not pay for this license you will only be able to use Formlabs proprietary pre-filled resin cartridges. As a point of reference, the cheapest material offered by Formlabs (as of 7/14/25) is $79 for 1L of material, and ABSlike 3.0 by ELEGOO on Amazon is $16 for 1L (which you cannot use on the Form 4 without paying a $2,499 license fee for each printer owned).

https://formlabs.com/store/materials/open-material-mode/?srsltid=AfmBOoooEm4ZLVUdLqd0mcpV7l5SNh81dgHLQpUnv5b5nOSz0p1dtjMj

Purchase of Micronics (July, 2024)

In July of 2024, Formlabs announced that they had purchased Micronics, another small Kickstarter powered 3D printing startup. In a video released by Formlabs the co-founder of Micronics Henry Chan, he admits that they will be canceling their Kickstarter and moving to Massechusets in order to work for Formlabs directly, offering a $1000 credit to anyone who supported the original campaign as well as refunding all donations. The Micron was immediately canceled, and subsequently the https://formlabs.com/blog/formlabs-acquires-micronics/?srsltid=AfmBOoolvJMRly8Ibc0KdBvAGKRVHmfxbB4C9d7GMyV_Ifdq5mlTZ92z

https://forum.formlabs.com/t/formlabs-spring-2025-product-announcement-coming-march-24th/43884/14

Deprecating support for the Form 2 ( )

Soon after the release of the Form 3 product line, Formlabs announced that they would be ending updates for the Form 2. Deprecating machines is expected over time, but because the Form 2 uses proprietary resin cartridges you can only use Formlabs provided materials, that notably are only optimized for their newest machines. https://forum.formlabs.com/t/what-formlabs-offers-when-form-2-is-dead/30572/15

https://formlabs.com/blog/formlabs-acquires-micronics/?srsltid=AfmBOor3O8NKchgjxAUCyx7YHbDv-fxHGBbckZ6oRjKaz2oByCq8O-xi

Build Quality concerns (2015-2025)

https://forum.formlabs.com/t/debilitating-issues-with-formlabs-despite-investing-20-000/35322

Products

This is a list of the company's product lines with articles on this wiki.

• Example product line one (release date): Short summary of the product's incidents.
• Example product line two (release date):

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See also

Link to relevant theme articles or companies with similar incidents.

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