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Formlabs

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Revision as of 23:14, 5 April 2026 by Louis (talk | contribs) (Comprehensive revision: expand Micronics acquisition section with killer acquisition framing, rewrite Open Material Mode & Form 2 deprecation sections, replace all bare URLs with cited sources, populate CompanyCargo fields, remove stub placeholders)


Formlabs
Basic information
Founded 2011
Legal Structure Private
Industry 3D printing
Also known as
Official website https://formlabs.com

Formlabs is a 3D printing company that charges its customers $875 to $11,899 per printer for the permission to use third-party materials on hardware they already own.[1] In July 2024, Formlabs acquired Micronics, a startup building a $2,999 desktop SLS printer funded on Kickstarter, & immediately canceled the product.[2] The cheapest SLS printer Formlabs sells starts at $28,989; the Micron would have cost roughly 1/10th that price.[3][4] Founded in 2011 by MIT Media Lab students Maxim Lobovsky, David Cranor, & Natan Linder, the company raised $2.95 million on Kickstarter for its first printer & has since raised over $250 million in venture funding.[5]

Consumer-impact summary

  • Formlabs charges a per-printer license fee ranging from $875 (Form 4) to $11,899 (Fuse 1 series) for the permission to use third-party materials on hardware the customer already owns.[1]
  • The company acquired Micronics in July 2024 & canceled the Micron, a $2,999 SLS 3D printer that had raised over £1 million from 431 Kickstarter backers.[2][6] Formlabs' own SLS printer, the Fuse 1+ 30W, starts at $28,989.[3]
  • The Form 2 uses proprietary DRM-chipped resin cartridges. Formlabs committed to supplying consumables through 2023, then left the end date ambiguous; by September 2024 consumables were still available but with no guaranteed supply timeline.[7][8]

Incidents

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.

Acquisition of Micronics

Formlabs acquired Micronics on July 11, 2024, & canceled the Micron desktop SLS 3D printer the same day.[2] The Micron had launched on Kickstarter in June 2024 at a starting price of $2,999.[4] The campaign raised over £1 million from 431 backers.[6]

SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) printers use a laser to fuse nylon powder into parts without support structures. Traditional industrial SLS machines from manufacturers like EOS & 3D Systems cost $200,000 to $500,000 or more.[3] Formlabs' own SLS offering, the Fuse 1+ 30W, starts at $28,989.[3] The Micron at $2,999 would have undercut the Fuse 1+ 30W by roughly 10x.[4]

Formlabs CEO Max Lobovsky acknowledged this price gap in an interview with TechCrunch, stating that Formlabs had achieved a "5x leap in starting price" with the Fuse 1 & that Micronics was "trying to do another 5x beyond that."[9] Micronics founders Henry Chan & Luke Boppart joined the Formlabs engineering team at its Somerville, Massachusetts headquarters.[10] The Micronics brand was discontinued & the Kickstarter was canceled.[9]

Tom's Hardware headlined its coverage "David vs Goliath" & reported that the Micronics branding would be discontinued.[11] 3D Printing Industry reported the acquisition as producing "new accessible SLS 3D printers forthcoming," but no such product has shipped as of April 2026.[12]

Formlabs offered backers a full refund plus a $1,000 credit toward any current or future Formlabs printer & a free Open Material License.[10][13] By December 2024, backers reported on the Formlabs forum that the promised $1,000 credit had not been delivered months after submission. Some backers who attempted to use their credit toward a Fuse 1 purchase were denied a $5,000 discount for unspecified reasons. The forum thread was auto-closed in July 2025.[13] A $1,000 credit toward a $28,989 SLS printer represents a 3.4% discount for backers who had pledged for a $2,999 machine.

Open Material Mode

Formlabs requires a one-time per-printer software license to unlock the use of third-party resins & powders on its printers. The license, called Open Material Mode, costs $875 for the Form 4, $1,999 for the Form 3 series, $2,499 for the Form 4B, $3,999 for the Form 3L series, $4,999 for the Form 4L, & $11,899 for the Fuse 1 series.[1] Without the license, users can only load Formlabs' proprietary DRM-chipped resin cartridges.

Formlabs users on the company's own forum called the pricing "anti-consumer" & argued that the correct price should be zero, noting that competing desktop printers accept third-party materials without restriction.[14] Formlabs initially proposed pricing as high as $6,000 per printer for the Form 3 series in September 2023; community backlash led to the current tiered pricing structure.[14]

The license is free for accredited educational institutions.[1] As of January 2026, Open Material Mode is included with new Form 4B & 4BL purchases, but owners who bought the same printers before that date must pay the full license fee.[15] Formlabs' warranty terms state that failure modes caused by third-party materials are excluded from standard warranty coverage, adding financial risk on top of the license cost.[1]

Form 2 deprecation

Formlabs announced the end of active support for the Form 2 in April 2019, following the launch of the Form 3 series. The company committed to selling resin tanks, cartridges, & build platforms through at least 2023.[7] The Form 2 uses proprietary DRM-chipped resin cartridges. Without an authorized cartridge, the printer runs in a limited mode that disables the heater & wiper functions, reducing print quality.[16]

By September 2024, nine months past the stated deadline, Form 2 consumables were still available but Formlabs hadn't provided a firm end date. Users requested concrete timelines to plan investment decisions; Formlabs didn't respond in the thread.[8] Once Formlabs stops selling Form 2-compatible cartridges, owners of the $3,500 printer will have no official consumable supply. The printer becomes unusable even though the hardware itself still works.[7]

Third-party developers attempted workarounds. ProtoART produced a Universal Cartridge, a DIY modification kit installed into an existing cartridge that allowed third-party resin use with heater & wiper functions enabled.[16] The Universal Cartridge is compatible only with Formlabs firmware versions through 2.2.0; the product reached end of life & is available only while supplies last.[17]

Products

  • SLA printers: Form 1, Form 1+, Form 2, Form 3 series (Form 3, 3+, 3B, 3B+, 3L, 3BL), Form 4 series (Form 4, 4B, 4L, 4BL)
  • SLS printers: Fuse 1, Fuse 1+ 30W
  • Software: PreForm (slicing & print preparation)
  • Post-processing: Form Wash, Form Cure
  • Automation: Form Auto, Form Cell

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Open Material Mode". Formlabs. Archived from the original on 2026-01-16. Retrieved 2026-04-04.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Formlabs Acquires Micronics to Develop the Next Generation of Accessible SLS". Formlabs. 2024-07-11.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "How to Compare SLS 3D Printer Prices". Formlabs. Retrieved 2026-04-04.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Formlabs Buys Nascent SLS 3D Printer Competitor Micronics". 3DPrint.com. 2024-07-11.
  5. ↑ "Formlabs". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2026-04-04.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Desktop SLS start-up Micronics acquired by Formlabs". Develop3D. 2024-07-11.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Ongoing Support for the Form 2". Formlabs Community Forum. 2019-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Form 2 availability of consumables". Formlabs Community Forum. 2024-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Formlabs acquires 3D printing startup Micronics mid-Kickstarter campaign". TechCrunch. 2024-07-11.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Formlabs Acquires Micronics to Further Advance Accessible SLS 3D Printing". Formlabs. 2024-07-11.
  11. ↑ Bertacchi, Denise (2024-07-11). "David vs Goliath: Desktop SLS Kickstarter Ends with Acquisition". Tom's Hardware.
  12. ↑ "Formlabs acquires Micronics, new accessible SLS 3D printers forthcoming". 3D Printing Industry. 2024-07-11.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Formlabs' breach of promised Open Material License and $1000 credit to Micronics Kickstarter Backer". Formlabs Community Forum. 2024-12-27.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Open Material License $6k per printer". Formlabs Community Forum. 2023-09-12.
  15. ↑ "PSA to All form Form 4B & 4BL owners (Open material mode)". Formlabs Community Forum. 2026-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "A Universal Cartridge For Form 2 3D Printers, But Should You Use It?". Fabbaloo. 2019-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ↑ "Universal Cartridge Module for Formlabs". Lectronz. Retrieved 2026-04-04.


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