Formlabs’ new 3D printers are based on Compute Module 4

We’re partial to a 3D printer around here. The Maker Lab at Pi Towers has a nice collection of various types and sizes to serve the unique needs of our engineers, so we’re pretty good at figuring them out across a range of brands. When we saw Form 4, the newest 3D printer from Formlabs, we figured it would be especially easy to get our heads around, seeing as it’s built on Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4.

Printing for professionals

While some printer brands focus on building machines to support the quick and easy home printing jobs lots of makers need, Formlabs has always been more focused on industrial customers — they were the first company to build a 3D printer capable of achieving professional part quality at an affordable price. Turning to our Compute Module 4 to base their newest machine around was a no-brainer as they looked to increase the speed, quality, and success rate of printing for their flagship line, providing a reliable, high-power solution capable of meeting the needs of businesses.

Formlabs was founded in 2011 and, these days, we see their printers used in all sorts of industries, including engineering, manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, and medical. All Formlabs printers across the range have various apps running in the background to move motors, regulate temperatures, log critical events, and so on. The new Form 4 would also need to run two high-resolution displays and a camera simultaneously, so more CPU, RAM, and graphics capabilities were required. Enter Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4.

Story time

Formlabs was initially most familiar with Raspberry Pi’s popularity with makers and hobbyists, and investigated whether the devices were also suitable for industrial applications, checking that they met needs regarding security, supply, ease of use, and, of course, price. The Compute Module line satisfied all their requirements.

Our Product Information Portal provides business customers and professional users with access to white papers, guides, compliance reports, and other information to help keep product development moving along at pace. Formlabs harnessed all of the above and managed to hit its time-to-market target. We do love a good success story.

There’s a much longer story behind Formlabs’ new Compute Module 4-based machine if you’d like to read it. You’ll find all sorts of juicy detail about the design, development, and journey to market, so if you’re into your printers or are curious about how Raspberry Pi supported this industrial use case, give our recent case study a read.

The post Formlabs’ new 3D printers are based on Compute Module 4 appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

from News - Raspberry Pi https://ift.tt/bLMEfgk