The Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center (MAMC) has acquired new additive manufacturing technology that overcomes four common hurdles associated with many 3D printers: small build volume, slow production speeds, rough surface finishes and limited materials.
MAMC’s new Formlabs Form 4L 3D printer offers an all-in-one solution to these issues. The introduction of the Form 4L elevates MAMC’s stereolithography capabilities, offering superior speed, an expanded build envelope and production-grade reliability.
“The Form 4L gives manufacturers and entrepreneurs the ability to move from concept to prototype faster while producing larger, more complex parts in a single print,” said MAMC Director of Innovation Deacon Stone. “Instead of dividing large designs into multiple pieces and assembling them later, our clients can often produce them as one finished component. We already have manufacturers interested in using the printer for larger molds, and it opens the door to everything from producing prototypes rapidly to production parts and full-scale models.”
Size
A major advantage of the Form 4L is the large build volume. At 13.9″ x 7.7″ x 13.8″ – nearly five times the size of some desktop resin printers – the new technology can produce large-scale single components, eliminating the need to print several smaller subcomponents that require assembly. In addition, the large build volume can handle production-size runs of multiple components in a single print.
Speed
Rather than using a laser to trace the outline of each part, the Form 4L uses Formlabs’ Low Force Display (LFD) print engine with a high-powered light source and precision optics to rapidly cure each layer. This means a dozen or more parts can be printed nearly as fast as a single unit. Most large-scale, even highly complex parts take less than six hours to print. At print speeds of up to 80 millimeters per hour, the Form 4L is up to five times faster than other stereolithography printers. It can produce large-scale prints in a few hours, prints that take a day – or even several days – to create on traditional fused-deposition-modeling (FDM) printers, the most popular type of 3D printing technology.
Smoothness
A primary advantage of stereolithography printing is the extremely smooth finish. While FDM printers create small visible layers that can be felt, the Form 4L delivers an exceptional surface finish that mimics injection-molded plastics. The adjustable layer thicknesses ranging from 25 to 200 microns (as small as one-fourth the thickness of a sheet of paper) mean parts are ready for consumer testing; form, function and fit trials; and presentation-ready marketing models.
Material Selection
MAMC’s newest printer supports more than 23 specialized resins, offering multiple options to suit the needs of nearly any project. These include clear resins for ultra-high-clarity optics; tough and durable resins engineered to absorb high impacts, mimicking polypropylene plastics; rigid and flame-retardant resins reinforced with glass or ceramic particles for high thermal stability and structural load-bearing applications; as well as colored and flexible resins.
In addition, the Form 4L integrates six smart sensors that actively monitor print forces, resin levels and internal chemistry to eliminate common print failures, vastly improving reliability.
“Innovation depends on having access to the right tools,” said MAMC Director Derek Scarbro. “The companies, inventors and entrepreneurs we work with have great ideas. By investing in advanced technologies like the Form 4L, we’re helping them prototype faster, reduce development time and bring new products to market more efficiently.”
July 27, 2026
