How to connect Formlabs 3D printers to 3DPrinterOS
Supported printers: Formlabs Form 2, Form 3+, Form 3L, Form 3B, Form 3BL, Form 4, Fuse 1
Printer set-up and connection
Pre-installation checks
First, please check that you have unpacked your 3D printer, it’s on a stable surface, and connected it to a reliable power source and the network.
Update your Formlabs printer firmware to the latest one using the printer's LCD.
For SLA printers, visit https://support.formlabs.com/s/article/Updating-firmware-SLA?language=en_US
For Fuse printers, visit https://support.formlabs.com/s/article/Updating-firmware-for-Formlabs-SLS-printers?language=en_US
Visit https://cloud.3dprinteros.com/#/download to download the latest version of the 3DPrinterOS Cloud client for the platform of your choice. Install it following the installation instructions.
If you use Windows PC, you can start the client from the shortcut on Desktop. To start it automatically, please add the shortcut to the Auto-Start folder.
The client will start automatically after every restart if you have Raspberry or a similar platform.
Adding the printer through the Cloud web interface.
i. Navigate to https://cloud.3dprinteros.com/#/printers and click “Add Printer.”
ii. Choose Formlabs and your printer model.
iii. If the Client is installed and running, you should be able to see and fill out the IP field.
iv. After filling out the IP field and selecting the host device, click “Next.” The printer should connect to the Cloud shortly.
Adding the printer through the Client web interface.
Log in to your 3DPrinterOS Client web interface.
For Windows, Linux, or macOS:
When using one of these as the host device, the web interface should automatically open in a new tab of your browser after you run the Client.For Raspberry Pi hosts:
Open a new tab in your browser and enter the IP address of the Raspberry Pi followed by port 8008.Example:
192.168.1.1:8008
The credentials for accessing the Raspberry Pi Client web interface are included in the email sent with the requested image.
ii. Choose “Add network printer”, specify your printer's IP address and port (optional), and select the type.
iii. The 3DPrinterOS Client will connect to your printer, and you will see “ready” next to the printer type.
iv. You can change the printer's name by clicking on it.
v. Click “Go to your cloud account”, and you will be redirected to 3DPrinterOS. Choose “Printers” from the top menu, and you should see the new printer connected to the cloud.
Slicing set-up
Head over to your Files or Projects, choose a file to slice, and click on the drop-down menu next to the button “Slice”.
Select the “FormLabs Slicer (Beta)”.
b. Select the printer, profile, and thickness in the slicing set-up dialog box.
c. Click “Slice” to slice the model or “Slice & Queue” to slice and send it to the printer’s queue.
d. In the “Printers” menu, you can see all the jobs in the printer’s queue. They have different colors depending on the material used.
e. When you hover the mouse over the small model preview on the left, you can get a larger preview of the model.
f. Just click the “Upload” button on the right to send a model to the printer and start the job.
How the Formlabs workflow differs from other printers
The Formlabs Slicer works differently from the slicers used for FDM printers. If you run several Formlabs printers, or use virtual printers as review queues, the points below explain what to expect today and how to keep a review step in your process.
A Formlabs slicing profile is tied to the printer model, so a profile you build for a given model applies to every printer of that model. Slicing itself requires you to select a specific connected Formlabs printer in the slice dialog, which is why the Formlabs slice step always asks for a particular machine rather than just a model.
When you slice a model for a Formlabs printer, the Cloud applies a stamp unique to the exact printer you sliced for. The resulting file is locked to that one physical machine, and only that machine can receive the job. A file sliced for one Form 4 will not appear for your other Form 4s, and copying or moving a slice between printers of the same model returns an error. This is because the file format for the newer Form printers is not publicly documented, so a single sliced file cannot yet be made valid across several machines.
For the same reason, a sliced Formlabs file cannot be sent to a virtual (Industrial) printer or distributed through AutoQueue. If you use virtual printers as staging or review queues for your other printers, that pattern does not work for Formlabs at the moment.
There is also no layer-by-layer toolpath preview for a sliced Formlabs file. The viewer shows a render of the model rather than the sliced result, so the Toolpath Viewer used for FDM prints does not apply.
To review a Formlabs job before printing, slice and inspect it in Formlabs PreForm, which gives a full layer-by-layer view, then send the print from there.