Formlabs: Pushing in-house prototyping further with the Multiplier

During development of the Form 4, Formlabs couldn't afford to lose momentum waiting on outsourced parts. The Mayku Multiplier was a key asset in their prototyping workflow – giving the team the speed and control to prototype thermoformed parts in house, without relying on external vendors or contract manufacturers.

Formlabs places a strong emphasis on prototyping in house, and the R&D machine shop in their Boston HQ is set up specifically to speed up development. It gives engineers access to everything they might need – including water jetting, CNC machining, laser cutting, welding, casting, thermoforming, plus leveraging their own resin 3D printing systems. With quality and inspection facilities under the same roof, engineers can move through every prototyping stage without outsourcing – avoiding long lead times and staying on track with the ambitious timelines that define the Formlabs development process.

Thermoforming plastic is a pretty solved problem in engineering, but many machines on the market are outdated, poorly supported, and slow – whether it's setup time, operation, or cooling material after use.

The Multiplier simplifies that whole process and its pressure forming technology delivers the kind of high-definition results you'd usually expect from far larger, more expensive machines. The team used it to form thin-walled parts with complex geometry and steep draft angles – features that are often out of reach for standard vacuum forming tools.

When developing the LPU 4 – the light processing unit for the Form 4 printer – engineers needed a protective cover to shield an IR sensor from resin ingress. The sensor sits near a small opening, and a punctured tank or user error could let sticky, viscous resin seep inside and damage the machine, creating a difficult cleanup process.

Time was short, and the part was small and precise – a poor fit for traditional manufacturing timelines. Using Formlabs' own 3D printed molds and the Multiplier, the team prototyped the part in house, tested multiple materials, and landed on a solution within days.

Mechanical engineer Jennifer Lu, who worked on the Form 4's LPU subsystem, summed it up:

Traditional vacuum forming methods typically need significant time to create a mold, fine-tune process settings, and produce usable parts. At Formlabs, the team found that pairing the Multiplier with their own Form 4 printer allowed them to speed this up dramatically. Molds could be printed in just a few hours, and parts formed the same day – turning what used to take days or even weeks into a fast, streamlined workflow.

For Formlabs, the Mayku Multiplier has become more than just another tool in the shop – it's a way to stay agile, reduce friction, and keep innovation moving. By bringing thermoforming in house and making it fast, reliable, and accessible, the team can respond quickly to design challenges, test ideas without delay, and stay focused on building better products. In a field where speed, precision, and adaptability all matter, the Multiplier helps keep Formlabs one step ahead.