How-to use the Formlabs Form 2 3D Printer – The Port Workspaces

Summary: The Formlabs Form 2 printer can run your .stl files normally without needing to slice them. In order to use the Form 2 printer, you'll need to open your .stl file in the Preform software and run through a bit of setup to get a successful print.

Detailed steps:

1. Install Preform on your machine (or import your .stl file onto a Product Lab workstation). Preform is available for both OSX and Windows.

2. Once installed, open Preform and click on "File>Printers>Add+" and add the following IP address for the Product Lab Form 2 printer: 192.168.19.21

3. You should see a printer called "Defiant Owl" pop up. If there is a tank level warning, this might be a fluke and just go around to the back of the printer and gently lift the tank and lower it back down to reseat it.

4. From there, you'll need to upload your file onto Preform. Go ahead and do that via "File>Open".

5. Now things get a little more complicated. You'll need to follow the Formlabs official tutorial for project setup here:

If you need one-on-one support, there are First Mates and Product Lab manager on-site to help you as well. If no one is in the space, please reach out via Slack.

Quick-Start Guide for the Form 2: https://support.formlabs.com/s/article/Quick-Start-Guide?language=en_US

Comprehensive guide for using Preform: https://support.formlabs.com/s/topic/0TO1Y000000IvzJWAS?language=en_US

Final note, using Preform is not as hard as it looks. Start but just orienting and position your model to your needs (or use auto-orient), auto-generating support and seeing if that does the trick. Preform will let you know if there are issues with the model that need your attention. Good luck!