The Formlabs materials innovation team is always hard at work bringing new resins and improving on current ones. One of the most notable resin improvements recently is Draft V2 Resin.
You can now print faster than Draft V1, and at the same time print at higher resolutions. Overall, you can print up to 4-5 times faster than standard resins like Black, Grey, White, and Clear.
Differences between Draft V1 and V2 at a glance:
| Draft V1 | Draft V2 | |
| Print quality (layer height) | 300 microns | 100, 200 microns |
| Colour | Blue | Light Grey |
| Speed | Fast | x4-5 faster than standard resins |
| Compatibility | Form 3, Form 3L, Form 3B, Form 3BL, Form 2 (LT Tank Required) | Form 3, Form 3L, Form 3B, Form 3BL, Form 2 (LT Tank Required) |
| Post curing | Not required | Optional to bring about better material properties |
Speed Analysis is based on 4 large identical parts:
| * Sliced and prepped for the Form 3 * | Grey V4 Standard Resin - 100 microns | Draft V2 - 100 Microns | Draft V2 - 200 Microns | Draft V1 - 300 microns |
| Resin used | 277.09 mL | 275.19 mL | 276.48 mL | 278.68 mL |
| Print time | 24.75 hours | 9.75 hours | 5 hours | 6.91 hours |
| Speed | 11.2 mL / hour | 28.22 mL / hour | 55.30 mL / hour | 40.33 mL / hour |
| Speed compared to Grey V4 | NA | 252% faster than Grey V4 | 494% faster than Grey V4 | 360% faster than Grey V4 |
The print quality between Draft V1 and V2 is obvious. V2 is much better because it can print at finer layer heights so parts don't have visible layer lines.
How does it compare to standard resin? You be the judge! Below you can see a side by side comparison between grey standard resin (100 microns) and Draft V2 (200 microns), to us this surface finish is great for prototypes while offering great time savings.
Draft V2 should be your go to resin when you need something printed the same day in good print quality and when finer resolutions (25, 50 microns) are not needed. Draft V2 is perfect when you are doing true rapid prototyping.
