Gallery: Formlabs Whips Up New Squishy, Shiny 3-D Printing Materials
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Cambridge-based startup [Formlabs](http://formlabs.com/en/) has developed a series of new "functional resins" that have special material properties which give cash-poor creators the ability to 3-D print metal and rubber.
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Formlabs' flexible resin has elastomeric properties that make it an ideal choice to prototype rubbery parts, like tires for an RC car or the squishy handle of a toothbrush.
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Resin is used to create sacrificial models, a mold is formed around the 3-D printed part, the original model is burned away, and the resulting void is filled with molten gold or silver.
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Rubbery materials open up new use cases—like creating anatomical models with soft touch properties.
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Engineers can design next gen padding and structures that bend without breaking.
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Formlabs [castable resin](http://formlabs.com/en/products/materials/castable/) is available now for $149 per one liter bottle and the [flexible resin](http://formlabs.com/en/products/materials/flexible/) will be available starting in December.
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This blue material is designed to be burned, cleanly, out of a mold to make room for molten metal.
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Castings made from this material can be used as the basis for jewelry.
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Formlabs has continued to refine the formulas for their existing black, white, gray, and clear resins.
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"We print hundreds of models of varying shapes, sizes, and intricacy, while successively calibrating our machines, to ensure that the material that we deliver will yield fantastic results," says Formlabs spokesman David Lakatos.
