Proslab, Australia's leading dental technician, achieved full digital manufacturing of cobalt-chromium removable partial dentures. With the assistance of multinational engineering company Renishaw, the technician installed a new metal additive manufacturing system; The system is considered to be Australia's first 3D printing system for the manufacture of dental products.
AM 400 Additive Manufacturing System
background
Proslab is a full-service dental technician in Canterbury, Australia. Although it has been in business for more than 30 years, it has maintained a passion for cutting-edge technology. 15 years ago, Proslab became the first Australian to introduce CAD/CAM processes. Dental technicians made of denture metal stents.
Before working with Renishaw, Proslab used a partially digital workflow: they first designed dentures with 3D scanning and design tools.
Proslab Dental Technician
After completing the design in CAD, Proslab first used the resin to make the denture model, and then used the traditional dewaxing casting process to make the denture using cobalt-chromium alloy. Although the denture shape was carefully designed in the CAD modeling stage, this tradition The uncontrolled casting process will eventually reduce the accuracy of the finished product.
Proslab turned to Renishaw for help and introduced a new AM 400 metal additive manufacturing system that is expected to solve problems such as human error and unacceptable accuracy.
challenge
Proslab uses the dewaxing casting process to produce dentures by first designing the CAD model of the denture, then using the resin to make a solid wax mold, and using the wax mold to make the shell mold. Then pouring the molten metal into the prepared shell mold. Casting, finally take out the formed metal denture, and then carry out the later cutting, grinding, polishing, glazing and other processes.
Proslab Dental Technician Front Desk
During the entire manufacturing process, the heating and cooling temperatures are out of control, the casting is insufficient, and the pores in the castings are problematic. All these factors can cause the dimensional changes of the finished parts, resulting in lower precision.
'It is difficult to achieve high precision with dewaxing casting processes,' explains Das Synefias, CEO of Proslab. 'This means that dentures supplied to dentists and installed in the patient's mouth often need to be reworked.'
The most accurate method for manufacturing removable partial dentures on the market is additive manufacturing, but the adoption of this technology requires major changes to the company's internal processes and business models.
To successfully deploy this new technology, Proslab must receive the necessary training and support, but most additive manufacturing system vendors typically do not provide these services.
solution
Proslab turned to Renishaw, a multinational engineering and technology company, for the comprehensive digitization of manufacturing processes with additive manufacturing technology.
RPD processing tray
'To demonstrate process accuracy, Renishaw produced denture samples at its professional health care center in Miskin, a suburb of Cardiff, England,' explains Renishaw application engineer Alex Harris. 'Our denture production equipment is running every day. Therefore, we have accumulated a large amount of data, which proves that additive manufacturing is a feasible solution even if it is not the most ideal solution.
Proslab was impressed by the excellent quality of Renishaw's sample parts and decided to purchase the Renishaw AM 400 metal additive manufacturing system. The system can produce removable partial dentures directly from CAD files, eliminating the need for additional casting operations. In the powder bed melting (PBF) process, the denture is produced by a high-energy erbium-doped fiber laser using CE-certified cobalt-chromium alloy powder, each of which has a thickness of only 40 microns.
To ensure a smooth transition to the manufacturing process, Renishaw's specialist in additive manufacturing has a one-week training for Proslab employees. At the same time, Renishaw provides uninterrupted Proslab through its Australian subsidiary in Mulgrave, Victoria. Support services. The Renishaw Australia team is still in close contact with Proslab to answer various questions.
'When purchasing equipment, our first consideration is the ability to get relevant training and support services in a timely manner,' Synefias explained. 'In the entire process, Renishaw's quality technical services and training meets our needs. We are from We have relied heavily on Renishaw's products since the beginning, so we are confident in this investment. This trust, coupled with excellent support services, has made us very satisfied throughout the partnership.
result
'Proslab is now able to produce very accurate dentures and supports,' Synefias continued. 'Printing directly from CAD files means that we completely eliminate internal rework caused by errors. If there are errors, we can also quickly Find the root cause and fix it in time. '
Thanks to the significantly improved precision of the dentures made with AM 400, Proslab now ensures that every denture is perfectly integrated into the patient's mouth. This helps to improve the service and reputation of the dental prosthetic; patients will also benefit from it because There will be cases where the denture has to be reworked due to discomfort for the first time.
Polished RPD on plaster oral model
'Now we can ensure that all dentures and supportes produced are perfectly fitted to the patient's mouth, which means we can increase the total denture production,' Synefias said. 'The improvement in precision of finished dentures is very surprising – we are now It ensures that customers get the most suitable dentures, which also helps us win more customers.'
'Because the casting process was omitted, we now only need half the time to produce removable partial dentures,' Synefias continued. 'For each batch of products, we can save a whole day of processing time, which means we can help The employees in the foundry department upgraded their skills to make them qualified for the new job. The employees responded enthusiastically to these adjustments. They fully believed that the new manufacturing process would bring good results and the morale of the company would be greatly improved.
'Proslab is Australia's first dental technician to apply additive manufacturing technology. We are now able to access the world's most advanced technology,' Synefias added. 'We have also shortened the delivery cycle to five days, which further enhances our Customer service level. '
'We need a high level of support services, and Renishaw's quality service is completely beyond our expectations. In my opinion, Renishaw is the perfect partner. This project has been a complete success, so we Plan to buy another machine,' Synefias finally said.
For more information, please visit www.renishaw.com.cn/additive