The Only Option for Quality Production
Asiga Pro 4K printers provide the best value for additive manufacturing
Tim Reynolds
Dental Ceramics is a full-service dental laboratory that specializes in large-case comprehensive and esthetic dentistry. As the digital workflow has come to dominate our production processes, the accuracy, consistency, and speed of our 3D printers are now a pivotal component of our overall work quality. Our printer fleet includes three Asiga Pro 4K printers, which are now the workhorses of our digital workflow. With weekly calibration and watchful operation, we have seen no delays in production, few faultless failed prints, and a significant improvement in the surface finish of our models when compared with competing high-resolution printers. In a laboratory that demands hundreds of models per day, a single print failure has a tangible impact on our daily production and, ultimately, our overall capacity.
KeySplint Soft and Hard
Our Asiga capacity has allowed us to expand our digital splint and night guard offerings by providing consistent fit straight out of the curing unit with KeySplint Soft and KeySplint Hard from Keystone Industries. The lynchpin of digital efficiency is how true manufactured products are to their CAD design. Without absolute perfection coming out of your printers, a profitable digital product line is much more difficult—if not impossible—to accomplish. My goal is for the handpiece to remain untouched in fabricating our splints. With the Asiga, we can do just that. With the consistency we have achieved using these printers, our splint and night guard workflow has comfortably grown five-fold over the last year.
Diagnostic Wax-up
A huge part of our large case planning/execution relies on accurate and esthetic diagnostic wax-ups. We generally print our designs and fabricate a putty matrix to transfer to the mouth. With other printers, striation lines leave an unsatisfactory surface finish that is picked up in the putty. This forces us to rework printed wax-ups by hand to idealize our anatomy. Using VeriModel resin with the Asiga printers has allowed us to matrix wax-ups without any adjustment post-curing. That surface finish improvement has allowed us an increase in throughput as well as a more consistent and esthetic final product.
The Best Value
While quality is the driving force behind the decisions we make regarding equipment purchases, the sticker price is certainly a consideration. After having used the most expensive options, as well as more economical ones, we can say with confidence that the Asiga Pro 4K brings the most value of any printer we have used. This value, coupled with the above-average support from Whip Mix, makes these printers the only option for a quality-focused production laboratory.
Key Takeaways
› The large build plate (217 mm x 122 mm x 200 mm, or 8.54 in x 4.8 in x 7.87 in) means increased daily production you can count on.
› The Pro 4K prints super-fast and accurately due to two unique features: a proprietary layering process and its well-known Smart-Positioning-System Technology, which guarantees that every layer is formed accurately. This results in consistent prints in any environment.
› The open material printer can print any resin on the market and is optimized for dental models, surgical guides, denture bases, temporaries, RPD frameworks, IBTs, crown and bridge, custom trays, splints, and more.
› The Pro 4K uses the latest DLP imaging technology coupled with custom-engineered optics for precision pixel placement. That is what accounts for its consistent precision, reliability, and speed.
About the Author
Tim Reynolds
Director of Operations
Dental Ceramics U.S.A.
Richfield, OH
Company Information
Whip Mix
whipmix.com
800-626-5651
Disclaimer: The statements and opinions contained in the preceding material are not of the editors, publisher, or the Editorial Board of Inside Dental Technology.
