Ackuretta and Rodin/Pac-dent update..

[Andrew Priddy]

All right, just got back from lab day, nice to meet a bunch of you guys!

Ackuretta has a new cure box out.. 2300$ range.. i did not get more info because Otto-flash will still be "the standard".
BUT
Ackuretta has a Nitrogen Generator coming out.. in the 2k range. the generator will pair up to the otto without any additional adapters.

I had an Incredible time at the booth and finally got to meet a whole bunch of people that i had been working with for some time.

Pac-dent will have a denture base "b" out that will open up validation with other printers...
the whole Rodin 3D line is impressive to say the least!

clear hard/soft splint material that gets glaze finished with Rodin Glaze, nice stuff.. i've cleared a Vat and will start with Essex retainers to get some workflow info here and on my site.

I've asked some questions, specifically about denture base reenforcement and the marriage of 2 materials. i have some ideas i'll be pursuing

Stain Glaze kit Rodin Palette is out in 2 weeks, blended for Rodin, beautiful stuff..

 

[mightymouse]

Ackuretta has a new cure box out.. 2300$ range.. i did not get more info because Otto-flash will still be "the standard".
BUT
Ackuretta has a Nitrogen Generator coming out.. in the 2k range. the generator will pair up to the otto without any additional adapters.

So the old curebox is not compatible with new generator? I thought the nitrogen generator was a combined unit with the upcoming curebox, they are separate?

Pac-dent will have a denture base "b" out that will open up validation with other printers...
the whole Rodin 3D line is impressive to say the least!

Glad you brought this up. I called two weeks ago asking about the denture base validation for the Sonic mini 4K. They said it is not compatible after many attempts. Was so disappointed but then they did say they’re working on another which isn’t out. Glad to know it’s not that far away from the sound of it. Any other info on the denture base “b”?

Stain Glaze kit Rodin Palette is out in 2 weeks, blended for Rodin, beautiful stuff..

What’s the difference between the previous one. Or were the people using have an early access to it. Thanks for all the info. Besides Keystones denture resin PAC-Dent has my attention in terms of open materials.

 

[Andrew Priddy]

the cure box that accepts nitrogen is new. the nitrogen generator is a separate unit with a line that plugs in.. also fits otto

I will keep an eye on "b". and i'm pretty sure the Sonic M4K validation is on the list

i had early access to the rodin kit...
pink and magenta were added. expect black and white.

 

[tuyere]

How's the performance of these dental nitrogen generators, in terms of output and purity? They're just pressure-swing zeolite units, like portable oxygen concentrators, except with a nitrogen-adsorbing zeolite, right?
It'd be nice to get away from the cost/hassle/safety issues of compressed bulk cylinders, but it's gotta pay for itself in a reasonable time-span to be worthwhile...

 

[Andrew Priddy]

No idea yet and its likely i wont see one until lab day NY..

the unit wasn't a working demo, but a product announcement.. i was informed that the Otto-flash will still be the prefered unit... and it pains me to say that.. it does pair to the Ack generator (per ackuretta)

 

[tuyere]

I did some nosing around and these already seem relatively common for some other industries, especially ones where lower-purity nitrogen and/or nitrogen with a lot of argon contamination isn't a problem (or alternately, when very high-purity N2 is required and bottled gas suppliers have a product with too many impurities). I didn't find any previous dental-geared models scaled down to supplying a single post-cure unit, although I might just not be using the right search terms. They generally seem to be plants intended for much higher consumption rates than is typical for a dental lab that just needs shielding gas for resin curing. The Ackuretta unit produces 95% pure nitrogen, which is on the lower end of things, and suggests it's a membrane concentrating design instead of a PSA.
I'm very interested in this, but I suspect that we just don't use enough nitrogen for it to generally be worth catering extra-small nitrogen generators towards. I looked at our nitrogen outlay, and it would take years for us to break even at this price-point. I figure this'll make more sense in the future as more labs adopt laser sintering additive processes, which require shielding gas for the entire print chamber during operation.

 

[Foggy_in_RI]

The problem is the cure boxes are not sealed or recirculating- so the amount of nitrogen adds up. Maybe curing in a sealed environment is not possible due to heat or some other reason????

With the Otoflash the N2 consumption is approximately 10L / minute @ 1-1.2 bar. Purity needs to be 2.6 or better.

 

[tuyere]

Our Dreve units pull a partial vacuum as an economic alternative to nitrogen, so you can definitely seal cure chambers pretty tight. The otoflash doesn't make any attempt at a seal and just keeps the nitrogen flowing to exclude atmosphere from intruding mid-cure, or else does an initial nitrogen purge and then you kinda cross your fingers that the nitrogen stays where you want it. It's a wasteful approach. We have four post-cure units in our lab, and while the Otoflash does less than 10% of the curing, it consumes something like 85% of the nitrogen.
When we run N2 on the dreve, it pulls a vacuum first and then runs the nitrogen for 30 seconds, which seems like a much better approach for removing as much atmosphere as possible. You always need to purge the chamber with an excess of gas because you can never *remove* the atmosphere already in there completely, you mostly just water it down continually until it's almost all newly-injected N2, but using the vacuum pump to remove most of the initial air makes this much less wasteful of nitrogen. The dreve also requires the air pressure inside the chamber to be higher than atmospheric to operate with shielding gas, and will throw an error if the pressure normalizes due to a leaky gasket or opened chamber, so you can be sure air isn't intruding even if it isn't running gas constantly.

I don't know why Otoflash makes no attempt to conserve nitrogen, because other manufacturers do. It's not an expensive gas or anything, but neither are some gaskets and a differential pressure sensor. I'd think the labs using Otoflashes are just inclined to be smaller-scale and less intensive in production, so pinching pennies on gas consumption just doesn't rank as a major priority there.

 

[Andrew Priddy]

how big of tank is everyone using.. how much production ect

 

[Sda36]

how big of tank is everyone using.. how much production ect

Simply try this Andrew, take a glass beaker and fill with glycerin, immerse your print and cure. No Nitrogen required. It works, can't recall at this moment how we came to this knowledge but it's true for last couple of years.

 

[Sda36]

Simply try this Andrew, take a glass beaker and fill with glycerin, immerse your print and cure. No Nitrogen required. It works, can't recall at this moment how we came to this knowledge but it's true for last couple of years.

This is Not laser welding...

 

[Andrew Priddy]

yep, been doing the glycerine..
asked for a an otoflash and one magically appeared...

now i need a tank