Casting printed copings

[Hitdabox]

Anyone have experience casting 3d printed parts? Better accuracy than milled wax? Better cast fit? I am curious. Thanks!!

 

[Brett Hansen CDT]

Anyone have experience casting 3d printed parts? Better accuracy than milled wax? Better cast fit? I am curious. Thanks!!

We played with it some. In theory, it should fit better because there is no milling compensation. Especially for veneers and maryland bridges. In my lab, the issues were in printing the small wax patterns(i was doing all the printing, milling, designing, back then so my time was limited to work on the process) and the techs who were working with the printed metal frameworks complained because it was different without helping me improve what we printed so it worked. We had the same issues when I tried to get us to go to SLM frameworks which I know work, but getting the "olds" in my lab to buy into change itsn't always easy.

 

[Hitdabox]

We played with it some. In theory, it should fit better because there is no milling compensation. Especially for veneers and maryland bridges. In my lab, the issues were in printing the small wax patterns(i was doing all the printing, milling, designing, back then so my time was limited to work on the process) and the techs who were working with the printed metal frameworks complained because it was different without helping me improve what we printed so it worked. We had the same issues when I tried to get us to go to SLM frameworks which I know work, but getting the "olds" in my lab to buy into change itsn't always easy.

That makes sense! Thank you.

 

[Affinity]

Every gold crown Ive cast for the past 7-8 years has been milled. Ive tried casting printed RPD frames with limited success, but only 1 or 2. The demand for pressing emax is even less than FGC at the moment, so I do very little wax.. For the money, Id have to say that milling a wax puck has to be cheaper than printing light cured wax resin, and its cleaner and less calibration with milling. Plus there are no printed lines in your wax pattern. Other than that its probably the same once your fit is dialed in.

 

[CoolHandLuke]

mill-to-cast and print-to-cast resin/wax processes need enough rigidity to not deform during investment, low surface tension to not have bubbles during investment, and high smoothness to not hold bubbles in the metal during cast.

what you get from a resin print should be verified on a cast, then gently touched up in thin or rough areas to assure smoothness, rigidity and add drops if needed.

 

[Hitdabox]

Every gold crown Ive cast for the past 7-8 years has been milled. Ive tried casting printed RPD frames with limited success, but only 1 or 2. The demand for pressing emax is even less than FGC at the moment, so I do very little wax.. For the money, Id have to say that milling a wax puck has to be cheaper than printing light cured wax resin, and its cleaner and less calibration with milling. Plus there are no printed lines in your wax pattern. Other than that its probably the same once your fit is dialed in.

I appreciate the feedback! Thanks.

 

[Affinity]

Just make sure your burnout is high enough, 900c, to burn off all wax residue.