Experience with Roland DWX 53DC and DWX 52DCi

[Dentaco]

I would like to buy a new milling machine.
I've read a lot of good things about the Roland DWX machines so far. My dealer offers me a DWX-53DC.
I read very little about the DWX 53DC here. My impression is that it is a slow seller.
Can owners please comment on their experiences.
Also happy to compare it to the DWX 42DCi if someone knows both.

 

[tuyere]

The 52-series is an affordable workhorse whose strengths and flaws are well-understood by now, it fits its specific niche very well and generally won't disappoint if you run the kinds of parts it excels at. The 53 is doing a slightly different thing, and I can see why people don't feel a strong need to upgrade. FWIW I've heard good things about the 53, it had some minor growing pains at first but other than that people seem pretty happy with them.

 

[DaveId]

We have one of each, a 52DCI and a 53DC. They are solid mills with their own quirks. We are using Millbox to control them, and the biggest issue we run into is that the Vpanel occasionally gets in a state where it thinks one of the mills is offline and we can no longer output to it without restarting the computer. I have initiated a morning reboot which has, for the most part, alleviated this. As far as the machines go, as long as we keep up with the periodic maintenance, they just keep on running. The 53 was recently replaced as Roland did a "recall" on the original models, we noted that the spindle has some changes (air nozzle placement) and the front panel for the milling chamber has been redesigned (perhaps to keep more material out of the internals). If it helps, we are running Mastercut tools and get ~100 hours per bur. Using the open edge adapter on the 53 allows for saving a lot of material while still getting the interproximal anatomy on large-span bridges. The 53 is faster in all regards than the 52, due to the improved disc changer and faster spindle.
The most important thing is to make sure you find a good vendor who will provide prompt and good support. Our vendor is not good, and our support is lacking. Fortunately, I have a lot of experience with Sum3D and Roland mills going back to the 50D, so I am capable of doing most of the support.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

the 42 and 53 are completely different mills. but Roland makes a good workhorse
we have a 51 and 53 and both run perfectly nearly all day long (and the 53 runs at night too)

 

[Beavis889]

Hello, may I ask why you thinking to buy Roland machines, because I heard many good things about Arum milling machines, that machines not that big but heavy and this make it stable, also spindle and all components are high quality?

 

[tehnik]

Hello, may I ask why you thinking to buy Roland machines, because I heard many good things about Arum milling machines, that machines not that big but heavy and this make it stable, also spindle and all components are high quality?

Have you heard good things about Arum or about Versamill (axsys)?

 

[Beavis889]

Have you heard good things about Arum or about Versamill (axsys)?

I heard about ARUM, my friend's lab bought several milling machines from DigitalStomUSA dental company and for many years they are pretty happy with quality and support. Also I know big Labs like Bukbank dental lab, Alien milling technologies, Argen are using Arum machines.

 

[DreN4do]

What's the price range?

 

[Beavis889]

What's the price range?

Hi, are you asking about Rolang or about ARUM?

 

[Beavis889]

What's the price range?

about ARUM it's depend on machines, if you need to work with metals or with soft materials. If you wound like I can ask my friend contact of manager who sold machines to him?

 

[Dentaco]

@sidesh0wb0b

Hello Dave ID,
I have the impression that you have a lot of experience with Roland DWX.
I would like to mill zirconium oxide and PMMA (for splints and full denture base) with the new milling machine.

I have the following questions.
1. Has the DWX-53DC had its teething problems behind it?
2. Does the DWX-53DC have significant advantages over the DWX-52-DCi?
(I don't see the cameras as a big advantage)
3. I have many (40-50) opened zircon discs that I want to continue to use. I don't know the Millbox yet. Is it possible to display a screenshot of the used discs as a background. In my previous CAM (DS-CAM) you can easily display a JPG as a background to see milled areas. Does this also work with Millbox?

 

[DaveId]

@sidesh0wb0b

Hello Dave ID,
I have the impression that you have a lot of experience with Roland DWX.
I would like to mill zirconium oxide and PMMA (for splints and full denture base) with the new milling machine.

I have the following questions.
1. Has the DWX-53DC had its teething problems behind it?
2. Does the DWX-53DC have significant advantages over the DWX-52-DCi?
(I don't see the cameras as a big advantage)
3. I have many (40-50) opened zircon discs that I want to continue to use. I don't know the Millbox yet. Is it possible to display a screenshot of the used discs as a background. In my previous CAM (DS-CAM) you can easily display a JPG as a background to see milled areas. Does this also work with Millbox?

The 53DC is faster than the 52DCi, the spindle is more robust and faster, we have not had any hardware issues with it (only software and subpar support from our vendor). There is an option to import an image of a disc, but I have not found it to work accurately. We just resize the image on the screen and hold the puck up to the monitor the old fashioned way. I would certainly recommend it over the 52DCi. If milling denture bases the new 4mm PMMA bur and faster spindle should make it significantly faster than the 52.

 

[tuyere]

If you'll be running much PMMA, the 53 makes more sense, the 51/52 design is pretty lightweight and can't manage the aggressive roughing with big tooling you'll want to keep your milling times reasonable. The 52DCI will be able to mill denture bases just the same as a 53, but it'll take significantly longer. PMMA also puts a lot of load on the spindle and will trash a 52's spindle pretty quickly compared to if you're running zirconia.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

@sidesh0wb0b

Hello Dave ID,
I have the impression that you have a lot of experience with Roland DWX.
I would like to mill zirconium oxide and PMMA (for splints and full denture base) with the new milling machine.

I have the following questions.
1. Has the DWX-53DC had its teething problems behind it?
2. Does the DWX-53DC have significant advantages over the DWX-52-DCi?
(I don't see the cameras as a big advantage)
3. I have many (40-50) opened zircon discs that I want to continue to use. I don't know the Millbox yet. Is it possible to display a screenshot of the used discs as a background. In my previous CAM (DS-CAM) you can easily display a JPG as a background to see milled areas. Does this also work with Millbox?

1. i am not aware of any teething problems as we have yet to experience any with the 53DC....granted its been in operation only since August and we have only milled wax and zirconia in it. maybe an acetal or two.
2. i have no experience with the 52DCi so i cannot make a proper comparison for you. i have a 51D and it has been an absolute beast of a workhorse for nearly a decade.
3. we do not use millbox so i cannot speak to how it handles used pucks. i would imagine it shows the used portions as the other software on the market does.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

If you'll be running much PMMA, the 53 makes more sense, the 51/52 design is pretty lightweight and can't manage the aggressive roughing with big tooling you'll want to keep your milling times reasonable. The 52DCI will be able to mill denture bases just the same as a 53, but it'll take significantly longer. PMMA also puts a lot of load on the spindle and will trash a 52's spindle pretty quickly compared to if you're running zirconia.

proper tooling strategies are the key for PMMA. we have done a ton of PMMA in the 51D but have to be careful to keep the tools "cool" so that they dont gum up and break.

 

[DIMADEL]

I have dwx machines, but you better buy a wet machine with powerful spindle to mill dentures like Redon, vhf or imes icore.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

I have dwx machines, but you better buy a wet machine with powerful spindle to mill dentures like Redon, vhf or imes icore.

i would tend to agree with this. we dont make milled dentures with either roland nor would we.

 

[Datguypeter]

i would tend to agree with this. we dont make milled dentures with either roland nor would we.

Wait I thought the 53 was great for pmma/dentures

 

[tuyere]

It's *better* than the 51/52 series, but yeah, I'd opt for an imescore before a Roland if I was gonna be roughing PMMA all day, you want As Much Machine as you can get there. we have 3 350+ imes mills dedicated solely to PMMA for dentures.

 

[Datguypeter]

It's *better* than the 51/52 series, but yeah, I'd opt for an imescore before a Roland if I was gonna be roughing PMMA all day, you want As Much Machine as you can get there. we have 3 350+ imes mills dedicated solely to PMMA for dentures.

Thanks! Whats your opinion on the vhf k5 for PMMA?