Hello Angelo,
Relative to our solution, we have a solution that is quite effective for trimming aligners which allows for an aligner to be trimmed by our 5-Axis Versamill 5X200 in less than 30 seconds with high quality trim edges.
5-axis toolpath is absolutely required to trim aligners. 3-axis machining, as previously mentioned will most definitely not do the job.
This 30 second cycle time includes manual loading by an operator who's function is to scan an identifier on a model, load the model w/aligner onto a custom fixture onto our machine, and hit the start button. The solution works with a customers infrastructure to automatically download all associated programs for each aligner "case" which are then processed each time the operator removes the previously machined aligner, places the next model/aligner onto the machine fixture and hits the start button.
Programming of the machine is done as a black box module whose input is the model and associated trim-line. From that information, NC code is automatically generated and stored on the customer server. These NC, machining programs are the ones that are automatically identified and sent to the machine when the operator initiates a "batch" of aligners to be machined.
We also can automate this solution with a simple 4-axis robot which rides on a rail and can service multiple machines, thereby eliminating manual case identification, loading and unloading and operation initiation (image and videos provided).
View attachment 32696 Our solution to date requires the trim-line to have been previously developed by a 3rd party application and supplied to us for processing.
This is the missing link in our "complete" solution that we are working to resolve. At this point we have a path to get this done in the coming months. Having this as part of our solution would enable us to provide a complete, single source solution to a market that has a very limited number of sources that can provide what is needed.
That said, our solution for trimming is solid and in production for installations that can provide us the trim-line(s).
Just to provide you an idea of how the, what I call "semi-automated" process works (manual operator load/unload) works, here is a link to a PDF file that provides some basic information:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/khri8vh3vmhivfx/GenericAlignerTrimmingProcess.pdf?dl=0 Also to facilitate the process we fabricate a fixture for the thermoformer and our machine that includes orientation features. Each aligner model has the identical orientation features printed on the base of the model. This assures easy load as well as positional accuracy.
Please send me a PM if you would like to discuss this in more detail.