At what point do you need to purchase a Miling unit and Scanner??

[BobCDT]

it's significantly a better investment to get CAD before CAM. at least CAD is somewhat related to what a technician was doing. CAM is ...just another add on to the technician's repertoire and if someone is getting into it completely as a newbie, it can be stressful to handle both.

Send it out to the many milling centers around, and focus on CAD first

Playing the devils advocate a little here. Obtaining a good ROI on CAD is far more difficult than an ROI of a mill. I'm not sure what the difference in cost is to outsource design. Generally speaking this cost will be close to bringing it in house. Figure cost of equipment, labor for scanning and designing? What you really gain is control of form.
A mill will really generate profiles provided you do the needed units. Scan and design without milling will be less profitable.
I do not disagree with the concept of "focus on CAD first". Longer term, I think labs will need the output device to remain viable.

 

[user name]

Ill give the low-down on ROI for CAD...

I used to work 16+ hours a day...every day. My work was decent, but it was hard work and headaches on top of metal. YUK.

Now I scan, design and send it to a mill. The work is nice. Porcelain on top of a nice zir frame...beautiful.

Its a little more expensive, but not if you place a value on your TIME.

My Doctors are pleased (more complimentary phone calls than ever),and Im more proud of what Im producing.

I wish I had gotten a scanner years earlier. If youre wondering when you should get one...YESTERDAY.

 

[Mohammad Khair]

Ill give the low-down on ROI for CAD...

I used to work 16+ hours a day...every day. My work was decent, but it was hard work and headaches on top of metal. YUK.

Now I scan, design and send it to a mill. The work is nice. Porcelain on top of a nice zir frame...beautiful.

Its a little more expensive, but not if you place a value on your TIME.

My Doctors are pleased (more complimentary phone calls than ever),and Im more proud of what Im producing.

I wish I had gotten a scanner years earlier. If youre wondering when you should get one...YESTERDAY.

i agree the real investment in the cad is the constant quality, and the save of the time adjusting frameworks.

 

[eyeloveteeth]

Playing the devils advocate a little here. Obtaining a good ROI on CAD is far more difficult than an ROI of a mill. I'm not sure what the difference in cost is to outsource design. Generally speaking this cost will be close to bringing it in house. Figure cost of equipment, labor for scanning and designing? What you really gain is control of form.
A mill will really generate profiles provided you do the needed units. Scan and design without milling will be less profitable.
I do not disagree with the concept of "focus on CAD first". Longer term, I think labs will need the output device to remain viable.

no Bob, you are 100% correct. But just like the other's commented, if the CAD design isn't good, then you're fighting with yourself. I mean, you know that I jumped in both CAD/CAM feet first, and I've benefited from that. But for small business owners, if they perfect the CAD and send to a reliable milling center like CAP for example, they can get a huge return. At some point, hopefully they steer towards 1 of 2 directions -

1. I work less, spend time scanning/designing, and call my days short.

2. I aggressively grow business even more, and therefore learn CAD and then will learn CAM.

it depends on the direction. But it's so easy for that small Lab to get both, and just flounder and become mediocre at both, because they can't dedicate time to it appropriately. (again, not saying that's everyone)

 

[BobCDT]

no Bob, you are 100% correct. But it's so easy for that small Lab to get both, and just flounder and become mediocre at both, because they can't dedicate time to it appropriately. (again, not saying that's everyone)

We have now installed hundreds of mills in all size labs and likely more than 100 were complete systems. Many had little or no digital experience. Respectfully, the difficult part of this is the CAD. The CAM and milling is comparitively easy. I would suggest looking at this from a business perspective, do the ROI, if it works one should seriously consider milling In house. If it's all at once or CAD first followed by milling a few months later really doesn't make a big difference in the long run.
Only caution, work with a distributor that will provide great training and support as needed when needed.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

We have now installed hundreds of mills in all size labs and likely more than 100 were complete systems. Many had little or no digital experience. Respectfully, the difficult part of this is the CAD. The CAM and milling is comparitively easy. I would suggest looking at this from a business perspective, do the ROI, if it works one should seriously consider milling In house. If it's all at once or CAD first followed by milling a few months later really doesn't make a big difference in the long run.
Only caution, work with a distributor that will provide great training and support as needed when needed.

youre spot on for this thread Bob, though i must agree that the CAM portion has helped me a ton too. and once this is paid off we will discuss putting a mill in here again. i can honestly say i am sick of the hours i am putting in (though very happy the lab is rocking!)
when the time comes, there will be a mill and i will work toward getting a life again hahaha!

 

[Affinity]

Hey Jazz Fan -
Rob mentioned to me that you had posted that you are doing your research on getting a CADCAM system.
I am the rep for Amann Girrbach in the Rocky Mountain area.

I would like to provide you some info that shows a pretty attractive ROI when looking at your current work that can done on an Amann Girrbach Ceramill System. At the desktop mill price point, there isn't another system that can do as much. I would like to prove it to you!

Send me an email address where I can reach out to - [email protected]

Here is a link to our home page as well -
https://www.amanngirrbach.com/home/

Thanks and talk to you soon.
Lauren McCabe

Wondering why I havent heard from you lauren.. Too small to pay any attention to? Seems typical of the AG service squad.. sorry to say.

 

[eyeloveteeth]

i mean, at the end of all of this, i think one can say it comes down to who is providing the best service.

I would say not all get to be babied like I was with CAP. It has helped me tremendously, but we can only all pray that other vendors provide that sort of service; especially the big wigs.