Choices

[Davor RDT]

Hello dear colleagues, technicians and dentists. I'm looking for oppinions and help choosing a 3D printer for a small boutique in house lab that does fixed prostho, splints, small amount of ortho and some removable as well as surgical guide and other surgical stint work. Big focus is open system that is supported by resin manufacturers. Finally time has come and I am at a loss as to what makes sense . Asiga vs Nextdent vs Spritray vs Formlabs vs Rapidshape. Whole system however, I do not want to mix and match printers wash units and curing units from many different sources , ALL must be same manufacturer . Wich would you get and what are your experiences . Thank you for any help you can offer . Too many choices and kind of expensive as is.
With much respect

 

[doug]

We have 2 Asiga Max printers. They are open, you can used many different resins. Easy to use, software is pretty straight forward for the build platform. They have an adequate light cure unit( it's essentially a nail polish curing unit). We have 2 formwash units for cleaning as they are very good at what they do. We're looking at getting a distiller to reclaim the IPA, and setup a proper ventilation unit to keep any noxious and possibly dangerous fumes under control. Seems that there are multiple options on Amazon for enclosures for fumes.

 

[LarryRDC]

We have 2 Asiga Max printers. They are open, you can used many different resins. Easy to use, software is pretty straight forward for the build platform. They have an adequate light cure unit( it's essentially a nail polish curing unit). We have 2 formwash units for cleaning as they are very good at what they do. We're looking at getting a distiller to reclaim the IPA, and setup a proper ventilation unit to keep any noxious and possibly dangerous fumes under control. Seems that there are multiple options on Amazon for enclosures for fumes.

I have this ventilation setup ( kitchen stove vent hood) for my Nextdent 5100 ( not open but works well for me!)

 

[Contraluz]

I am a small ‘boutique’ lab, too, and I have been using an Asiga Max for 1 ½ years now, no complaints at all! Well, except the cost of the trays maybe… Compact design and open platform.

I got mine from Whipmix and it came with a washer unit and curing station (quite cheap one, but I am using my other light curing unit, I already had.)

 

[Davor RDT]

Thank you for your suggestions and shareing . Asiga seems to be what we are leaning towards. Price also , although not cheep seems to be best value for quality over all. Will keep y'all posted. Love DLN always a great resource!

 

[Davor RDT]

I have this ventilation setup ( kitchen stove vent hood) for my Nextdent 5100 ( not open but works well for me!) View attachment 43094

Nice set up Larry.

 

[Andrew Priddy]

we use our wash station for plate cleaning.. i'd suggest just an Ackuretta printer and otto-flash cure unit

 

[TheLabGuy]

I have this ventilation setup ( kitchen stove vent hood) for my Nextdent 5100 ( not open but works well for me!) View attachment 43094

Whoa!!! Hell of a shadow box there, pretty sure I see a purple heart and a bronze or silver star in there, you holding out a heck of a story for us...please do share!!!!

 

[LarryRDC]

Whoa!!! Hell of a shadow box there, pretty sure I see a purple heart and a bronze or silver star in there, you holding out a heck of a story for us...please do share!!!!

That story would be my Dad at 24 years old in WWII. He was an Army Captain in the 1rst Infantry Engineer Battalion, “The Big Red One”. He was among the first wave to land on Omaha Beach in Normandy. The Purple Heart was from an injuries sustained from shoving charges into the tubes to take out the barriers placed in the beach. The back pressure concussion resulted in the retina in his right eye to become detached and he ended up being blind in that eye. The Bronze Star is from from 7 recommendations for valor. Which he certainly deserved. After the war he worked as a metalurgical engineer at well known Aluminum company. When the movie Private Ryan came out, I told him there was a movie about the first landing on Omaha beach, are you going to see it? He said, “I don’t need to see that, I f’n lived it!” After I saw the movie myself , I understood. He lived until he was 93 years old.. I miss him He was my hero !
Sorry to the OP for going off topic , but I was asked and was proud to tell his story

 

[JonnyLathe]

Asiga

 

[TheLabGuy]

That story would be my Dad at 24 years old in WWII. He was an Army Captain in the 1rst Infantry Engineer Battalion, “The Big Red One”. He was among the first wave to land on Omaha Beach in Normandy. The Purple Heart was from an injuries sustained from shoving charges into the tubes to take out the barriers placed in the beach. The back pressure concussion resulted in the retina in his right eye to become detached and he ended up being blind in that eye. The Bronze Star is from from 7 recommendations for valor. Which he certainly deserved. After the war he worked as a metalurgical engineer at well known Aluminum company. He lived until he was 93 years old.. I miss him He was my hero !
Sorry to the OP for going off topic , but I was asked and was proud to tell his story

Heck of a Dad right there!!! Kudos, and thanks for sharing. What a generation those WWII folks endured...I wonder what they'd say to the youth of today. Imagine being 24 years old, seeing and facing death on an unimaginable toll as those troops just going in waves on those beaches in Normandy. Crazy to think, way to honor him as well...tip of the hat to you for that. That made my 4th of July holiday right there....thanks

 

[Davor RDT]

So in the end Asiga was choice , excellent tool!

 

[JohnWilson]

He lived until he was 93 years old.. I miss him He was my hero !

So flipping awesome, keep those memories fresh in your minds eye, and be flipping proud to share that with anyone that will listen. Your dad will live on forever in the love and admiration you just posted.. Thank you for sharing the story.!!!

 

[Thibaut]

Oh I'm too late. Oh well.
Ok so, this won't be based on experience only from what I technically understand of the whole processes and situations.

Well, just a bit of infos for those that might have to go through the same choice dilemma.
All printers in these last few years are very accurate and are absolutely fine for our use, cheap or not.
You'll find a good paper here:

A comparison of trueness and precision of 12 3D printers used in dentistry - BDJ Open

Judging the dimensional accuracy of the resulting printed part requires comparison and conformity between the 3D printed model and its virtual counterpart. The resolution and accuracy of 3D model samples are determined by a wide array of factors depending on the technology used and related...

www.nature.com

It's from 2022 and it's probable cheap printers are now better than dental ones.
This is because of different technology and psychology.

The fact is, companies like elegoo and anycubic have a huge market, probably much bigger than dental, and it's very competitive, surely low margins, they always have to get new stuff out so people get hyped and very much need, benefit or enjoy having very precise models of their stuff, toys, drones, prototypes etc ...
It's also because LCD screens manufacturing just like semiconductors keep going smaller and smaller, we now have very small pixels for XY and the platforms for Z, or height, keep improving and are robust and precise, you could make each layer 10 microns thin but it'd be useless.

On the contrary companies that sell for dental industry need to have a machine that is well known and supported for years and not make one every year or so, else technicians would be lost and fear of making the wrong choice, hence they'll just wait and not buy.
They do have advantages I guess, some can probably heat your resin, but nothing a microwen can't do.

Now, what is important is that not all resin cure in cheap printers. From what I know all LCD printers cure at 405 nm, so, you'll need a resin that is indicated to cure at 405nm like this one for dentures or temporaries:

DENTURE-Biocompatible Denture Resin

Works with any type of DLP or LED/LCD 3d printer Produce your removable dentures now better, faster and easier! PowerResins Denture is a CE certified biocompatible Class IIa material developed to printing denture bases. Design, print and finish perfect removal dentures Perfect fit and suitable...

powerresins.com

TEMP- Biocompatible Resin for Temporary Crowns

Works with any type of DLP or LED/LCD 3d printer Temp resin is a CE certified Class IIa biocompatible resin for patient’s in-mouth use as temporary teeth. It is easily processed and cleanable material that is compatible with natural dental aesthetics. This resins is Light which is perfect to use...

powerresins.com

Then, if you have a cheap post curing unit you'll probably have to cure a long time and will most likely not get the best of the characteristics of the resin.
For exemple, I use a castlable wax resin from liqcreate and cure it in an elegoo mercury plus, it's quite low power so the recommended time is 30 minutes.
So maybe get a unit like one of those:

OtoFlash - Polymerization Unit | VOCO GmbH

OtoFlash - Polymerization unit for light-curing resin materials

www.voco.dental

UW-02 Washing/Curing Machine

UW-02 Washing/Curing Machine Resin 3D Printer,Efficient and easy slicing High preformanic mainboard,Precision integral light source,Efficient and easy slicing.

www.creality.com

Hope that helps =)