Interesting topic but went a bit off rail
I'd like some opinions from those who have or have worked with DOF milling, mainly Craft, but old ones could be insightful too. Suggestions of other similar machines, whether on the market or soon to be is also welcomed.
Oh, and I'm a dental technician, be nice boys ! =D
So from my understanding the Craft is their first milling machine made in house, could be half true since some parts and overwall look seems quite similar to arum machines, guess it's just that a lot of SK industries are interconnected or something.
I'll be acquiring my first milling machine in the next 18 months, and getting a lot of infos for making a wise decision is a real pain. I've had experiences with others where I used to work at, VHF (nice) and ZZ (meh!) mostly but they don't seem to have what gets my interest with the Craft.
Even though I'll be alone at first I'll then be getting a very young employee, I don't want her to do that kind of repetitive tasks. So I'm going for the DC version, in the long run It'll save me some time and works all night, wet a dry and I can focus on getting her very good very fast.
So I've set my eyes on the craft mainly for a couple reasons:
1) I do a lot of thin disi overlay and their connectorless option is very interesting to me, no need to cut and grind contact points. Basically mill, plaster wait, relaunch and you're good, pouf, everything fits. When milling 6 blocs at the same time this will be a big time saver for me.
2) They also have the submerged platform, not sure it's that useful but still, can't hurt.
3) One step milling. I only do screw retained crowns on ti base, polishing zirconia is taking me a lot of time so I'll probably mill a custom abutment and be done with it. Pre mill and ti base are the same price here. It mills, I don't polish, just anodized. Incisals will still be maximum surface polished ZR though.
4) 90° buccal milling, seems a lot of milling machine do this anyways.
5) No need for external compressor or vacuum unit. I'll keep my stanley 20L 59dB compressor lol.
6) For what it does, it doesn't take a lot of space and I can move it around for maintenance a setting it up in a new space.
So maybe there could be other stuff I'm forgetting but those are the main reasons.
Now, where I'm really in the dark are these important points, if you ever have a good understanding or experience.
1) I really want the ability to launch my milling when not at the lab, on windows I can use anydesk but it seems they have a custom OS, so ...
A lot of manufacturers offer a side app to check out if your milling is finished, has failed, or the wear of your burs, not able to launch, utter useless !
2) It seems it works with millbox and hyperdent and I have no experience with them, which is the best could be a false question though my intuition goes to hyperdent. I found VHF CAM 7 and 8 very clean and fast, you can even launch your mill before it's finished calculating.
3) Seems there's no distributor in France, but I can still get it, I just have no idea if support is going to be fine, especially, if, at the end of the day, the machine is not that good and often requires maintenance. If you or other technicians you know have any infos on that it'd be of great help.
4) Although I really dislike ZZ they give you the ability to use the PMMA 0.3 bur for glass blacks, I have very detailed anatomy and it makes a nice difference. From what DOF told me they're thinking of a couple of ways to manufacture one, not sure it'll ever happen. From what I recall 0.6 was fine with VHF but not sure it'll be the case with the Craft.
Anyways, sorry it's long, as always, these are pretty much the main points.
Help, I need somebody, help, not just anybody, help, I need a technician, heeeeeeelp

=)