Looking for a new mill as we plan on ramping up Hybrid production.

[DaveId]

We currently have a PM7, Roland 52DCi, & Roland 53DC in our lab. We are trying to land a new client which will increase our flow of full arch hybrid cases to one a day, which is on top of our current crown/bridge/removable milling that we do. As such, I am looking to get a new mill that can help push these hybrids out fast and without issues. I have stumbled on the VHF R5 (which would also give us a second machine for milling Emax, and the ability to get into custom milled abutments if we decide to down the road) and it looks to be a great machine. The open edge, tool-less clamping seems ideal for the hybrids as well as being able to support 40mm pucks. I do like that the liquid doesn't require coolant, just water. But, I know nothing about VHF, their mills, or their support. Obviously a good distributer can make up for lack of manufacturer support, but I wanted to see if anyone here had feedback that might help sway my decision.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for any advice/suggestions you may have.

 

[tehnik]

VHF needs coolant when milling titanium.

 

[tuyere]

You can technically get away with not using coolant on almost every material, if you adjust your speeds n feeds n coatings etc, but you will generally want to use proper coolant anyways for output/finish/tool life reasons. I don't know what they've done to allow water only- maybe an all-stainless coolant loop or something- but that will be inferior to a proper cutting fluid.

 

[DaveId]

We currently have no plans of milling titanium in-house, but good to know about the coolant requirement for that.

 

[Dentaco]

VHF comes from Germany and here, too, not all machine owners are happy with VHF. The problem is that they don't provide any support for end users themselves, everything is done through the reseller. The machines are sold through various resellers. However, these are separated/protected from one another. This means that one reseller cannot provide support for another's machine. We had the problem at the time that our reseller took VHF out of the range. Then we had problems for almost a year finding someone who could provide support and VHF also activated it accordingly. Of course, everyone can do mechanical maintenance work. However, if access has to be done via the software, things become problematic. Another problem I see with VHF is that in recent years they have increasingly excluded other CAM software manufacturers in order to sell their own software. Otherwise, I have to say that at least the old machines were very reliable if they were well maintained.

 

[Dentaco]

regarding the coolant. In Germany we call it KSS "KühlSchmierStoff“ cooling lubricant, because the actual function is the lubricating property. This is about optimizing the machining process. These cult lubricants are specifically tailored to the materials to be processed. If it were just about cooling, water would of course be the optimal medium. Because water has the highest heat absorption capacity.

 

[TheLabGuy]

Axsys VersaMill AX726DW-Pro Then you won't ever need anything ever again.

 

[DaveId]

Axsys VersaMill AX726DW-Pro Then you won't ever need anything ever again.

Seems hard to find information about this mill. Their website is awful and I can't even find this mill on it.

 

[TheLabGuy]

Seems hard to find information about this mill. Their website is awful and I can't even find this mill on it.

@CoolHandLuke

 

[mmbh]

Seems hard to find information about this mill. Their website is awful and I can't even find this mill on it.

@CoolHandLuke

 

[CoolHandLuke]

Axsys Dental Solutions - Home

Axsys Dental Solutions. Complete Digital Dental Technology Provider to dental practices, laboratories and milling centers. Our Products include; Precision 5-Axis Dental Milling Machines, 3D-Printers, CAD/CAM Software, Scanners Sintering Ovens, Raw Materials Implant Components and Tooling.

www.axsysdental.com

 

[CoolHandLuke]

link should take you to the page with all the literature, if you have questions that arent answered there you can call 248-926-8810 and speak to "Dental sales manager" Ryan Howard.