gee i dont know how my zirkonzahn m5 has survived all these years still dry milling fine after nine years milling every day. the cnc ervice guy when i asked him when does he think the mill will need replacing said if you keep servicing it ,it will probably last another nine years with the odd repair here and there i asked him about the ball screws etc he said everything was all good and in the mean time i havent had to do all the extra drying and burning out for nine years thats a lot of time saved. i would dry mill if i were you.i have a wet dry zirkonzahn m4 but when i mill zirconia i still dry mill.
Cool.
I think I may know some of the reasons for this success. Machine quality aside, the key thing here is likely servicing and processing restorations/materials within its capabilities. I am not sure what your production rates, restoration and material types, tool life, do-overs, quality etc are or what odd repairs he might be referring to or what odd repairs and down time you have had (all contributing to time, production and profit loss that can potentially be influenced by wet milling ),but, as I have experienced in my 40 years in the CNC/NC business (many as a CNC Tech),diligent preventative maintenance, quality ancillary equipment and proper usage will help extend any machines life as you can attest. Good on you for that.
From what I have seen, diligent maintenance is not all that common with many labs and milling centers. Thanks for your post which should serve as a good reference to many.
There are indeed many advantages to wet milling as our customers (small and very large labs and milling centers) who have switched can attest. I can only relate that these customers are enjoying the benefits and have no intentions of switching back to dry milling.
That said, to each his or her own. I believe that one must experience both to really see what works best for them. Just my two cents YMMV...
