M2 Dental Resin Recovery
Context :
Dental thermoforming labs use Carbon’s medium format M2 3D printer to print models of teeth that are used to test crowns, dies, and bridges, or to thermoform aligners. To speed up prints and reduce resin cost per print, customers hollow out teeth models before printing.
Problem to Solve :
The printing orientation of hollow models traps uncured resin in the empty space against the printing surface. This trapped resin is valuable to customers. Customers have added small holes to the bases of hollow models that act as “doors” for the resin to drain out. The printing surfaces, with prints still attached, were then tilted on trays for hours to drain resin out of the hollow models.
Solution :
Designed a fixture that holds dental model prints at nearly 90 degrees to maximize resin flow from the hollow models. The fixture elevates prints above the collection basin and easily retrofits with VHB or bolts onto the Carbon Pour Stand or onto any vertical surface—giving customers the ability to designate a convenient area to drain their models.
Proof of concept M2 Dental Resin Recovery Fixture (in blue) integrated into the Carbon Pour Stand.
Results :
The M2 Dental Resin Recovery Fixture is being used in Carbon’s development lab and one Carbon customer uses the prototype printed fixture. It was not productized because the customer need was not great enough to dedicate the necessary resources to it.