New soluble support material reduces removal time, increasing design freedom and modelling efficiency
Stratasys Ltd., the 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions company, says it is previewing its SUP 706, soluble supports for dental materials at Chicago’s Lab Day.
The support material, SUP 706, has been available since late 2015, but it has not been compatible with dental 3D printers. It will be available in Mid Q2 for the Dental Selection line of 3D printers, and will be compatible with all dental materials that can be used on these machines.
SUP 706 was first introduced in November 2015 as a new soluble support material for PolyJet triple-jetting 3D printers. Now with Biomed approval, SUP 706 enables dental labs or clinics to reduce support-removal time by 25 to 80 per cent, improving design freedom and productivity, while reducing the manpower required to clean 3D printed models.
For hands-free removal, SUP 706 can be dissolved in an alkaline water-based solution, as an additional alternative to manual removal via hand or water-jet. This makes the material ideal for complex dental parts with complex geometries, small crevices or delicate features that could be potentially damaged with the other methods. It can also accelerate the support removal from a batch of small model parts. Soluble support removal is done at a cleaning station, which cleans parts effectively with minimal resources. The support removal process works well to clean difficult-to-reach places, and it can handle large quantities of parts in a single batch.
SUP 706 automates post-processing of 3D printed dental models with a simple two-step, soak-and-rinse process, giving users the ability to maximise productivity while achieving a low cost-per-part. “With already a few dozen installations and customers using our new soluble support SUP 706 for versatile applications outside the dental industry, the feedback is extremely positive,” says David Tulipman, Director, Product Management, PolyJet Consumables. “We already learned that the value proposition of the support was achieved: significant labour saving and enhanced design freedom.”
Scheduled to be available for dental 3D printing in Mid Q2, SUP 706 will require a software update to be compatible with the PolyJet Objet260 or 500 Dental Selection systems.
