Stratasys launches high precision dental 3D printers

Stratasys has introduced what it is describing as the highest precision wax 3D printers available to the dental industry.

The Stratasys CrownWorx and FrameWorx 3D Printers allow dental laboratories to produce wax-ups for crowns, bridges and denture frameworks. The machines were unveiled at the recent LMT Lab Day West Show.

Stratasys CrownWorx and FrameWorx 3D printers use wax deposition modelling technology, a jetting technology that is designed to enable consistent quality and a reliable process. According to Stratasys, the machines produce superior-fitting wax-ups for crown, bridge, coping and denture frameworks via an automated method that can fit easily into a lab’s established workflow, enhancing production capacity.  

Stratasys CrownWorx and FrameWorx 3D Printers use wax-like materials that produce smooth surface finishes and minimize post-processing. The materials burn-out with no residue, material shrinkage, cracking or expansion to allow precision casting and reduce costs previously incurred when finishing gold and other precious metals.

CrownWorx uses WDM technology to jet micro-drops of TrueCast material that builds dental wax-ups, layer-by-layer. The FrameWorx 3D printer uses WDM technology to jet micro-drops of TrueCast material onto the build tray to create a denture wax-up layer-by-layer. TrueSupport material is quickly sprayed around the casting material to form a support structure. This enhancement increases production speed for partial denture wax-ups because they require more support material than crowns and bridges. After printing, TrueSupport is dissolved, leaving behind smooth and detailed wax-ups.

“These wax 3D printers and new materials are an ideal fit for small labs interested in upgrading dental casting technology,” says Stratasys director of Global Dental, Avi Cohen.

“We believe dental labs adopting these 3D printers will benefit from the automated and digitized workflows, enabling them to cut costs while producing more restorations. These systems complement our broad system portfolio, which includes large dental 3D printers.”