What i do!

[lazylathe]

Hi All,

Thought i would share some pictures of what i do!
Dental technician by trade, 5 years at Technical College and ended up with a B.Tech Degree, many years ago... ;D

Anyway we had a cool case come in that sort of related to machining!

A gold implant bar needed some 1.8mm holes drilled and then tapped with a 2mm tap.
Studs screwed into the bar to which attachments that are in the denture will snap into.

We usually work with Titanium, this was an older implant bar.

The bar and the tap

A fuzzy picture of the locator attachment

Setting up in the surveyor

Ready to drill the first hole

Applying cutting fluid while drilling

Almost there

Tapping the holes

Fuzzy picture of tapped holes. You can just see some fine threads in the far hole

One locator in. You can see the threads better in the far hole this time!

Both in tight!
Just needs a good polish now!

Hope someone found this to be of some interest!
Not everyones favourite topic... ;D

Andrew

 

[Stan]

Yes, very interesting.

 

[hitandmissman]

Very interesting indeed!!

 

[RonGinger]

Great pictures, but I dont get it. Does that bar go in someones mouth? Inside a denture? What are the screws in it? Just a hold down for this work?

And what is it like to machine gold?

 

[lazylathe]

Yes the bar will be screwed in the patients mouth.
It is called screw retained implant bar.

The denture will fit over the bar.

Inside the yellow model are replicas of what is in the mouth.
It is just a stable platform to work on the bar.

Gold is a very easy to work with metal.
If you make a mistake there I always a gold solder to fix it with! ;D
I drilled the holes at about 350rpm.

Andrew

 

[tattoomike68]

That is trick, thanks for sharing.

 

[Catminer]

Hi Andrew;

Thanks for posting that, quite interesting. Now I have an idea of what you do.
;D It looks like you might have enough equipment there to make small engine parts! :big:

 

[b.lindsey]

That looks to be a fair amount of gold Andrew. Was it originally cast? If a similar bar was to be made from titanium, how would you go about it...machine it from plate stock or what? Very interesting pictures btw.

Bill

 

[lazylathe]

Thanks for the interest guys!
Kind of a weird topic.... ;D

The bar would have been originally waxed up and invested, then cast using the lost wax technique.
It was most likely cast using a torch and a centrifugal casting machine.
We would use a vacuum-pressure induction casting machine now as it gives us more control
over the metal and a much better product.

This is a basic video showing the process using a 5 axis milling machine:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5YmgjtoStw&feature=related[/ame]

All the Titanium stuff is milled from medical grade material and usually has a 20 year warranty on it.

As for making engines....
I need to start using Solidworks again so that i can design some parts.
They can then be printed in our 3D resin printer, invested and cast in Chrome Cobalt.
Size is the only limiting factor...

Andrew

 

[b.lindsey]

Amazing Andrew...is the 5 axis CNC in house or do you outsource that part of it? Thanks for the video. One more question...once you have an impression of someones mouth/teeth how do you get it into the code the 5 axis can use...some sort of CAM software I am assuming but is the input file to the CAM from 3D drawings, optical scans, or what?

Bill

 

[lazylathe]

Too many questions Bill!!! :big:

Once we get the impression we pour it in a die stone.
That model is scanned using a laser scanner and we work off the virtual 3D model.
We have a few CAD/CAM design programs we can use to design the bar with.

Unfortunately we do not have a big enough machine to mill the bars in house yet.
We are looking into one, although they are very expensive.

Once we are done designing we send the design to an outsourced milling center and they create the CAM file code.
Have a look here:
http://www.diademprecision.com/diadem-video.php

That is a Million dollar set up!
I have been there to see it in action and it is amazing!

We have a smaller one that can mill ceramic into crowns and bridges.

Andrew

 

[b.lindsey]

Thanks Andrew....no more questions for now

Bill

 

[Bob Parker]

Very interesting. Kind of substantiates the cost of dental work.

 

[lazylathe]

Very interesting. Kind of substantiates the cost of dental work.

That is only the lab side of the work.
The dentist usually doubles the cost to cover everything on his side and to pay of the Porsche!!!

Andrew

 

[user 4756]

Hi Andrew,

Very interesting...I think!

I think that 'horror fascination' is more accurate. I had to look, just like people look at car crashes! :big: :big: :big:

To think that someone is going around with that lot screwed into their mouth... your side of it is ok, if you don't think too much, but to think of the dentist actually fitting that...I am lost for words!

Andy