Stratasys previewed its SUP 706 soluble supports for dental materials at this year’s Chicago Lab Day.
While the support material was first introduced in November 2015 for PolyJet triple-jetting 3D printers, it wasn’t compatible with dental 3D printers, according to a press release. Beginning in the second quarter of this year, it will be available for the Dental Selection line of 3D printers and compatible with all materials that can be used on these machines.
The material now has Biomed approval and enables dental labs or clinics to reduce support-removal time by 25 to 80 percent. This improves design freedom and productivity, as well as reduces the manpower needed to clean 3D printed models.
SUP 706 can be dissolved in an alkaline water-based solution for hands-free removal, making the material well suited for complex dental parts with complex geometries, small crevices or delicate features that could be damaged with other methods. This also accelerates support removal from a batch of small model parts.
Support removal is done at a cleaning station to effectively clean parts with minimal resources. The removal process makes it possible to clean difficult-to-reach places and a large number of parts can be handled in one batch.
Post-processing 3D printed models is done in a two-step, soak-and-rinse process. This helps labs maximize productivity while achieving a low cost-per-part.
Once available, SUP 706 will require a software update to be compatible with the PolyJet Objet260 or 500 Dental Selection systems.
View Full Press Release