Hey all!
I’m intrigued by the dental model resin and am wondering if anyone’s used it for non-dental models. Does anyone know its physical properties, IE, is it just a recolor of the standard resin? Or does it have additional mechanical properties (ie, impact resistance, etc)?
Hi potooatos,
I am using the MODEL V2 for non dental work. It has a lot of filler in it to replicate the equivalent dental stone models.and it is quite durable and more resilient than the standard resins. It is very opaque due to the fillers and so there is very little light refraction/defraction of the laser beam.
Base on the papers that FL have published on this material ( https://formlabs.com/blog/creating-dental-model-resin/) I took the plunge in using it and have never looked back. I think that due to its opacity it prints really fine detail and that is on a F2 at 31 and 35 degC.
It cuts nicely using fine fret saw Grade 2.0 size, and files down cleanly… It is flesh coloured for obvious reasons, but if you can overlook that it superb material.
Read the bumpf as it is the most thorough papers that FL have written on any of their resins.
ATB
I’m sold! I’ve ordered a liter!
The flesh color was my first draw to it because I was looking for a fleshier alternative to the Grey Pro for doll making purposes.
Thank you for the response!
I know a model-maker who ordered it by accident, but it wound up being his favorite resin. He does a lot of delicate people miniatures at very small scale, and the natural flesh color makes painting quicker. I think the durability and detail are also factors. Last I heard it sounded like he might switch to it exclusively.
Like you, he did a lot of printing in Grey Pro before discovering it.
Excellent. Let me know how you get on.
Give it a good shake before you start to distribute the filler evenly.
If you have had it sit in the tray for a day, I give it a good stir with a dedicated small kitchen silicone spatula. This does not damage the film. The filler will quickly settle and scrape up like tooth paste. stir it all back in, takes a bout 5 mins but worth the effort.
ATB
Will do!
As an update, I’m having some slight issues printing with the material but when I can get it to print correctly it’s absolutely gorgeous and perfect.
I’ve found I need to filter the resin between every print or no amount of mixing will make the print succeed, but that’s not too bad. The effort is absolutely worth the results!
Hi potootatos,
as posted elsewhere. Feel bad that you are having problems with Dental Model, If you are happy to send me the stl and form file and I shall print it here to isolate whether it is a model set up issue.
ATB
I’ve had 0 issues with the Form 2 up to this point, I am willing and able to work through this!
I don’t think the issue is the files themselves, I’ve printed dozens of copies of each in a variety of orientations in a number of other resins (and just completed a test reprint in Pro Grey to see if it was an issue with the printer’s window or mirror) so that shouldn’t be it. The resin seems to get ‘gritty’ immediately after prints, with granules the size of medium-to-large grains of beach sand, and further prints fail regardless of mixing unless I completely filter the resin. The cartridge itself also keeps having dispensing errors, but that may be unrelated.
Either way I WILL work through this because the few prints I’ve had finish successfully are gorgeous!
I would contact FormLabs support. This is not what any resin should behave like.
Update: Second cartridge prints flawlessly, it’s definitely some kind of defect in the first. I’m seeing if Formlabs will send a replacement.
Replacement for the bad cartridge is on the way! I am getting fantastic prints out of the second, here’s a small sample of what I’ve been printing:
For anyone considering Dental model, the slight translucency and fleshy tone are excellent, and it feels very much like Pro Grey in-hand. Detail level and surface finish even at .05mm layer height is fantastic! The only learning curve I’ve noticed is it’s more precise than the Pro-Grey to the point I had to go into negative tolerances for the elbow joints, but that might just be because of how small they are.
Great to see your process straightened out. Must have been so frustrating to receive a “dodgy” cartridge.
Dental model parts look great (so does the rest actually). Love the little hands. They are approximately the same size of parts that we print with this resin and we print at 25 microns.
Great stuff
