Whip Mix Surgical Guide
Whip Mix Surgical Guide for Carbon printers is now available to produce dental surgical drill guides. The material is a clear, biocompatible resin and is ideal for fast production.
This course will cover digital prep of your surgical guide models to properly prepare them for printing with Whip Mix Surgical Guide for Carbon printers.
Use Toggle platform (or press B) to hide the platform before orienting parts. This will make it easier to see overhangs and place supports.
Review Supports in Printer UI course for more information.
Proper Orientation of Surgical Guides
Proper orientation of surgical guides is critical to achieve the required accuracy, detail and surface quality. This lesson will guide you through proper orientation technique.
Goal: Arches and full palate surgical guides should be rotated 40 degrees with the anterior of the guide rotated away from the platform.
1. Orient the model so that the intaglio surface is facing the platform.
2. Adjust the model so that it is mostly parallel with the platform.
3. Position the camera so you are looking straight down on the platform:
- Push the Reset camera icon in the lower left corner of the screen to return to the default view.
- Push ▲ to look straight down at platform.
4. Make sure that the posterior region of the surgical guide is facing the lower portion of the screen.
5. Now perform the final orientation. Because surgical guides are organic surfaces, we do not recommend using Snap To Platform.
- Click on the guide to select it.
- Enter 40 into the X axis field. This will rotate the anterior portion of the guide off of the platform.
- The posterior of the guide should be touching the platform.
Goal: One end rotated 40 degrees off of the platform. Either end is acceptable.
1. Orient the quad so that the intaglio surface is facing the platform.
2. Adjust the model so that it is mostly parallel with the platform.
3. Position the camera so you are looking straight down on the platform:
- Push the Reset camera icon in the lower left corner of the screen to return to the default view.
- Push ▲ to look straight down at platform.
4. Make sure that the quad is parallel with the left/right sides of the platform.
Now that your surgical guide is properly oriented, proceed to support creation.
Before creating supports, check the critical surfaces of your part to ensure that supports will not be needed. Overhang Detection will show surfaces that may need supports by coloring them red.
- Click on the Overhang Detection tool at the bottom of the screen to activate it.
- Leave the default value of 40 degrees.
- Click the Toggle Platform tool to hide the platform for unobstructed viewing of the underside of the model.
- Check critical areas, especially inside drill holes, to make sure those surfaces do not require supports.
- Some intaglio surfaces will be red. But these areas will not require supports.
- If critical areas are red, tilt up the part slightly 1-3 degrees and recheck.
- Repeat until critical areas are free of red.
Supports hold up the part during printing. They do this by connecting down-facing surfaces to the platform.
Surgical guides require precise placement of supports. Because of this, we recommend manually adding supports to parts.
Adding Supports
- Click Support in the dark gray bar at the top of screen.
- Under Position, select Above Platform to lift parts off the platform.
- Under Auto Support Method, leave the default selection Advanced.
- The auto support method is not a factor when supporting parts manually.
- Click Manually Add to go to the Support editing interface.
Auto Supports
Do not use Auto Supports. Using either auto support method will generate supports that cover a large portion of the intaglio surfaces, which will result in an unusable part.
Fences are ideal for supporting surgical guides of all types (arches, full palettes and quads):
- They are easy to remove.
- Contact points are small and require little finishing.
Fence Placement
- Along the guide perimeter.
- Around drill holes.
- On important features such as articulators.
- 2 rows of fences are recommended on features wider than 3 mm.
Fence Free Zones
- Intaglio surfaces
- Interior of drill holes.
- Interior of windows.
- Any critical surfaces.
- Click on Fences.
- Click a series of points along the entire perimeter of the arch.
- Use Overhang Detection to find areas that need support.
- To move points, click Esc key then hold down E key. Click on a point and move it to a new location.
- Repeat as needed to add additional fences.
- Click Generate to create the fence geometry.
- Click Done when finished.
1. Support entire perimeter of arch with fence supports.
- We recommend using a single, long fence for easier removal.
- A sequence of 2 or more short fences is acceptable.
2. Support articulators, bars or other critical features.
3. Create secondary lines of fences on wide areas.
- Offset from perimeter fence by 2-4 mm.
Ensure that the following surfaces are free from fences:
- Intaglio surfaces.
- Interior of drill holes.
- Interior of windows.
- Any critical surfaces.
1. Support entire perimeter of the quad with fence supports.
- We recommend using a single, long fence for easier removal.
- A sequence of 2 or more short fences is acceptable.
2. Create secondary lines of fences on wide areas.
- Offset from perimeter fence by 2-4 mm where possible.
3. Support other critical features.
Ensure that the following surfaces are free from fences:
- Intaglio surfaces.
- Interior of drill holes.
- Interior of windows.
- Any critical surfaces.
Arch/Full Palate
Rotated 40 degrees with posterior tilted towards platform.
Quad
Rotated 40 degrees with either anterior or posterior tilted towards platform.
Click Print Controls or Shift + P in the top menu bar.
Slice Thickness should remain at the default, Standard (100 µ).
Reducing the slice thickness by choosing the Fine (50 µ) or Super-fine (25 µ) settings will increase print time and may reduce part quality and accuracy.
- Select the Project Analysis tab.
- Click Start Analysis and wait for the processing to complete.
- Note the required resin volume and print time.
- Click Add to Queue.
For questions about the resin properties, printing, washing or curing your parts, please contact the Whip Mix technical team:
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 800-626-5651 ext. 1437