CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
19 August 2013
Product News
Delcam to launch new DentMILL dental milling software in Europe
The latest release of Delcam’s DentMILL software for the milling of dental implant restorations will be launched at a dedicated conference to be held in Darmstadt, Germany, on 4th and 5th September. The new version includes a clearer interface to make the system even easier to learn and to use, improved nesting for more efficient use of materials and faster calculation times.
DentMILL 2014 is the latest release of Delcam’s open dental CAM solution, which is designed to mill all types of restoration from any dental CAD system on the market. It is built on Delcam’s award-winning PowerMILL software for high-speed and five-axis machining, and can mill restorations in any material from PMMA to titanium.
The new interface features a reduced number of toolbars to allow the maximum screen space for toolpath generation and simulation, together with bolder and clearer icons. It has been designed in association with dental laboratories and milling centres to ensure that technicians with limited experience of computer-aided machining will find the software easy to learn and to use.
Material use has been made more efficient with improved and more flexible nesting tools to position the various restorations within the block. In particular, the ability to undertake part-to-part pinning is included, rather than having to use separate support pins for each restoration.
As well as being positioned in the most efficient 2D arrangement, the restorations are oriented in the optimum alignment so that the most cost-effective thickness of material block can be used. This ability to tilt the restorations also allows items higher than the block to be oriented so that they can be machined.
DentMILL incorporates a materials stock-management system that allows the user only to select sizes of material block that are currently in stock and that are suitable for the specified machine. The software then selects the fixture appropriate for that block from the library supplied with the software, and applies automatically the shrinkage allowance and milling templates for the material.
Partly-used blocks can be added back into the stock-management system so that the material remaining can be used on future projects.
The milling templates supplied with the software cover a wide range of materials, including titanium, cobalt-chrome and glass ceramics. These allow highly automated generation of toolpaths. Of course, users can still develop their own templates for any unique materials they machine.
DentMILL has also benefited from enhancements to the latest version of PowerMILL on which it is based. These include a number of new strategies that offer smoother machining to give the best possible surface finish. In addition, background-processing capabilities mean that toolpath calculations can be started on the first items added to the block, while the remaining restorations are still being positioned. The technology also allows work to be undertaken simultaneously on a number of projects. Both capabilities can reduce the overall calculation times significantly.
Closer integration has also been added between DentMILL and Delcam’s OrderManager workflow management software so that the system is updated automatically with manufacturing data as it is generated. This is in addition to the ability for milling-center staff to immediately see incoming orders, approve them and download design data to begin programming. The additional automation makes it easier to use the system to manage all the manufacturing steps through to eventual dispatch, and to maintain a ‘real-time’ view of the center’s total order status. Delcam’s OrderManager can be used with the full variety of manufacturing methods as it can easily be tailored to manage any milling center’s individual process steps.
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