The digital process for hollowing-out models can vary considerably depending on the software used, and it’s important to consider this impact on your workflow. Since resin consumption is a large share of the operating cost of 3D printing, it makes sense to take steps to reduce that cost as much as possible.īut it’s important to remember that printing hollow isn’t always so easy as just pressing a checkbox in some software. Because DLP 3D printers like SprintRay Pro use liquid resin, only the amount of resin cured is consumed by the print job – whatever isn’t consumed during the print job remains usable for subsequent prints. The perceived benefit to printing models hollow is cost savings. Read on to learn about the cost/benefit tradeoff of printing hollow and how the economics of printing solid make more sense in most cases. An overall greater surface area to wash and cure, potential build plate adhesion problems due to the smaller contact patch, and increased digital workflow complexity are three major pain points associated with this approach. In the end, delving deeper on the potential impacts of printing hollow models might give you a better picture and make you question the potential cost savings. If, however, it creates extra work and increases the number of steps for this therapy, then the cost savings must be significant to make up for it. If nothing functional is lost in the process of hollowing, then this intuition seems sound. And one tempting way to save resin is to print models that have been hollowed out. You may never have given much thought to whether your models should be hollow or solid, but saving resin means, at least in principle, saving money. For any new technology in a dental office, the emphasis should be on improving efficiency over previous methods and workflows. While this therapy has been one of the driving forces in the adoption of 3D printing in dental clinics, there is disagreement within the community on exactly how one should go about it. Creating models for the fabrication of clear retainers or aligners presents a rapid, high-value return on investment for dental 3D printing.

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