Perfect polish for 3D printed removable partials and other products

Ralph Ziereis, General Manager of the TEAMZIEREIS GmbH milling center, explains how he found the dry electropolishing system: “A customer told us about the innovative DLyte polishing method. Subsequently, we informed ourselves about this technology and its possibilities at the AM Solutions booth during the 2019 formnext show.” Mr. Ziereis founded the company, located in Engelsbrand in the Black Forest region, 20 years ago. The company’s business focus is on dental products and services that are connected with the digital workflow. For this reason, TEAMZIEREIS has comprehensive know-how with CAD/CAM operations and pursues an integrated digital manufacturing concept.

Mechanical processing with consistent high-quality finishing results replaces costly manual polishing

Within the scope of its digital concept, the company produces removable partials, dental crowns and components for orthodontic treatments, for example, filigreed wires, from cobalt chrome alloys with a powder-based selective laser melting 3D printing system.  After they were printed these components had to be manually polished. This costly operation usually took place in dental labs. Ralph Ziereis comments: „To relieve our customers from this time consuming and expensive operation and to be able to offer another service, we had been looking for a suitable mechanical polishing method and with the DryLyte technology we finally found it. This system saves our customers not only a lot of money and time, but it also produces absolutely repeatable, high-quality polishing results.” By using the DLyte 10D, processing time can be reduced by up to 80 % compared to manual work, depending on the application. Furthermore, several parts can be processed simultaneously.

Dry, non-abrasive electropolishing

This high-performance electropolishing system, developed by the Spanish company GPAINNOVA, utilizes dry electrolyte granules instead of a liquid. During the polishing operation the workpieces, mounted to special fixtures, are passing through the electrolyte with a rotary movement. This causes an ion exchange between workpiece and electrolyte with the result that the roughness peaks on the entire surface, including internal passages, are eliminated. Compared to the conventional electropolishing method the use of non-abrasive electrolyte granules maintains the original geometry, dimensions, edges and angles of the workpieces. This guarantees a perfect fit.

Test trials ensure optimal finishing processes

A defined gloss, no change of the workpiece geometry, dimensions and edges and, above all, a flawless surface finish, these were the results Ralph Ziereis demanded. AM Solutions – 3D printing technology, a Rösler division specialized in post-processing of 3D printed components and sales partner of GPAINNOVA, conducted initial test trials in its technology center. These trials quickly demonstrated that the DryLite system is absolutely suitable for the finishing tasks defined by TEAMZIEREIS. Ralph Ziereis continues: „Once we saw, how easy it was to produce the desired surface finish, we decided to purchase the compact and flexible system DLyte 10D”. The definition of the processing parameters for the different workpieces was determined by the composition and size of the electrolyte granules and the processing time. Ralph Ziereis adds: „The experts of AM Solutions helped us a lot in working out the details of the workpiece specific processing programs.” All programs can be stored in the equipment controls and called up by simply pushing a button.

Ralph Ziereis concludes: „The automatic polishing is an ideal addition to our service package and makes our manufactured components a lot more attractive for our customers.”

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