Working with Wax Castable 3D-print resin for Dental applications

Liqcreate Wax Castable is a blue wax-based photopolymer with reliable processability and accuracy on LCD/MSLA, DLP and laser based 3D-printers. 3D-printed parts from this material captures intricate features and show crisp details. This wax-based material offers smooth surfaces with clean burnout for a reliable casting process. Create custom made elegant organic geometries with positive and negative engravings according to your preferences. Liqcreate Wax Castable creates perfect casting patterns for jewelry, dental and industrial parts.

Liqcreate dental resin 3D-printing portfolio

Key benefits

• – High precision
• – Wax-based
• – Clean & ash free burnout
• – Excellent detailed casting

Wax Castable resin 3D-printer compatibility

• – Asiga series
• – Phrozen series
• – Anycubic & Elegoo series
• – UnionTech Cute300 and S300
• – And many more 385 – 405nm DLP, LCD and SLA 3D-printers

Wax-Based               Clean and ash-free burn-out          High accuracy

Removable partial denture (RPD) 3D-printed in Liqcreate Wax Castable resin

Processing Wax Castable resin

Due to the significant amount of wax present in the resin, Liqcreate Wax Castable will solidify around 17 – 18˚C. It is not advised to use this product in environments with temperatures below 18˚C. storage or transport of Liqcreate Wax Castable below 18˚C is possible. Before processing, it is necessary to heat-up the product to its liquid phase. This can be done by leaving the product for 5 hours at room temperature or by placing the packaging in a warm environment (without direct light, in the original packaging) up to 50˚C for 20 minutes.

3D-printing with Liqcreate Wax Castable resin

It is important that the 3D-printed parts are flawless to get the best casting results. Layer thickness of below 0,05mm is strongly advised along with a well calibrated 3D-printer. Find the parameters of your printer here, or send an e-mail to info@liqcreate.com for more information about printer settings and compatible 3D-printers.

Investment material for Wax Castable resin

Choosing the right investment material when using 3D-printed wax resin patterns is very important. Resin and also Wax-based resins have a higher thermal expansion compared to regular wax. The investment material should be strong enough to survive this expansion and not crack. For dental applications, our partners had great success with both N&V and Ambervest investment materials for casting dental applications.

Burn-out schedule for Liqcreate Wax Castable resin

We followed the instruction of the investment material (N&V or Ambervest investment material). The following burn-out

Ambervest:

N&V investment material:

Burnout : Shock heat (rapid fire or rapid cast)

The cylinder can be put direct in a hot furnace at end temp. indicated by the alloy manufacturer with a maximum of 900° C ( 1.650° F ) ( and then eventually take the temp. higher ) after minimum 30 min. of bench setting but also hours or days after setting. The time the cylinder should remain at end temp. depends on the largeness of the cylinder and should be between 30 min. (3 ring) and 50 min. (9 ring). Holdtime + 15 min if lower temp. then 850°C.

Burnout : Normal preheating (over nigth)

From 0° C (0° F) to the end temp. at 7 to 9° C (40 to 50° F) / min. with holding time at end temp. between 30 and 50 minutes.

Parts have a matt finish after casting and polishing is necessary to get high-gloss metals. As a reference we shared a picture below of a printed part, freshly casted part and on the right side a (partly) polished part.

3D-Printing with Liqcreate Wax Castable resin

The investment material will take over every detail of the printed part. Meaning that the quality of the 3D-printed wax-like model needs to be as perfect as possibly. Printing with Wax Castable resin can be more difficult compared to other resins, due to the significant amount of Wax present in the resin. At temperatures below 18 degrees Celsius, the resin will solidify. It is important that the resin is completely liquid during printing. Also the room temperature were you are using the Wax Castable resin should be at least at 20°C. Usually the resin wont solidify during printing, however, when printing in a cold room, the droplets left on the platform can solidify. This will make the washing process more difficult. It is important that the washing solvents are also at least 20°C to prevent solidification during washing.

A lot of 3D-printers have already been optimized with Liqcreate Wax Castable resin. Find out if your printer is listed here. Send an e-mail to info@liqcreate.com if your printer is not listed. Most of the settings have been optimized on filigree designs, these are thin designs which often require a longer exposure time. If you have more bulky designs, the exposure time can be lower for your parts.

We have noticed that the wax inside the resin gives a low adhesion to anodized alumina platforms, like the Elegoo Mars series. To get the parts to stick to the platform better, it is advised to make some support changes. The raft of the supports has a big area and often pulls the part from the platform. To change the raft settings, printing will be much easier. Changing the raft height and raft thickness to 0,1mm will fix most of these issues.

Post-processing Liqcreate Wax Castable resin

Next to adhesion, it is important that all layers of the parts are completely visible. The parts should be non-sticky and have a matte surface finish after washing and drying. Excess resin or sticky surfaces can react with the investment material and create pores in the casted parts.

If no Anti-aliasing or blurring settings are used, in perfectly printed and washed parts should the layers should be clearly visible. An example of a part that is printed and washed correctly can be found in the image below. It should be noted that the investment material, and thus also the casted metal parts will have these visible likes as well. If that is not wanted, grinding before casting, or using Anti-aliasing or Blur settings can help reduce the layer effect.

We wish you a great journey with our Wax based Castable resin. If you have printed or casted a great part and want to be featured in our social media, or have any questions about the product or processing, send us an e-mail to info@liqcreate.com