The assembly, testing and customisation of the new M6 Teleskoper Blank Changer milling unit

The principle of creating everything in-house has always guided Zirkonzahn since its first steps in the dental market. This principle is applied to almost the entire range of the Company's products, which includes dental materials (such as zirconia, metals and resins), CAD/CAM systems, furnaces, implant prosthetic components, digital diagnostic technologies, tools and everything required to finalise patient-specific dental restorations. Products are studied, developed and produced in-house in close collaboration with the company's Research and Development team, which constantly works to improve and fine-tune solutions to create a reliable planning and working environment, where hardware, software, tools and materials form an optimum match in the complete workflow.

The full control over the entire production process allows Zirkonzahn to have a complete understanding of their products and to react very quickly to customers' needs, not only through constant optimisation but also through a comprehensive technical and dental technical support at any workflow stage. The newest milling unit, the M6 Teleskoper Blank Changer, is namely the company's answer to the increasing need for more automation as well as greater speed and performances. The 5+1 axis simultaneous milling unit is equipped with storage for 16 or 80 blanks (upgradable) as well as a Blank Changer that allows material blanks to be transferred autonomously from the storage to the orbit. Once the structure is milled, blanks are reinserted back in the storage in their correct slot. This means that restorations made of different dental materials, colours and heights can now be designed fully automatically without any manual intermediate steps.

The machine also features the Teleskoper Orbit SelfLock (Ø 125 mm) for processing blanks with a diameter of 95, 98, 106 and 125 mm and the newly developed Performance Spindle with Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM), permitting a maximum torque of 200 Ncm at speeds of 6,000 to 50,000 rpm with a peak power of 2.5 kW.

In addition, in the contamination-protected tool chamber, two magazines with 30 slots each ensure safe and tidy storage of up to 60 milling burs, which are automatically checked for type or damage before and after each milling process through the automatic tool changer function.

All milling machine components are assembled in-house in Premolaris (2021): the fourth of the five production sites owned by the company, all located within the vicinity of the firm's headquarters in South Tyrol (Italy).

Premolaris is the place dedicated to the assembly, testing and customisation of all of the company's milling units, furnaces and scanners as well as the surface treatment of their own-produced implant prosthetic components. Premolaris also hosts the company's chemistry labs where, for instance, colours and resins are developed or burs are diamond-coated.

In Premolaris, the different parts of the M6 milling unit, e.g. spindle and orbit, are assembled with all hardware and software components. All parts such as ball screws, linear rails, motors and milling spindles are tested for precision before they are installed, and the resultant data is recorded and registered. Then, the machine is calibrated and fine-tuned at individual stations according to standardised production processes.

Machine assembly is a very complex procedure and employees have to comply with strict checklists, which serve to coordinate the different working steps and ensure safety. The new milling unit must pass through numerous quality stations before it reaches the final inspection and each employee is responsible for a specific assembly step, becoming an expert in what he or she does.

The first milling process is also performed in this location: only after the execution of the final checks and tests is the equipment ready to leave the production site, moving on to the on-site logistic department. A selection of glass cases, which the clients can choose from to personalise their equipment, is also available.