How I Took My Lab on the Road
Posted Feb 23, 2018 in Labs & Profiles
My wife and I love to camp at the beaches, rivers and mountains near our Simi Valley, CA, home. When I turned 60, we gave up tent camping and bought a used RV for our trips.
Two years ago, in an effort to spend more time RVing, I sold my full service lab I started in 1980 to one of my employees; I retained the orthodontic division, which had gotten very busy. I now work full-time making Orthotropic®* appliances in my home-based lab and out of our RV while we’re on the road.
A 2,000-watt generator powers a small portable compressor to pressurize the pressure pot to cure the acrylic, an electric kettle to boil off the wax used to position the ortho wires and handpiece to finish and polish the acrylic. I carry my tools, including pliers, burs and orthodontic wire.
When we’re camping at sites without electricity—which are common at California beaches—I can even run some of the equipment using a solar panel in conjunction with...
