Thermwood has designed, fabricated and put into operation the largest machine it has ever built. The metalworking machine, dubbed internally as the M400, weighs 51 Tons (103,000 pounds) and is mounted on a special isolated, double steel reinforced concrete pad.  It has a 15 foot wide, 35 foot long floor level steel table that by itself weighs 21,000 pounds.

The massive steel gantry, mounted on parallel walls, moves on four steel rails. It also has a unique feature in that it can be moved up and down by four feet. The Z Axis, mounted on the gantry, has an additional 4 feet of servo travel so that, it is possible to machine parts up to eight foot tall. Moving the entire gantry instead of using an eight foot Z axis results in reduced overhang and significantly higher rigidity and higher quality machined surfaces.

The five axis liquid cooled metalworking head can generate up to 40 HP at speeds up to 20,000 RPM. The Live Load, which is the parts of the machine that move under servo control, weighs 18 Tons, (36,000 pounds). 

The machine is controlled by Thermwood’s Quad Core SuperControl, the same Thermwood designed and built CNC control used on its CNC routers and LSAM systems. This machine is, by far, the largest and heaviest machine built by Thermwood to date and is intended for its own internal production use.

Thermwood has no plans to offer this type of machine for sale, but instead has found that its own increasing demand for large part machining, especially to support growing demand for its LSAM, large scale additive manufacturing machines, required this extraordinary effort. Although the design concept has been in the works for several years, it required about eight months to complete the project and place the machine into production.

About Thermwood Corporation

Thermwood is a US based, multinational, diversified CNC machinery manufacturer that markets its products and services through offices in 11 countries. Thermwood is the oldest manufacturer of highly flexible 3 & 5 axis high-speed machining centers known as CNC routers.

Thermwood has also become the technology and market leader in large scale additive manufacturing systems for thermoplastic composite molds, tooling, patterns and parts with its line of LSAM (Large Scale Additive Manufacturing) machines that both 3D print and trim on the same machine. These are some of the largest and most capable additive manufacturing systems ever produced and are marketed to major companies in the aerospace, marine, automotive and foundry industries as well as military, government and defense contractors.

Thermwood is proud to announce that we will be awarding six scholarships to dependents of associates for the Class of 2020. Each recipient will receive a $2,000 renewable scholarship. 

Since the introduction of these renewable scholarships, Thermwood has awarded over $200,000 to students wishing to further their education. 

Cody Frakes is the son of Dawn Tullis of Santa Claus, IN and Jonathan Frakes.  He is a graduate of Heritage Hills High School. 

He has been a member of Beta Club, Rock/Paper/Scissors Club, Yearbook Staff and Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).  Cody was a member of the 2019 State Finalist Team and also received Academic All-State for Football. 

He plans to study at Indiana University in the fall.

Hannah Schnuck is the daughter of Greg and Janie Schnuck of Santa Claus, IN.  She is a graduate of Heritage Hills High School. 

She has been involved in Beta Club, Student Council and Pep Club.  Hannah participated in Feed My Starving Children and coached 7^th grade volleyball.  She was part of the Patriot Volleyball team and received Volleyball All-Conference PAC 2018/2019 and Volleyball All-State 1^st Team 2019. 

Hannah plans to attend Indiana University to study Business Management. 

Jordan Yates is the daughter of Seth and Angie Yates of Lynnville, IN.  She is a graduate of Tecumseh High School. 

She has been involved in Drama Club, Art Club, Tribe and President of National Honor Society.  Jordan was a member of the Varsity Swim and Golf team.  She also was a member of the THS Dinner Theatre and the THS production of “The Little Mermaid”.  She is the recipient of the Rising Star of Indiana award, Top Ten and ETFCU $5,000 Ted Hitch Scholarship for the 2020-2021 school year. 

Jordan plans to attend University of Louisville for Biochemistry.

Haley McDaniel is the daughter of Jason and Tammy McDaniel of Lynnville, IN.  She is a graduate of Tecumseh High School. 

She has been involved in the Drama Department, Art Club, Academic Team, Marching Band, Drum Major, Pep Band and Concert Band. 

Haley plans to continue her education at Ivy Tech Community College.

Addison Fella is the daughter of Audrie and Michael Leisman of Tell City, IN.  She is a graduate of Tell City High School. 

She was president of the Pep Club, a member of the Spanish and Advocate Club.  Addison participated on the high school Volleyball and Basketball teams.  She was also involved on traveling Volleyball and Softball teams.  She also received All Conference PAC for Volleyball.  

Addison will continue her education and Volleyball career at IU South Bend this fall, and pursue a degree in Exercise Science.

Ian Treat is the son of Ryan and Alison Treat of Ferdinand, IN.  He is a graduate of Forest Park High School. 

Ryan was a member of SADD, Builders Club and Baseball Club K-8.  He also participated in High School Baseball and Football. 

Ian plans to attend Ivy Tech Community College to join the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning Program.  

Thermwood would like to congratulate all seniors of the Class of 2020 and wish them the very best in their future studies and endeavors! 

This update contains the following:

• New Adjust Settings Layout
• Additional Labeling Options
• Door & Drawer Front Matching fix
• Shaker Door Fixes

New Adjust Settings Layout

In this update, we have reorganized the Adjust Settings layout.  For example, all mobile accounts have been grouped into one area and a new Hardware Options section has been added.  We have also grouped Cutting and Air Assist options under the Operations button, while also adding a new user request option for Labeling.

Labeling Options

Now (within the Operations area), you will see some new labeling options that were requested by several users.  These allow you to print labels for All Parts, Off-Fall Only or choose to not print any labels at all.

Improvements/Fixes

We have also addressed a few issues:

• An issue finding a Drawer Front match for MDF Slab Doors was discovered and fixed.
• We have modified the cutting operation for a handful of Shaker Doors where a small amount of material was left in the corners.

What Some of Our Cut Center Owners Are Saying...

In this update, we’ve created a new category of MDF Doors dedicated entirely to the Shaker style, one of the most popular type of door styles within the industry.   These are available with and without a miter cut on the inner profile.   Miter cuts can be machined as a multi-pass or single pass door.

Over 600 New Door and Drawer Front Definitions

Shaker Doors are also available with different pocket depths (0.1875” to 0.4”) and different width for the Styles and Rails (2” to 3” in increments of 0.25”) giving you a wide range of options to choose from.  The addition of Shaker Doors has added approximately 600 new door and drawer front definitions!

What Some of Our Cut Center Owners Are Saying...

Thermwood machine owner, Bednark Studio (located in Brooklyn, New York), has engineered a disposable PETG Face Shield for health care professionals.  They are sharing CNC router files and production information to any other manufacturers across the country who would like to supply these to hospitals, etc. that are in need.

Thermwood is here to assist anyone who would like to produce these face shields on their equipment (including non-Thermwood CNC routers).  If you need help, or would like to do something similar, please contact us at 1-800-533-6901 or email at program@thermwood.com.

Download Face Shield Production Files

Please click here to download a .zip file with instructions, machine code files, tooling and material information.

Included in this download:

• Bednark Studio Face Shield Production Document
• MasksV3 - 27 per sheet nest.dxf
• MasksV3 - 27 per sheet nest TABBED.MCX-7
• MasksV3 - 27 per sheet nest TABBED.NC (tailored for Cut Centers)
• MasksV3 - 32 per sheet nest.dxf

Material Required (supplies may be scarce):

• PETG / Polycarbonate with 0.02” or 0.03” thickness in 4’x8’ sheets
• 1” Plank Foam or Stacked Adhesive Weather-stripping
• ¾” Flat Elastic Chord

Recommended Tooling:

• Amana Tool 46225-K
• 1/8” down spiral plastic tooling

Notes (from Bednark Studio):

1. This thinner material is very difficult to hold down with vacuum.  We used tabbing to prevent the parts from moving.  Once most of the machining was done, the machine removed the tabs.  Please refer to ‘MasksV3 - 27 per sheet nest TABBED.MCX-7’ to see how we accomplished this. 
2. The matching NC file is the program Bednark Studio is running on their Cut Center.

More Information

Bednark Face Shield Story from the New York Times

During these unprecedented times, we wanted to reach out and thank all of our customers, and to let you know that Thermwood has been classified as an essential business for our involvement in critical manufacturing, logistics and the defense industrial base.  

As such, we are operating as normally as possible to support our customers.  We are available to support and assist via phone, email and virtual service.

Free Live Demonstrations Available

For new machine purchases, our CNC Router and Additive Manufacturing experts can still evaluate your production needs and determine how you can best reduce costs and increase efficiency.  We offer free live demonstrations of our equipment and software to qualified companies.  These demonstrations can be done via Webex, Skype, as a time study, via dedicated hosted video and/or by completing your project and shipping it back to you for verification.

If you have any questions on how Thermwood can help improve your business, or if you need support, please give us a call at 1-800-533-6901 for sales (1-800-221-3865 for service) or click on the Request More Information link below. 

We are all in this together and Thermwood is committed to doing our best to rise to this new challenge and support all of our customers both existing and new.

About Thermwood Corporation

Thermwood is a US based, multinational, diversified CNC machinery manufacturer that markets its products and services through offices in 11 countries. Thermwood is the oldest manufacturer of highly flexible 3 & 5 axis high-speed machining centers known as CNC routers.

Thermwood has also become the technology and market leader in large scale additive manufacturing systems for thermoplastic composite molds, tooling, patterns and parts with its line of LSAM (Large Scale Additive Manufacturing) machines that both 3D print and trim on the same machine. These are some of the largest and most capable additive manufacturing systems ever produced and are marketed to major companies in the aerospace, marine, automotive and foundry industries as well as military, government and defense contractors.

Thermwood recently completed a 3D printed multi-piece foundry pattern.  The pattern was printed on an LSAM 1020, and machined on a Thermwood 5 Axis Model 90 (because of other projects that were pending on the LSAM).

The pattern was printed out of ABS (20% carbon fiber fill).  Print time for the project was 6 hours and 40 minutes, and the trim time was a little over 47 hours with multiple fixture setups.

Click below to watch a video of the process:

The final pattern after trimming

The completed and assembled pattern.

About Thermwood Corporation

Thermwood is a US based, multinational, diversified CNC machinery manufacturer that markets its products and services through offices in 11 countries. Thermwood is the oldest manufacturer of highly flexible 3 & 5 axis high-speed machining centers known as CNC routers.

Thermwood has also become the technology and market leader in large scale additive manufacturing systems for thermoplastic composite molds, tooling, patterns and parts with its line of LSAM (Large Scale Additive Manufacturing) machines that both 3D print and trim on the same machine. These are some of the largest and most capable additive manufacturing systems ever produced and are marketed to major companies in the aerospace, marine, automotive and foundry industries as well as military, government and defense contractors.

Aerodef 2020 (March 17th and 18th) in Fort Worth, TX, starts next week, and Thermwood will be there (Booth #615) to talk LSAM (Large Scale Additive Manufacturing).

We will have the the 18 1/2 foot long Bell Helicopter Blade Mold on hand in addition to other 3D printed samples to see and touch as well as videos and literature.  Our knowledgeable sales staff will also be on hand to help answer any questions you may have about the future of Large Scale Additive Manufacturing and how the Thermwood LSAM can help your company charge ahead in this new area. 

About Thermwood Corporation

Thermwood is a US based, multinational, diversified CNC machinery manufacturer that markets its products and services through offices in 11 countries. Thermwood is the oldest manufacturer of highly flexible 3 & 5 axis high-speed machining centers known as CNC routers.

Thermwood has also become the technology and market leader in large scale additive manufacturing systems for thermoplastic composite molds, tooling, patterns and parts with its line of LSAM (Large Scale Additive Manufacturing) machines that both 3D print and trim on the same machine. These are some of the largest and most capable additive manufacturing systems ever produced and are marketed to major companies in the aerospace, marine, automotive and foundry industries as well as military, government and defense contractors.

Thermwood recently announced the LSAM MT, a lower cost moving table version of its industry-leading LSAM (large scale additive system). Although Thermwood has hundreds of open moving table CNC routers in operation, similar in configuration to the MT, and believes this configuration will also work for many LSAM customers, several larger customers requested an enclosed machine configuration that is the same size as the MT, but configured like the larger LSAM high wall systems. 

To address this request for a lower cost enclosed machine, Thermwood has announced the LSAM 1010. This system uses the walls from the larger LSAM systems with the gantry, control and sub-systems from the MT.

The new LSAM 1010 has both the print and trim heads on same the gantry just like the LSAM MT.

The Details

A single moving gantry on the LSAM 1010 carries both the print and trim heads just like on the MT.

The LSAM 1010 features a fixed 10 foot by 10 foot table. A single moving gantry carries both the print and trim heads as on the MT and, like the MT, it can both print and trim (but not at the same time). The print and trim heads on all Thermwood LSAMs are the same, so all machines can process virtually any reinforced composite thermoplastic materials available today.

The print and trim heads on all Thermwood LSAMs are the same, so all machines can process virtually any reinforced composite thermoplastic materials available today.

Although the LSAM 1010 is slightly higher in price than the MT, it is noticeably less than the larger LSAMs and generally less than the cost and complexity of trying to add an external enclosure to the MT.

In addition, even though the LSAM 1010 is slightly wider than the larger LSAMs (to accommodate mounting both the print and trim heads on the same gantry), the overall footprint of the 1010 is actually slightly smaller than required for the MT. And, like the MT, the 1010 can be purchased as a print only machine. 

Thermwood believes that, since it is enclosed like the larger LSAMs, the LSAM 1010 can be built to meet European CE requirements, just like the larger machines.

With the introduction of the LSAM 1010, it is clear that Thermwood is committed to responding to customer requests and providing its industry-leading LSAM additive manufacturing technology in a variety of configurations to better fit varying customer requirements.

About Thermwood Corporation

Thermwood is a US based, multinational, diversified CNC machinery manufacturer that markets its products and services through offices in 11 countries. Thermwood is the oldest manufacturer of highly flexible 3 & 5 axis high-speed machining centers known as CNC routers.

Thermwood has also become the technology and market leader in large scale additive manufacturing systems for thermoplastic composite molds, tooling, patterns and parts with its line of LSAM (Large Scale Additive Manufacturing) machines that both 3D print and trim on the same machine. These are some of the largest and most capable additive manufacturing systems ever produced and are marketed to major companies in the aerospace, marine, automotive and foundry industries as well as military, government and defense contractors.

CGTech, makers of industry leading VERICUT software, has partnered with Thermwood to simulate both the additive 3-D Printing and subtractive machining capabilities of their LSAM machines.

LSAM is designed for large scale 3-D printing of thermoplastic polymers. Thermwood’s LSAM machines utilize unique patented technology to produce the highest quality thermoplastic polymer printed structures available. The machines feature both additive and subtractive heads to accommodate printing and trimming of large scale “near net shape” parts on the same machine. Thermwood’s LSAM machines are available in Dual Gantry and Moving Table models, in a variety of sizes. Both systems can process high temperature polymers which are ideal for autoclave capable tooling or compression molds for thermoset materials.

"We have over 55 patented features (and over a dozen more pending) that set the LSAM apart from any other large scale additive system available today.  Features like our chilled roller wheel, vertical layer printing system and LSAM Print 3D software make us the clear leader in large scale additive manufacturing,” says Dennis Palmer, Vice President of Sales at Thermwood. "VERICUT is an important tool to use with LSAM.  It assures that the tool path is correct, eliminating the possibility of expensive mishaps."

VERICUT's Additive module simulates both additive 3-D printing and traditional machining capabilities of hybrid CNC machines to verify that the full manufacturing process will work,and the finished part matches the intended engineered design. VERICUT simulates adding or cutting, in any sequence, making it the perfect solution for verification, simulation and optimization of Thermwood's industrial LSAM machines.

CGTech’s VERICUT Product Manger, Gene Granata, says “CGTech is thrilled to be working closely with the Thermwood team to provide the highest degree of simulation possible for their large scale additive machines. VERICUT’s Additive and hybrid simulation software is a perfect match for the LSAM’s highly versatile and capable environment."

To learn more about the partnership and see an LSAM simulation in action, click here.

About CGTech

CGTech’s VERICUT® software is the standard for CNC simulation, verification, optimization, analysis, and additive manufacturing. CGTech also offers programming and simulation software for composites automated fiber-placement, tape-laying, and drilling/fastening CNC machines. VERICUT software is used by companies of different sizes in all industries. Established in 1988, and headquartered in Irvine, California; CGTech has offices worldwide. For more information: visit the CGTech website at cgtech.com, call (949) 753-1050, or email info@cgtech.com.

About Thermwood Corporation

Thermwood is a US based, multinational, diversified CNC machinery manufacturer that markets its products and services through offices in 11 countries. Thermwood is the oldest manufacturer of highly flexible 3 & 5 axis high-speed machining centers known as CNC routers.

Thermwood has also become the technology and market leader in large scale additive manufacturing systems for thermoplastic composite molds, tooling, patterns and parts with its line of LSAM (Large Scale Additive Manufacturing) machines that both 3D print and trim on the same machine. These are some of the largest and most capable additive manufacturing systems ever produced and are marketed to major companies in the aerospace, marine, automotive and foundry industries as well as military, government and defense contractors.