Live Printing

For CAMX 2022 in Anaheim, CA on October 18^th-20^th, Thermwood will be printing LIVE on an LSAM Additive Printer 510 – two sections of a multi-piece layup tool each day using Airtech Advanced Materials Group Dahltram™ C-250 CF carbon fiber reinforced PC material. LSAM Research Laboratory at Purdue ADDITIVE3D Software will be on display as well, with Purdue representatives on site for demonstrations.  We will also have several large customer-created large scale tools on display from Airtech, Ascent Aerospace, General Atomics and more. 

This promises to be an exciting demonstration of the LSAM Additive Printer Large Scale Additive System in Booth #W2.  

LSAM Research Laboratory at Purdue ADDITIVE3D Software on Display

Representatives from the Thermwood Research Laboratory at Purdue University (located in Purdue University's Composites Manufacturing Simulation Center - CSMC) will also be on hand to demonstrate their ADDITVE3D simulation software.

We will be printing two sections of a multi-piece layup tool each day using Airtech Advanced Materials Group Dahltram™ C-250 CF carbon fiber reinforced PC material

About the LSAM Additive Printer

The LSAM Additive Printer systems are single gantry, moving table configurations and are available in two table sizes, 5’x5’ and 5’x10’. The 5’x10’ table is available in two configurations, 5’ wide with 10’ of front to back motion and 10’ wide with 5’ of front to back motion. Choice of configuration depends on several factors, fitting it existing factory floor space is one factor.

The specially designed, highly rigid tab and slot, structural steel gantry also incorporates a fume extraction system that pulls print fumes through specially designed activated charcoal filters to remove them and “sweeten” the air.

LSAM additive Printers use the exact same print head mechanism as all the other, including the largest LSAM Systems which means that they produce the same amazing print quality that has made LSAM the leader in large scale additive printing. They also use the same highly advanced Ultra 6 control with all its exclusive, patented print features and capability.

The systems come standard with a single hopper polymer dryer for applications that don’t change print material very often. For installations that print a wider variety of materials, a dual hopper dryer is available as an option.

An enclosure that surrounds the machine is also available. The machine with the full enclosure can also be built to meet European CE standards.

Thermwood is proud to announce that we will be awarding four scholarships to dependents of associates for the Class of 2022. 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. 

Olivia Lopez is the daughter of Daniel and Tena Lopez of Holland, IN.  She is a graduate of Southridge High School.

She has been a member of the National Honor Society, Business Professionals of America, Freshman Mentor Program, Christian Motorcyclists Association, and tennis team. She is also passionate about creative writing.

Olivia plans to major in Forensic Science at Maryville University in the fall.  

Emma Haefling is the daughter of Paul and Ellen Haefling of Santa Claus, IN.  She is a graduate of Heritage Hills High School.

During high school Emma was part of the Beta Club, Student Council, HH Riley’s Dance Marathon, and Volleyball team. She has been awarded the Top 10% of Class, the Captains & Patriot award for Volleyball, Science Fair awards, and Behavioral Science for 2022 Science Bowl.

She plans to major in Biology (Genetics) at Ball State University this fall.

Andrew Meece is the son of Natalie and Jeff Meece of Huntingburg, IN. He is a graduate of Southridge High School.

He has been a member of the Raider Band and Choir during high school. He is also an active member of the Zoar Methodist Church.

Andrew plans to attend Asbury University to major in Biblical Theology.

Emma Tretter is the daughter of Daniel and Jennifer Vonderheide of Jasper, IN. She is a graduate of Northeast Dubois Jr/Sr High School.

She plans to major in Design Technology at Ivy Tech Community College Evansville in the fall.

Thermwood would like to congratulate all seniors of the Class of 2022 and wish them the very best in their future studies and endeavors! 

ABOUT THE LSAM ADDITIVE PRINTER

Thermwood Corporation, manufacturer of some of the largest composite thermoplastic additive manufacturing systems operating in industry today, has announced the availability of a new line of lower cost “print only” LSAM systems, called LSAM Additive Printers.

Thermwood’s current LSAM line of large scale, dual gantry, “print and trim”, near-net-shape additive manufacturing systems use an advanced print technology that produces high quality, fully fused products from a wide variety of reinforced composite thermoplastic polymers, including materials that process at high temperature like PSU, PESU, and PEI.

These systems are being used primarily to produce molds and tooling, most for aerospace and industrial production applications.

SMALL BUT POWERFUL

To accommodate the request for a lower cost system, Thermwood refined and updated the gantry structure of its highly successful 5 axis CNC routers.  This machine was re-engineered to use the incredibly strong “slot and tab” structural steel approach used on flagship LSAM machines. The same table, base structure and servo drives used on their five axis CNC routers could be used pretty much as is. With these changes the “LSAM Additive Printer” was born.

Although smaller than the flagship systems, it is capable of producing large parts at temperatures up to 450° C, with overall size limited primarily by the table size and working envelope. 

Available Sizes

The new LSAM Additive Printers are all fixed gantry, moving table designs with table sizes of 5’x5’ and 5’x10’ and are capable of printing parts up to 4’ high.  The 5’x10’ machines are available in two styles, 5’ wide with 10’ of front to back motion or 10’ wide with 5’ of front to back motion. Maximum table print weight is 1,000 pounds, however, the 10’ wide 5’ deep machine is available with a dual servo drive which doubles the weight carrying capability. It is planned to equip the 5’ wide 10’ deep version with a Vertical Layer Printing option which will allow it to vertically print parts up to ten feet tall.

Trimming Printed Parts

For trimming printed parts, Thermwood recommends our new LSAM Additive Trimmer, which is available in the same table sizes as these new LSAM Additive Printers.  It is available with up to 5’ of vertical travel, allowing it to trim completely around and over the top of the largest part the LSAM Additive Printer can print. As an added benefit, with both an LSAM Additive Printer and an LSAM Additive Trimmer, you can print and trim at the same time.

Although having a new LSAM Additive Printer plus an LSAM Additive Trimmer requires purchasing two machines, the combined cost of both is just over a third of the cost of an LSAM 1020 (which is currently the smallest flagship LSAM system that can both print and trim at the same time). The LSAM 1020 does have a much larger table, faster print head and the ability to do vertical layer printing up to 20 feet long, however, if you don’t need those capabilities, the new LSAM Additive Printers may be an answer. If you already have trim capability, the cost can be even lower.

Same Powerful Features

The same powerful, feature rich LSAM control used on the large flagship LSAM systems, along with all its unique patented additive print features is standard on the new LSAM Additive Printers. A system for drying and conveying pelletized polymer material is also included as is a liquid chilling system to maintain temperature control on vital systems. This is especially important when processing high temperature materials.

Optional Enclosure

An optional enclosure that surrounds the machine is available.   The machine with this full enclosure can also be built to meet European CE standards.

Optional Dual Hopper Dryer

The machine comes standard with a single hopper material dryer, however, an optional dual hopper dryer is also available for applications that change materials often.

Thermal Sensor Layer Automation System

Thermwood’s new Thermal Sensor Layer Automation System is also available on the LSAM Additive Printers. This is an exciting new system that automates the print process to easily and automatically obtain the highest quality layer to layer fusion.

With this system, a servo controlled thermal sensor, which travels with and rotates around the print nozzle, measures the temperature of the bead an instant before a new bead is added. This data is sent to the control which automatically adjusts print speed to print at the precise temperature that results in the best bead fusion for that particular polymer. Thermwood’s

LSAM print technology already produces the best quality, strongest large scale additive parts and this system not only makes it better but also easier.

Same Powerful Print 3D Slicing Software

The same Thermwood LSAM Print 3D slicing software used on all the other LSAM systems is used to program LSAM Additive Printers. Several levels of software training are available.

The Bottom Line

This new LSAM Additive Printer is intended to introduce LSAM additive technology to a whole new level of application and customer. It targets companies that want to print top quality, large composite thermoplastic parts, but don’t really need, nor can they cost-justify, the really large LSAM systems. These new systems also target companies who already have sufficient trimming capability and may only need a quality print function. Applications include industrial fixtures, molds (including high temperature molds), tooling, foundry patterns, and hundreds, if not thousands of similar applications.

With the addition of the LSAM Additive Printers, Thermwood now offers the largest selection of large scale additive manufacturing systems for thermoplastic composite materials in the industry with models available for just about every application and budget.

Purdue CMSC, in collaboration with Purdue Silicon Detector Laboratory (PSDL), is designing, prototyping, testing, and fabricating composite support structures for CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) CMS and ATLAS experiments. This is part of the particle collider’s High Luminosity upgrade, with installation of final components in 2026-27. The Thermwood LSAM 105 Additive Printer and five-axis LSAM Trim router at the Purdue LSAM Research Laboratory have enabled rapid large-scale printing and machining of trimming fixtures for the high precision composite tube structures. The 1m long, 208mm radius trimming fixture was printed on the LSAM with Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) reinforced with 20% by weight of carbon fiber.

Machining Details

The faces that would become the trimming fixture base were machined to the flatness required for fixturing later. The printed, bonded fixture was then mounted on pedestals in the LSAM Additive Trimmer and the surface was machined to fit the nominal inner surface shape of the composites half-cylinders to be trimmed. Edge finding and reference features were machined into the trimming fixture to allow proper centering of the cured composite part.

Using this printed and machined fixture, the composite part edges were trimmed, interface holes drilled, mating surfaces machined flat and a scarf joint for joining the two half cylinders was created. The precision trimmed composite halves were then able to be bonded together.

Final Result

The final tube, 3.2m long, has to support 140kg of mass while only allowing sub millimeter deflections to occur. Purdue CMSC and PSDL will also be designing, fabricating, or testing other composite support structures for the CERN LHC upgrade as small as 0.5mm sheet goods and as large as 2.4m x 5m sandwich panel tubes. It is planned for the LSAM system to be utilized to create tooling and some final components for these other structures.

 

About CMSC

The Composites Manufacturing and Simulation Center (CMSC) of the College of Engineering and the Purdue Polytechnic are located in over 30,000 square feet of the Indiana Manufacturing Institute building. CMSC consists of faculty experts in composites manufacturing, a professional staff of doctoral degree engineers, a support staff and research students in doctoral, masters and bachelor’s degree programs of the Schools Aeronautics and Astronautics, Chemical Engineering and Materials Engineering, as well as, the Department of Aviation Technology in the Polytechnic.

A comprehensive set of laboratories is available at the IMI for the study of composites manufacturing processes, characterization of composite materials, and the validation of simulation software essential to development and verification of the digital twin concepts in composite manufacture and performance. Focus specialties include extrusion deposition additive manufacturing, composites autoclave processing of continuous fiber systems, compression and injection molding of discontinuous fiber composites, prepreg impregnation, infusion molding, sheet forming, complex mold-forming and hybrid continuous/discontinuous fiber systems. Workflow simulations are being developed to provide for end-to-end digital twins of these manufacturing processes. Accordingly, manufacturing informed performance predictions are a direct outcome of these workflow analyses.

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's AutoProcessor 43 Machining Center is an all-new complete, nested-based, CNC routing system for machining cabinet boxes, custom furniture and basically any nested type of sheet product.

Thermwood, who has been producing CNC routers for over 52 years has announced several promotions for long-time employees.  Please join us in congratulating these gentlemen and welcoming them to their new positions!  

Thermwood Promotes Jim Bullis to Vice President of Sales

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Jim Bullis to the Vice President of Sales position. In his new role, Jim will oversee the sales and operations of the Machining Products Division at Thermwood. 

Jim is a long-standing employee with over 26 years of experience at Thermwood. He has held numerous positions, initially starting as a Field Service Technician to Trade Show Manager and over the last 19 years as an Account Manager.

Jim resides in Southern Indiana with his wife, Jessy and children.

Thermwood Promotes Brendan Haas to Account Manager

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Brendan Haas to an Account Manager position within the Machining Products Division. In his new role, he will be responsible for sales and dealer relationships over his designated areas, which is approximately half of the US.

Brendan initially started at Thermwood as a Field Service Technician, and over the last three years, as an Upgrade Specialist in the Retrofit Department for Technical Services.

Brendan and his wife, Kateland reside in Holland, IN. 

Thermwood Promotes Pete Riddle to Upgrade Services Specialist

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Pete Riddle to Upgrade Service Specialist in the Retrofit Department. In his new role, Pete will be responsible for sales of upgrades, retrofits, refurbished machines and the Advanced Support Program.

Pete is a long-standing employee with approximately 21 years of experience at Thermwood. He has held numerous positions, initially as a Field Service Technician and then as Programming Support and for the last 11 years as Training Instructor.

Pete and his wife, Susan reside in southern Indiana.

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.

Virtually all, if not all, large format, FDM additive systems, sold to industry in the last several years have been Thermwood LSAMs.

Watch the video below to learn 21 reasons why:

Thermwood routinely applies for patent protection on additive manufacturing technology it develops for its LSAM large format additive systems. During COVID, we received electronic copies of patents that were granted, however, the official hard copies were withheld.

A couple of days before Christmas 2021, we received a package containing the official hard copy of 32 additive manufacturing patents. This was certainly a one-day record for Thermwood and a welcome sight!

In addition to these latest patents, Thermwood already has a large portfolio of earlier issued patents covering the unique, large format (5x10 foot table and larger) 3D print technology it has developed. This LSAM technology is currently the most widely used large scale additive print technology operating in industry today. It’s used in a wide variety of industries including aerospace, transportation, heavy equipment, foundry and large decorative structures. It is being used to produce a diversity of products including aerospace patterns, molds and tooling, heavy equipment foundry patterns, bus chassis, large valve body foundry patterns and trim tooling. It was even used to print the tallest 3D printed structure in the world, the 92 foot tall Al Davis Memorial Torch at Allegiant stadium in Las Vegas.

Thermwood offers this unique patented technology on a wide variety of equipment, the largest, most diverse product offering of its kind available today. It includes a broad selection of machines, including single and dual gantry, fixed and moving table configurations, with both print-only and print-and-trim systems, from 5 by 10 foot to 20 by 60 foot print envelopes. We are working on even larger machines but that’s for another day.

The primary focus of the patented LSAM technology is to reliably and repeatedly produce the highest quality, best fused, most homogeneous printed structures possible from a variety of reinforced thermoplastic polymer composites including those intended to operate at elevated temperatures. Although it is nice to have been granted these patents, it is even nicer to finally have the official hard copies in hand.

Thermwood has added a third print orientation to its LSAM Large Scale Additive Manufacturing systems.

LSAM systems currently can print both horizontal and vertical layers if equipped with the Vertical Layer Print (VLP) option, available on most Thermwood LSAM machines. This new addition adds Angle Layer Printing (ALP) to the VLP option. Angle Layer Printing is the ability to print at a 45 degree angle.

LSAM Angle Layer Printing (ALP) shown

LSAM Regular Vertical Layer Printing (VLP) shown

LSAM Horizontal Layer Printing (HLP) shown

Maximum Print Flexibility

Each print orientation has advantages and limitations for a particular part design. Offering all three on the same machine, for the first time, means maximum print flexibility. All print orientations use the complete LSAM print head including exclusive LSAM print features such as the patented compression wheel and Thermal Sensor Layer Automation.

This helps maintain an even layer temperature throughout the print.  LSAM automatically adjusts the individual layer temperature to provide for superior layer fusion (as seen below).

LSAM machines are currently operating in regular daily industrial production with many existing systems already equipped with Vertical Layer Print capability. The Vertical Layer Print (VLP) option has been replaced with a VLP/ALP option on new machines which offers both vertical and angle layer print capability, in addition to the standard horizontal layer print.

Angle Layer Print (ALP) can be easily and inexpensively added to machines operating in the field that already have the VLP option.

If a machine was purchased without VLP, the entire new VLP/ALP Print option, can be added to most machines already in operation. It can be done in the field, but is a bit more involved.

Broad Line of LSAM Systems Available

Thermwood’s LSAM large scale additive systems are the most widely used large scale composite thermoplastic additive equipment in industrial production today. Virtually all, if not all, large scale additive systems installed in the last several years have been Thermwood LSAMs. Processing a variety of reinforced composite polymers from room temperature ABS and PC to high temperature material such as PSU, PESU and PEI, they are used to produce molds and tools for the aerospace industry, patterns for the foundry industry and for a variety of other unique applications.

LSAM systems are available in sizes from 5x10 foot to 15x60 foot in a variety of configurations including print only and full print and trim, making it the broadest product offering in the large scale additive arena. Print heads are available that can print thermoplastic composite material at rates from 200 pounds per hour to over 500 pounds per hour.

They have a variety of exclusive features including a temperature controlled compression wheel and automatic thermal layer speed control, both of which help assure the best possible fusion between printed layers.

With the addition of Angle Layer Print, these systems have become even more capable and more flexible.

Finished LSAM Angle Layer Print (rear view)

Finished LSAM Angle Layer Print (front view)