Thermwood Corp  

904 Buffaloville Rd
Dale,  IN  47523-9057

United States
800-533-6901
http://www.thermwood.com

• Booth: 1445

Thermwood Corporation, located in Southern Indiana and established in 1969, offers Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) systems for 3D printing reinforced thermoplastic composite materials for producing large to very large industrial tools, molds, patterns, masters, plugs and fixtures for the aerospace, automotive, boating, foundry and thermoforming industries.  The LSAM uses a two-step, near-net shape process which prints slightly larger than the final size, then it is shaped to its exact final size using the CNC router side of the LSAM.  Thermwood also offers both three & five axis CNC machining centers ideally suited for the production, fabrication & trimming of wood, plastics, non-ferrous metals, composites and other advanced materials.  These applications range from machining patterns and molds/plugs to trimming & machining production products for various industries such as woodworking, automotive, aerospace/aviation and defense industries.  Thermwood is a US company with distributors worldwide and provides extensive and complete support, installation, training & ongoing service.

 Press Releases

• Meet the LSAM Additive Printer (Jun 07, 2021)

  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.

  NEW 30MM PRINT HEAD

  The 40-60mm print heads used on our flagship machines weigh well over two tons and require a significant machine structure and powerful servo drives to achieve optimum performance. To accommodate the request for a lower cost system, Thermwood refined and updated a 30mm print head design, initially developed during their print technology development.

  In order to handle the still significant 30mm Print Head, the gantry structure of its highly successful 5 axis CNC routers 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, which can print over 500 pounds per hour, the 30mm print head can still print up to 100 pounds per hour, which is still a higher maximum output than virtually all other systems available today. 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 (2,000 pounds). 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.

  VERTICAL LAYER PRINTING

  All LSAM Additive Printers can print parts up to four feet tall. If you need taller parts, you may be able to print them by lying the part down and printing vertically. The only Additive Printer that supports Vertical Layer Printing is the 5 wide 10-foot-deep version. It can print parts up to 10 foot tall.

  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 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.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.

  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.

  FUME COLLECTION MODULE

  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.  The collector is equipped with (4) carbon cartridges for high efficiency collection of air borne smoke generated from the printing process and produces approximately 5,500 CFM filtered airflow.

  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.

• Thermwood Announces a Major Advance in Additive Print Technology (Jun 07, 2021)

  Thermwood has unveiled a new LSAM additive print technical capability that insures complete fusion between large scale thermoplastic printed layers plus, for the first time, makes print temperature control completely automatic.  

  Thermwood’s LSAM additive manufacturing systems are already producing almost perfectly fused large scale thermoplastic composite structures in multiple industry applications today. To a large extent this is because of a patented feature called “Layer Time Control”.  With a newly announced development, it is now even better and easier. 

  When printing thermoplastic material, each polymer has an ideal print temperature at which the best fusion between layers occurs. This new system not only attains but precisely maintains this ideal temperature automatically. 
  
  Thermal Sensor Layer Automation System 

  Called “Thermal Sensor Layer Automation”, it continuously measures the temperature of a printed layer just before a new bead is added. This allows the machine to automatically adjust the feed speed, using “Layer Time Control”, to print at, or very close to, the perfect temperature needed to achieve the best possible layer to layer fusion. This results in superior printed part quality. Until now, these adjustments relied primarily on operator skill and judgement. Now it is not only totally automatic, but also much more precise. 
  
  The new process uses a non-contact temperature sensor which rotate about the print nozzle under servo control and continuously measures the temperature of the existing layer less than a half inch in front of the moving print nozzle. This provides precise feedback of the temperature at the moment of layer fusion, insuring integrity of the bond being generated at every point on every layer.  

  Data from the probe is processed through an advanced algorithm which adjusts the speed at which each layer is printed. The algorithm takes into account not only the temperature at the point of printing, compared to the target temperature, but also the changing geometry of the part as it grows. Print speed is no longer defined in the print CNC program but instead, it is continuously adjusted by the LSAM control system itself during printing, in response to changes in the print environment. This is important because there is no way to know exactly what the print environment will be when you are creating a program or whether that environment will change during the sometimes lengthy print process, leaving the operator responsible for achieving and continuously maintaining print temperature. This is not a particularly easy task. 

  Automatic Print Temperature Control 
  With Thermwood’s new system, optimum print temperature is now part of the parameters stored in the control for each polymer and is determined when the polymer is first qualified. To run a specific material using a properly equipped LSAM, it is only necessary to load a part program, specify the material and turn it on. The entire build process, including all temperature control, is then pretty well automatic.

  This system achieves much tighter control of the basic print process than is currently possible and best of all, it is totally automatic, not requiring input or adjustment by the machine operator.  
  As a bonus, temperature data from the print process is available in several forms. A digital readout displays, real time, the current temperature reading as well as the average temperature for the layer being printed. These displays are color coded so that the operator can tell at a glance if the program is printing within temperature tolerance. When the print is complete a report is available that details the print temperature profile of each printed layer. This documentation could provide the quality control basis needed to verify more critical parts, such as flying parts on an aircraft, further expanding the capability and potential use of LSAM printing. 
  
  Real-Time Temperature Measurement and Control 
  There is one additional significant aspect to this new development. For the first time in extruder based large scale additive manufacturing, the temperature at the moment of layer fusion can be measured and controlled. This opens the possibility for more advanced research, focused on the very core of an extruder based print process. Research using this technology should result in a better, more thorough understanding of the print and layer fusion process that is at the very core of this emerging industry.  

  Thermwood believes this is a major advance in the base technology and will make large scale additive manufacturing not only better, but also practical for a broad range of new users. It makes a once complex and highly specialized process, pretty well automatic, allowing almost anyone to produce parts today that are better than the best that could be made by highly skilled experts in the past.  
  
  Retrofits Available 
  Existing LSAM customers can also upgrade their current systems to the new Thermal Sensor Layer Automation System in the field.  Please contact our Retrofit department for details. 
  
  The Bottom Line 
  With “Thermal Sensor Layer Automation” large scale composite additive manufacturing has become a valuable new production tool, suitable for a much larger segment of manufacturing applications. It is no longer exclusive to the rare few with highly specialized personnel but it now works for about anyone.

• Purdue University to Establish Thermwood LSAM Research Laboratory (Jun 07, 2021)

  Purdue University’s Composites Manufacturing Simulation Center (CMSC) and Thermwood Corporation have agreed to establish a large scale additive manufacturing laboratory to perform industry-funded research into large scale composite thermoplastic additive manufacturing.

  The new facility will be located in Purdue’s Indiana Manufacturing Institute located in the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, Indiana and will be staffed and operated by Purdue CMSC personnel. The official name for the new facility is the “Thermwood LSAM Research Laboratory at Purdue University”.

  About the Thermwood LSAM Research Laboratory at Purdue University

  The new laboratory will be equipped with an LSAM 105 (ten-five) Large Scale Additive Printer and a corresponding 5 axis LSAM Additive Trimmer plus a variety of support systems. This installation is capable of printing and trimming complex geometries up to five feet by ten feet by four feet tall at print rates of up to 100 lbs. per hour. Commercial maximum print temperature for LSAM printers is usually limited to 450oC, however, this particular system has been modified to allow testing at even higher temperatures for experimentation with innovations in materials normally not used in additive manufacturing.

  “Not only will this effort improve the overall quality of large scale additive printing but it should also increase our knowledge and understanding of the basic process of fusing layers together into a homogeneous structure”
  says Ken Susnjara, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Thermwood.

  “Extrusion deposition composites additive manufacturing is a major innovation that will contribute to the development of tailored products with unique performance and just in time availability.”  
  Adds Dr. R. Byron Pipes, Executive Director of Purdue’s Composite Manufacturing & Simulation Center, the research organization where the LSAM system will be installed.

  Purdue plans to partner with industry to provide services to enhance, encourage and expand the adoption of large-scale additive manufacturing for diverse industrial applications. They also plan to work with polymer suppliers to refine formulations and determine the ideal processing parameters necessary to produce the absolute highest quality large scale printed parts possible.

  Collaborative efforts of this type bring together diverse organizations that each specialize in different aspects of this emerging technology and often produce results that none of the participants could possibly achieve on their own. Both Purdue and Thermwood are confident that this will be the outcome of their collaborative effort.

  About ther Composties Manufacturing and Simulation Center

  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.

  3DEXPERIENCE Education Center of Excellence in Advanced Composites

  To advance the development of digital twin, digital thread and model-based engineering, Dassault Systèmes and CMSC established the 3DEXPERIENCE Education Center of Excellence in Advanced Composites on October 28, 2020. The simulation center was founded on a seven-year partnership between Purdue University and Dassault Systèmes (2013-2020) and it is expected that this new engagement will bring significant benefits to the new relationship with Thermwood as the partners work together to bring the advantages of the digital age to society.

  3DEXPERIENCE Platform and Thermwood LSAM

  Together, they will advance the digital enterprise by developing the human talent essential to this new paradigm and by utilizing the Thermwood LSAM technology and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to exercise digital twins of complex composites manufacturing and performance to demonstrate the power to predict phenomena that are understood today only by empirical experiences. The Partnership will work together to introduce these concepts to a wide range of industries within the advanced composites community from the original equipment manufacturer level to the supply chain industries. The philosophy of these relationships will be to create a learning environment at multiple levels – from advanced research in manufacturing and performance of advanced composites to the engagement of students at all levels needed to build the workforce of the future for Industry 4.0.

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