Thermwood Develops New Vertical Tech for Large Format 3D Printing

Indiana-based Thermwood Corporation is the oldest manufacturer of highly flexible 3 and 5 axis CNC routers, and entered the 3D printing industry five years ago with a unique hybrid machine. Since then, it’s introduced, and continued improving upon, its Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) systems. These machines have both 3D printing and trimming capabilities, and are obviously used for making really big parts, like thermoplastic composite molds and tooling, for a variety of industries, such as aerospace, automotive, defense, government, marine, and military. Users have 3D printed parts that stand over 20 feet tall and weigh up to 50,000 pounds on Thermwood’s larger LSAM machines, using the company’s patented Vertical Layer Print (VLP) technology.

Instead of printing on a horizontal plane, VLP prints on a vertical one, which makes it possible to fabricate much taller parts than prints with horizontal layers could accomplish. But now, Thermwood has announced that it has successfully demonstrated a new approach to large-format 3D printing with this technology.

Moving gantries, high walls, and a fixed table are the typical features of Thermwood’s LSAM 3D printing systems, and when vertical printing is required for a tall part, a vertical moving table is used, which is supported by stainless steel belts that slide right on top of the main fixed table. However, Thermwood released its MT last year, which is a less expensive LSAM printer with a moving table and fixed gantry but the ability to trim on the same machine. Just like the larger LSAM systems, parts are 3D printed at high speed and then machined to their final shape and size once they’ve cooled.

To achieve vertically 3D printed tall parts on the LSAM-MT, the machine would need what the company referred to in a press release as a “fundamentally different approach.”

Thermwood’s new VLP approach prints parts on a support structure, which rides along on the moving table but is fixed in place to the back. The back of the main table features a second 5′ x 10′ print table that’s been vertically mounted, and as the part continues to get larger, the moving table pulls it onto a support structure. This process allows the LSAM-MT 3D printer to fabricate parts that are up to 5′ x 10′ x 10′ (ZXY axes). It reminds me somewhat of a much larger version of conveyor belt 3D printers, though as far as I’m aware, those allow for long parts but don’t ensure vertical 3D prints.

In order to validate its new VLP process, the company printed parts out of low- and high-temperature thermoplastics. The first of these parts was made using carbon fiber reinforced ABS, often the choice for parts like fixtures, foundry patterns, industrial tooling, and structural components that operate at or right above room temperature.

The second high temperature part Thermwood built using the new approach weighed in at 1,190 pounds—the limit for a moving table system. It took just shy of 17 hours to complete and was printed out of a Techmer blended 25% carbon fiber reinforced PSU/PESU material, which, along with PEI, is used most often for tooling and molds that work at higher temperatures, typically with pressure and vacuum in an autoclave.

Not only do Thermwood’s LSAM 3D printers have practically no weight limitations, but they can also print large parts that are able to maintain “vacuum to aerospace standards” without having to add a secondary coating. Now, with its new and improved VLP approach, the company is building and delivering large-scale 3D printing systems that are actually up to 40 feet long.

(Source/Images: Thermwood Corporation)

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US Air Force uses Senvol software to develop multi-laser 3D printing applications

The US Air Force is using Senvol’s data-driven machine learning software for additive manufacturing (AM), to enable the production of large-scale aerospace parts using multi-laser 3D printing technology. Utilizing an EOS powder bed fusion (LPBF) 3D printer, the program is focused on developing baseline mechanical properties and design allowables, to optimize the production of end-use […]

State of the Art: Carbon Fiber 3D Printing, Part Six

One topic we’ve skirted around in our carbon fiber series so far is large-scale composite printing processes. The reason for this is because it is both a big topic, literally and figuratively and involves material mixes that don’t quite fit with the continuous carbon fiber reinforcements we’ve discussed so far.

The BAAM 3D printer. Image courtesy of ORNL.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a pioneer in this space because the U.S. Department of Energy Lab almost single-handedly developed the technology, though it did so with the help of public tax dollars and partnerships with companies in the industry. Working with machine manufacturer Cincinnati Incorporated and Local Motors, ORNL developed the first large-scale plastic pellet 3D printer.

The project team used an old experiment additive construction that consisted of a large gantry system meant for extruding concrete. The printer was retrofitted with a screw extruder to process pellets made up of ABS with roughly five percent chopped carbon fiber filler. Using pellets has the advantage of much faster material handling, as well as reduced cost, since these are the same materials made for injection molding. Since injection molding pellets are available in wide supply and don’t need to be further processed into filament, the price is significantly lower.

The result was the Big Area Additive Manufacturing-CI system. The original BAAM-CI system was capable of printing 40 pounds of material per hour in a build volume of 7 ft x 13 ft x 3 ft. To demonstrate the sheer power of the machine, ORNL and its partners have 3D printed the chassis for a number of vehicles, including cars, boats and excavator cabs.

This Shelby Cobra is 3D-printed. Image courtesy of ORNL.

Since the first BAAM-CI printer was used to create a replica Shelby Cobra, its capabilities have grown greatly. Cincinnati Inc. now offers four sizes ranging from 11.7 ft x 5.4 ft x 3 ft to 20 ft x 7.5 ft x 6 ft, with a feed rate that has doubled to 80 lbs/hr. Cincinnati Inc. now offers a wider portfolio of 3D printers, including a Medium Area Additive Manufacturing system with a 1m x 1m x 1m build volume and 1 kg/hr deposition rate, as well as desktop-sized Small Area Additive Manufacturing printers.

The ability to handle composites with higher carbon fiber content has been achieved, as well. When 3D printing the first vehicle chassis for Local Motors, a 15 percent carbon fiber fill was used. In some cases, up to 50 percent carbon fiber content has been printed. Cincinnati states that “dozens of materials” have been used on its BAAM machines, such as ABS, PPS, PC, PLA, and PEI. In addition to carbon fiber, glass fiber and organic fiber have been used for reinforcement.

Taking a cue from its competitor, CNC manufacturer Thermwood developed its own large-scale additive extrusion technology, the Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) series. Available with either a fixed or moving print table, the dual-gantry LSAM series is available with a print volume of 10 ft x 20 ft x 10 ft or 10 ft x 40 ft x 10 ft and can deposit 500 pounds of material per hour. And, while projects made by the BAAM printer require post-processing via CNC milling, the LSAM series has built-in machining capabilities that bring near-net-shape blanks to their final form.

Ingersoll’s MasterPrint was used to 3D print this boat. Image courtesy of Ingersoll.

To beat out everyone else in the manufacturing equipment space, Ingersoll Machine Tools worked with ORNL to develop the MasterPrint 3D printer, capable of 3D printing objects as large as 100 feet long, 20 feet wide and 10 feet tall at rates of 150 lbs/h to 1000 lbs/h. The system also features a CNC tool for machining parts to completion. We should note here that Thermwood claims its LSAM platform can be extended to be 100 feet long, though we have not yet seen such a setup.

Ingersoll sold its first MasterPrint system to the University of Maine, which it used to 3D print a 25-foot, 5,000-pound boat in under 72 hours. The ship, which will be used in a simulation program, had the distinction of achieving a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest solid 3D-printed item and largest 3D-printed boat.

The goal of the printer for Ingersoll is to fabricate massive tools for the aerospace industry. Upon the unveiling of the massive ship, CEO Chip Storie said, “The reality is we went into this technology targeting aerospace and you can print a large aerospace tool in a matter of hours or days where if you go the traditional route, it can take nine or 10 months to be able to build a tool. The cost difference for traditional tooling can run upwards of a million dollars to build an aerospace tool, where you can print a tool using our technology for tens of thousands of dollars. So, there’s a huge cost benefit. There’s a huge time benefit for the aerospace industry.”

The composites being used by these companies may only feature chopped reinforcement materials, but the speed and scale at which they can print is certainly impressive. In the case of Ingersoll, the company is working on incorporating hybrid modules that include fiber placement, tape laying, inspection and trimming.

We may see such systems as these become commonplace in certain manufacturing environments, particularly if continuous reinforcement can be integrated into the process. To learn more about the future of carbon fiber 3D printing, we’ll be looking at research endeavors in this field in our next section in the series.

The post State of the Art: Carbon Fiber 3D Printing, Part Six appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

ARFL, Boeing, Thermwood apply Large Scale Additive Manufacturing to autoclave tools

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Manufacturing and Industrial Technology Division (ManTech) is collaborating with Boeing and Indiana-based machinery manufacturer Thermwood to produce low-cost responsive tooling using additive manufacturing. As part of AFRL’s Low-Cost Attributable Technology (LCAAT) program, the partners are leveraging Thermwood’s Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) machine to 3D print autoclave tools […]

3D Printing News Briefs: February 8, 2019

We made it to the weekend! To celebrate, check out our 3D Printing News Briefs today, which covers business, research, and a few other topics as well. PostProcess has signed its 7th channel partner in North America, while GEFERTEC partners with Linde on 3D printing research. Researchers from Purdue and USC are working together to develop new AI technology, and the finalists for Additive World’s Design for Additive Manufacturing 2019 competition have been announced. Finally, Marines in Hawaii used 3D printing to make a long overdue repair part, and Thermwood and Bell teamed up to 3D print a helicopter blade mold.

PostProcess Technologies Signs Latest North American Channel Partner

PostProcess Technologies, which provides automated and intelligent post-printing solutions for additive manufacturing, has announced its seventh North American Channel Partner in the last year: Hawk Ridge Systems, the largest global provider of 3D design and manufacturing solutions. This new partnership will serve as a natural extension of Hawk Ridge Systems’ AM solutions portfolio, and the company will now represent PostProcess Technologies’ solution portfolio in select North American territories.

“Hawk Ridge Systems believes in providing turnkey 3D printers for our customers for use in rapid prototyping, tooling, and production manufacturing. Often overlooked, post-printing is a critical part of all 3D printing processes, including support removal and surface finish refinement,” said Cameron Carson, VP of Engineering at Hawk Ridge Systems. “PostProcess Technologies provides a comprehensive line of equipment that helps our customers lower the cost of labor and achieve more consistent high-quality results for our 3D printing technologies, including SL (Vat polymerization), MJF (Sintered polymer), and ADAM (Metal) printing. We vet our partnerships very closely for consistent values and quality, and I was impressed with PostProcess Technologies’ reputation for reliability and quality – an ideal partnership to bring solutions to our customers.”

GEFERTEC and Linde Working Together on 3D Printing Research

Near-net-shaped part after 3D printing. [Image: GEFERTEC]

In order to investigate the influence of the process gas and the oxygen percentage on 3DMP technology, which combines arc welding with CAD data of metal parts, GEFERTEC GmbH and Linde AG have entered into a joint research project. The two already work closely together – Linde, which is part of the larger Linde Group, uses its worldwide distribution network to supply process gases for 3D printing (especially DMLS/metal 3D printing/LPBF), while GEFERTEC brings its arc machines, which use wire as the starting material to create near-net-shaped parts in layers; conventional milling can be used later to further machine the part after 3D printing is complete.

The 3D printing for this joint project will take place at fellow research partner Fraunhofer IGCV‘s additive manufacturing laboratory, where GEFERTEC will install one of its 3D printers. The last research partner is MT Aerospace AG, which will perform mechanical tests on the 3D printed parts.

Purdue University and USC Researchers Developing New AI Technology

In another joint project, researchers from Purdue University and the University of Southern California (USC) are working to develop new artificial intelligence technology that could potentially use machine learning to enable aircraft parts to fit together more precisely, which means that assembly time can be reduced. The work speaks to a significant challenge in the current AM industry – individual 3D printed parts need a high level of both precision and reproducibility, and the joint team’s AI technology allows users to run software components in their current local network, exposing an API. Then, the software will use machine learning to analyze the product data and build plans to 3D print the specific parts more accurately.

“We’re really taking a giant leap and working on the future of manufacturing. We have developed automated machine learning technology to help improve additive manufacturing. This kind of innovation is heading on the path to essentially allowing anyone to be a manufacturer,” said Arman Sabbaghi, an assistant professor of statistics in Purdue’s College of Science.

“This has applications for many industries, such as aerospace, where exact geometric dimensions are crucial to ensure reliability and safety. This has been the first time where I’ve been able to see my statistical work really make a difference and it’s the most incredible feeling in the world.”

Both 3D Printing and AI are very “hot” right now. Outside of the hype there are many ways that machine learning could be very beneficial for 3D printing in coming years in part prediction, melt pool monitoring and prediction, fault analysis and in layer QA. Purdue’s technology could be a possible step forward to “Intelligent CAD” that does much of the calculation, analysis and part generation for you.

Finalists Announced for Design for Additive Manufacturing Challenge

[Image: Additive Industries]

Additive Industries has announced the finalists for its Additive World Design for Additive Manufacturing Challenge, a yearly competition where contestants redesign an existing, conventionally manufactured part of a machine or product with 3D printing, taking care to use the technology’s unique design capabilities, like custom elements and thin walls. This year, over 121 students and professionals entered the contest, and three finalists were chosen in each category, with two honorable mentions – the Unibody Hydraulic System by from Italy’s Aidro Hydraulics & 3D Printing and the Contirod-Düse from Nina Uppenkam, SMS Group GmbH – in the professional category.

“The redesigns submitted from all over the world and across different fields like automotive, aerospace, medical, tooling, and high tech, demonstrated how product designs can be improved when the freedom of additive manufacturing is applied,” said Daan Kersten, CEO of Additive Industries. “This year again we saw major focus on the elimination of conventional manufacturing difficulties, minimization of assembly and lowering logistical costs. There are also interesting potential business cases within both categories.”

The finalist designs are listed below, and can be seen in the image above, left to right, top to bottom:

  • “Hyper-performance suspension upright” from Revannth Narmatha Murugesan, Carbon Performance Limited (United Kingdom, professional)
  • “Cutting dough knife” from Jaap Bulsink, K3D (The Netherlands, professional)
  • “Cold Finger” from Kartheek Raghu, Wipro3D (India, professional)
  • “Brake Caliper” from Nanyang Technological University team (Singapore, student)
  • “Cubesat Propellant Tank” from Abraham Mathew, the McMaster University (Canada, student)
  • “Twin Spark Connecting Rod” from Obasogie Okpamen, the Landmark University (Nigeria, student)

Marines 3D Printed Repair Part 

US Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Tracey Taylor, a computer technician with 7th Communications Battalion, aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan, is one of the Marines that utilize 3D printing technology to expand capabilities within the unit. [Photo: US Marine Corps Cpl. George Melendez]

To save time by moving past the lengthy requisitioning process, 3D printing was used at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, to create a repair part that would help fix a critical component to increase unit readiness. This winter, Support Company, Combat Logistics Battalion (CLB) 3 fabricated the part for the Electronic Maintenance (EM) Platoon, 3rd Radion Battalion, and both EM technicians and members of CLB-3 worked together to design, develop, and 3D print the part, then repaired the component, within just one month, after having spent almost a year trying to get around delays to fix it.

US Marine Cpl. Anthony Farrington, designer, CLB-3, said that it took about three hours to design the replacement part prototype, and an average between five to six hours to 3D print it, before it was used to restore the unit to full capability.

“With the use of 3D printing, Marines are empowered to create solutions to immediate and imminent challenges through additive manufacturing innovation,” said subject matter expert US Marine Chief Warrant Officer 3 Waldo Buitrago, CLB-3.

“We need to embrace 3D printing and encourage our Marines to express their creativity, which in turn, could lead to solutions in garrison and combat such as in this case study.”

3D Printed Helicopter Blade Mold

Thermwood and Bell recently worked together to create a 3D printed tool, but not just any 3D printed tool. Thermwood believes that the 3D printed helicopter blade mold is the largest ever 3D printed autoclave-capable tool. Bell, frustrated with expensive tooling that took a long lead time, reached out to Thermwood for help, and the company suggested its LSAM system, with new 60 mm melt core technology. Bell then provided Thermwood with a 20-foot-long, 17-inch-high, 14-inch-wide closed cavity blade mold, and upon receiving both the model and Bell’s tooling requirements, Thermwood began printing the tool with Techmer PM’s 25% carbon fiber reinforced PESU material (formulated specifically for its LSAM additive printing) in a continuous run. The new melt core can achieve a high print rate, even when processing high temperature material, which was great news for Bell.

Glenn Isbell, Vice President of Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Innovation at Bell, said, “Thermwood’s aggressive approach to pushing the boundaries and limitations of traditional 3D printing and machining is exactly what we were looking for.”

The final bond tool was able to maintain the vacuum standards required by Bell for autoclave processing right off the printer, without needing a seal coating. Thermwood will soon 3D print the second half of the blade mold, and both teams will complete further testing on PESU 3D printed molds for the purpose of continued innovation.

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