3D printing additive manufacturing future manufacturing industry is beginning to take shape

As 3D printing / additive manufacturing technology is increasingly promoted in the manufacturing field, more and more traditional processing machinery manufacturers are beginning to add additive manufacturing functions to their own material-reducing equipment, enabling them to have more sophisticated hybrid manufacturing. ability. For example, the 50-year-old CNC processing company, Thermwood, Inc., of Indiana, USA, is trying to use both additive and subtractive manufacturing capabilities on the same machine to produce large graphite-reinforced composite thermoplastic parts.

Thermwood Model 77 before modification

To achieve this, Thermwood added a second gantry to a Thermwood Model 77, and installed a huge extruder on the gantry that heated and melted the graphite. The company also collaborated with American Kuhne, a well-known manufacturer of extruders in the engineering field, for the development of plastics, rubber and silicones.

The original Thermwood Model 77 is a large, enclosed gantry machine that can be expanded to a maximum of 60 feet. American Kuhne has created a custom extruder system that is fully compatible with existing CNC machining machines and is capable of controlling and managing the extruder.

This new system will be able to perform 3D printing on any plane in a typical layered structure, from a strict horizontal to a vertical 90 degrees, and any angle between them. Thermwood added that they believe this will be the key to making more complex structures in the future.

Thermwood's additive manufacturing equipment based on Thermwood Model 77

Once the 3D printed portion of the entire job builds a nearly finished shape (also known as the "near shape process"), the Thermwood Model 77 will be subjected to five-axis machining to achieve the desired - and The final shape. These shapes can be up to 10 x 10 x 5 feet. The extruder has 20 horsepower and a nozzle diameter of 1.75 inches. According to Thermwood, it can handle up to a hundred pounds of material in an hour. Thanks to its custom-made, this machine speeds up production, although the extruder looks very heavy.

This is a project under development. The management of Thermwood cannot disclose when a truly commercial system can be offered to the market, but they believe that this technology is a major opportunity, that is, “additive manufacturing” will become a manufacturing industry. An important component of the future. Thermwood believes that it has a unique advantage in chasing this emerging technology, as Thermwood is already a major manufacturer of mechanical components for reduced manufacturing.