News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Thermwood has completed the first of a new type of additive print and trim system, the LSAM 1010. This is a fixed table, high wall system with both a print and trim head mounted on a single gantry. Although with a ten-foot by ten-foot table, it is a bit smaller than the larger dual gantry flagship LSAM systems, it does require a significantly larger gantry.
Thermwood, one of the three companies providing very large format 3D printing hardware and services with composite chopped FRP pellet materials, has designed, fabricated and put into operation the M400, the largest machine it has ever built, to meet the rapidly increasing demand of its LSAM (large size additive manufacturing) machines.
3D printing company MakerBot, a subsidiary of Stratasys, is entering the composite 3D printing market with the launch of its latest product series: the METHOD Carbon Fiber Editions. MakerBot’s new offering, along with its new MakerBot Nylon Carbon Fiber material, will enable users to produce high-strength tools, jigs and fixtures as well as end use parts, including metal replacement parts for various applications.
Ingersoll Machine Tools, Inc. long-awaited “largest 3D printer in the world” is now ready. With a gargantuan work envelope measuring W 23’ x H 10’ x L 46’, the WHAM composite 3D printer was originally announced as a partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2016. The goal was to develop massive 3D printers leveraging the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL.
Composite 3D printing, and especially carbon fiber 3D printing, is quickly advancing and gaining more applications within the industry. Presently, the number of companies working on composite 3D printing technologies is relatively small—we recently highlighted many of them—though they are all playing their part in pushing forward innovation. One of the bunch, 3D printing leader Stratasys, has honed in on its composite AM technology, especially of late.