
Thermwood LSAM Print3D software
Thermwood LSAM Print3D software.
Machine manufacturer, Thermwood has announced a series of updates to its Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) Print3D software.
A CAD-based slicing software, LSAM Print3D generates additive programs for the company’s LSAM 3D printing platforms. LSAM is the title given to Thermwood’s large-scale 3D printers, harnessed to produce large components from reinforced thermoplastic composite materials. These machines are generally used by manufacturers to produce industrial tooling equipment, production fixtures and patterns and moulds.
LSAM Print3D prides itself on its ability to work with true CAD file formats, including solids, surfaces and meshes. Its main attraction is its near-net-shape capabilities. Designed at its core for near-net-shape additive manufacturing applications, the software boasts features tailored to the printing of large parts at high rates. Near-net-shape additive manufacturing is a two step process: The part is printed at high speed at a size slightly larger than is necessary, before being trimmed to the final size. Typically, near-net-shape software can be made to work for small parts printed on small print beads, but not large structures on larger print beds at high speed.

Thermwood LSAM Print3D software
Parts to be built side by side
The LSAM Print3D’s near-net-shape capability sees one of the most important updates to the software. A new concurrent printing feature has been added, enabling multiple parts to be printed at the same time, improving throughput, and ultimately, greater opportunities for the user. Now, it is possible to independently design a number of different parts with completely dissimilar characteristics, and still print them concurrently.
As well as side by side, parts can also be printed on top of one another. As really large parts are often manufactured in sections before being combined into one complete structure, Thermwood saw the time-saving potential in allowing them to be printed in succession. The company says build time can be reduced by up to 80%, while still adhering to the minimum time between layers dictated by the thermoplastic material. In addition to the time-saving benefits of this capability is its impact on the design process. When designing a complex part, the user can design them as two separate parts side by side, or one on top of the other. In this case, the two parts fuse together while being built, resulting in a single complex structure that would be difficult to program and produce any other way.

Thermwood LSAM Print3D software
Parts to be built on top of one another
Thermwood also suggest that internal supports are no longer restricted to just standard infill patterns. Contemporary FDM slicing software tends to focus on the outside shape of a part – infills may be used on the part interior, but there exist limitations to the use of standard infill patterns. LSAM Print3D, however, can begin a print at any layer above the table top. It supports a new way to design and print highly complex interior features, according to Thermwood. The new approach begins by breaking up complex parts into multiple sections, and then builds them concurrently. Some layers may not print from layer one, but instead begin printing above the bottom layer. Thermwood use the example of a large part with a solid bottom and interior features – here, the user would begin by printing the solid base, then add the interior features in separate parts. In order to do this successfully, the user would need to begin the print at the level of the already printed base, which is a distance above the table top.

Thermwood LSAM Print3D software
Designing interior walls
A further development of the LSAM Print3D is the ability to design interior walls as part of CAD part design. Now, the software recognises the interior walls as single bead interior support walls and automatically develops a program to print them as designed. The software also possesses operational characteristic of the specific machine it is supporting, which it automatically takes into account when generating a slicing program.
Despite the launch of these updates, Thermwood is still committed to bettering the program at regular intervals: “We are at the very beginning of this new technology,” said ken Sunsjara, Thermwood’s Chairman and CEO. “There is still a lot of unexplored territory and challenges to address.”