Based in Southern Indiana, USA, Thermwood Corporation was established in 1969, and offers both 3- and 5-axis CNC machining centres that have been developed to be ideally suited to the production, fabrication and trimming of wood, plastics, non-ferrous metals, composites and other advanced materials.
These applications range from machining patterns and moulds or plugs to trimming and machining production products for various industries such as woodworking, automotive, aerospace and defence industries. Thermwood is deeply involved in CNC technology and development, incorporating a high level of smart control technology in to all of its products.
Thermwood has also developed a new product supporting the Additive Manufacturing industry. Jason Susnjara, Vice President of Marketing, explains: “Our new Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) system can perform both ‘additive’ and ‘subtractive’ functions on the same machine. This approach, called ‘near net shape’, uses a reinforced thermoplastic composite material to quickly create a part that is nearly, but not exactly, the final net shape. A subtractive cutting function then machines the part to the exact final net shape. In its final form, Thermwood’s system will perform both the functions on the same machine.
“Melt shaping promises enhanced control of layer shape and improved bonding between layers. This new Patent pending approach uses one or more shaping wheels to shape, form and compress the hot plastic melt as it is being extruded, insuring that each new layer is the proper shape and thickness and that it bonds firmly to previously applied material.”
As a US-based company, Thermwood has dealers and distributors worldwide. In addition to machine manufacturing and software development, Thermwood has a technical service organisation that provides support, machine installation, training, retrofits, custom programming and production assistance.
