World’s Largest Composite 3D-Printer by Thermwood Measures 10’x40′! | #3Dprinting #3DThursday @thermwood
400 square feet…that’s probably slightly more space than my NYC apartment!
Last week, Thermwood completed installation of what is believed to be the world’s largest composite material 3-D printer at digital OEM Local Motors. The 10’x40′ printer is going to be used to produce the Olli – Local Motors’ self-driving, 3-D printed electric car with the advanced cognitive computing capabilities of IBM Watson. Passengers can interact conversationally with Olli while traveling from point A to point B and ask questions about how the vehicle works, where they are going and why Olli is making specific driving decisions.
As Thermwood explains, the printer is one of its signature Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) machines, the industry’s first line of extrusion 3-D printers with built-in CNC machining capabilities. LSAM is used to produce large components from fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite materials. The machine uses a two-step, near-net-shape production process.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
