Boeing and Thermwood Corporation have employed additive manufacturing (AM) technology to produce a large, single-piece tool for the 777X programme. The project is demonstrating that additive manufacturing is ready to produce production quality tooling for the aerospace industry. Thermwood used a Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) machine and newly developed Vertical Layer Print (VLP) 3D printing technology to fabricate the tool as a one-piece print, eliminating the additional cost and schedule required for assembly of multiple 3D printed tooling components. In the joint demonstration programme, Thermwood printed and trimmed the 12ft-long R&D tool at its southern Indiana demonstration lab and delivered it to Boeing in August 2018. Boeing Research & Technology engineer, Michael Matlack believes the use of Thermwood’s additive manufacturing technology in this application provided a significant advantage, saving weeks of time and enabling delivery of the tool before traditional tooling could be fabricated. The tool was printed as a single piece from 20% carbon fibre reinforced ABS using the Vertical Layer Print system. Boeing purchased a Thermwood LSAM machine with the VLP functionality for the Interiors Responsibility Centre (IRC) facility in Everett, Washington. The ability to quickly produce large-scale tooling at a quality level suitable for a real-world production environment represents a significant step in moving additive technology from the laboratory to the factory floor. www.thermwood.com Mike Richardson Author Mike Richardson Tags Boeing Thermwood Corporation 3D Printing additive manufacturing boeing 777x Share This Article Tweet Share Share Share Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter Related Articles ATI Boeing Accelerator announces startups joining second cohort Ryanair has now ordered over $22bn of 737 MAX planes A quiet revolution Most recent Articles Sintavia acquires M4K-4 printers from AMCM Michael Holden to lead DSEI 2021 space strategy and development Sensenich awarded STC for carbon fibre propeller Share This Article Tweet Share Share Share Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter