Layered Solid Manufacturing (LOM) Process

The LOM process is called laminated solid manufacturing or layered solid manufacturing, and was developed in 1986 by Michael Feygin of Helisys, USA.

The LOM process uses sheet materials such as paper, plastic film, and the like. The surface of the sheet is previously coated with a layer of hot melt adhesive. During processing, the hot press rolls the sheet to bond it to the formed workpiece below. The CO₂ laser cuts the part profile and the workpiece frame on the newly bonded new layer, and cuts the upper and lower aligned grids in the excess area between the profile and the frame. After the laser cutting is completed, the workbench drives the formed workpiece to descend and is separated from the strip sheet. The feeding mechanism rotates the receiving shaft and the feeding shaft to move the belt to move the new layer to the processing area. The work is raised to the processing plane, the hot press roll is hot pressed, the number of layers of the workpiece is increased by one layer, and the height is increased by one material. Cut the profile on the new layer. This is repeated until all sections of the part are bonded and cut. Finally, the excess portion of the chopped portion is removed to obtain a solid part that is layered.

The LOM process simply cuts the outline of the part’s section on the sheet without scanning the entire section. Therefore, the formation of thick-walled parts is faster and it is easy to manufacture large parts. There is no material phase change during the process, so it is not easy to cause warpage. Excess material between the outer frame of the workpiece and the profile of the section plays a supporting role in the processing, so the LOM process does not need to be supported. The disadvantage is that the material is wasted and the surface quality is poor.

Related Products

Leave a Reply