Behold the World's Largest 3D Printer (apnews.com) 31
They're calling it "the world's largest 3D printer," but also "the factory of the future" — not just a 3D printer, but a manufacturing system.
It's the succcessor to a 3D printer that could create an entire house, cutting construction time and labor, according to the Associated Press. And this one "may one day create entire neighborhoods."
It has a voracious appetite, consuming as much as 500 pounds (227 kilograms) of material per hour... The university wants to show how homes can be constructed nearly entirely by a printer with a lower carbon footprint. The buildings and construction sector accounts for roughly 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions, largely due to the production and use of materials such as cement, steel and aluminum that have a significant carbon footprint, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Such printed buildings can be recycled, which is unique compared to current construction. "You can basically deconstruct it, you can grind it up if you wish, the 3D printed parts, and reprint with them, do it again," Dagher said before the event...
But it can be used for a variety of other creations and already has been used for a range of things, from boats to defense department structures.
The project is partly funded by the U.S. military, according to the BBC. "Maine University says it hopes the printer can be used to make affordable housing, as well as bridges, boats and wind turbines."
But it can be used for a variety of other creations and already has been used for a range of things, from boats to defense department structures.
The project is partly funded by the U.S. military, according to the BBC. "Maine University says it hopes the printer can be used to make affordable housing, as well as bridges, boats and wind turbines."
Only 500 lbs per hour? Re: Behold (Score:2)
Behold, not very voracious...
Cool tech, but... (Score:2)
...as always, the promoters overstate the importance or usefulness of it
Yes, it can print shells, with no plumbing, electric, HVAC, cabinets, doors, and all of the other details that go into a building
It will probably have uses, and may even do some things well, but the exaggerated claims are silly
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"The buildings and construction sector accounts for roughly 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions, largely due to the production and use of materials such as cement, steel and aluminum that have a significant carbon footprint, according to the United Nations Environment Programme."
yeah for sure, it's been like a decade and the 3d printed building concept has not materialized, I think for the reason above, most of them use some form of concrete and concrete is actually pretty expensive and at least in the U
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At this point, I would be kind of interested in seeing a robot that could be parked between a load of lumber and a concrete slab and assemble a wood frame house. I'm sure the building techniques would have to be adjusted as wouldn't be sending in humans who could manipulate things on the interior after the next wall or a roof went on. Then again, until you've put up drywall or the exterior maybe you could just have a combination of clever design and a clever robot to reach through.
And there's nothing stop
But....prefab flat pack modular apartments (Score:1)
A quick google for "prefab modular apartments" gives this 3d printed building competition.
Thinking flat packed building with assembly by 2 men with limited extra tools and no crane, is a better long term option.
Recycling, renovation by disassembly and reassembly....
It may be more effective to 3d print panels on or off site than it is to custom print them on site
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Thanks for that - as is often the case with these competitions I think it's more about the art than the truly practical, but they're fascinating nonetheless.
And I tend to agree that centralized production of components for on-site assembly will be more efficient. We're not quite done with humans yet, though I expect one day it's going to be a flatpack and a pair of humanoid robots that result in a home.
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The part where TFA suggests that it could be used to print molds which would then later be recycled is perhaps the most exciting of the plausible ideas. The fact that it takes pellets as input and doesn't require monofilament is a lot of what makes it interesting.
If you were going to "print walls" it would make more sense to make a machine that makes prefab sections in custom lengths and with window cutouts from stock like preformed metal studs, PEX, your choice of paneling materials, sheet insulation, elec
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I also wonder how easy these structures are to modify. Like if I want to put an addition or replace a system, like swapping baseboard heat for a heat pump, am I able to. What about pulling cable for a new appliance or moving plumbing.
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Yeah, I agree - it's not quite done yet. Two suggestions to 'finish' it:
1) Create a scaffolding of plumbing and electrical on site. Should be fairly prefab, and easy to assemble. Stand that all up, and the B3P (Big 3D Printer) creates the shell around it. Now you are 90%+ of the way there.
2) Have it print the shell, but with large channels where you need them in the inside surfaces and floors / ceilings. Put in all your plumbing and electrical into the channels, cover them over with the interior walls/f
Wait (Score:2)
Oh right, they are recyclable. All good then, carry on.
Is it something like this Dutch 3D printer? (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
The first people moved in the object it printed years ago, and I haven't heard anything since. The claims that were made at the time were absolutely identical.
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And here's one more, from Germany.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Anyways, these stories are stupid. 3D printing will not replace manufacturing. All 3D printing can do is replace the on-site labor, but with reasonable planning and material prep onsite labor can be extremely efficient and much more flexible in build materials and customization than 3D printing can ever hope to achieve. The real time savings is in logistics, but if you're building a 3D printer that can make a house, you need to get th
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This type of thing isn't intended to be used to construct customized houses; it's intended to produce large numbers of buildings that are either identical or in a small number of designs that are rotated, possibly with slight variations in the order, to make the similarities less obvious. You're not going to get upper middle class families to live in them, but
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it's intended to produce large numbers of buildings that are either identical or in a small number of designs that are rotated, possibly with slight variations in the order, to make the similarities less obvious.
In other words, the perfect HOA neighborhood constructed without human labor, to be rented out in perpetuity.
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What makes you think that any affordable housing wouldn't have those utilities? There's lots of that kind of housing in New York's housing projects and they all have the needed utilities. What I wrote about is housing that has private homes, either freestanding or as duplexes or triplexes that not only ar
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The entire premise is that a 3D printer will allow for the manufacture of cheap homes. AS the guy said in the video "they don't have the labor to do it". Further, he talked about making low cost housing for the homeless. Ok. But a 3D printer doesn't solve those issues
Like Icon? (Score:1)
microplastics? (Score:5, Insightful)
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We already have a way to build recyclable houses (Score:4, Funny)
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Who would want a 3D printed house? (Score:1)
The promises from this are mostly for the construction. There are some potential gains for architecture as well, as some ideas might be a lot easier with this technology than with more conventional "put one thing on top of the other" building styles.
But for everything else, this seems like a very bad idea.
Aesthetically: who wants to have these materials? Their look and feel are not good. I like wood, the real thing, not the plastic version - the warmth of the feel of it is far superior to plastic, for examp
Useful for the moon? (Score:2)
I wonder if this type this would have any use on the moon (or mars) where you want to travel light and use local materials?
Not sure what the use case would be though since any habitat needs to be air tight. A regolith-extruded building might usefully block radiation, perhaps, or help regulate temperature.
If they could create a transparent 3-D printable material, then could be used as a greenhouse too, although hard to see lunar materials being useful for that.
A bit slow comparted to a bricklayer (Score:2)
An average bricklayer can typically lay about 300 to 500 bricks per hour, depending on the complexity of the job, the working conditions, and their skill level. The weight of each brick can vary, but a standard clay brick weighs about 2.7 kilograms on average.
Let's say 400, Weight per hour=400 bricks×2.7 kg/brick=1080 kg
University Article (Score:1)
One small issue (Score:2)
So, get rid of the annoying construction workers.
And when you've created this 3D printed neigborhood, who's going to live there? The ex-construction workers will be living in the boxes from the 3D printers.