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> took 1.1 million working hours to assemble ... Wendelstein 7-X’s bizarrely shaped components must be put together with millimeter precision. All welding was c
by webXL 11y ago
> took 1.1 million working hours to assemble ... Wendelstein 7-X’s bizarrely shaped components must be put together with millimeter precision. All welding was computer controlled and monitored with laser scanners.
Sounds like a large 3d printer could really help make this more economical, assuming that all of the required materials could be printed.
- lorenzhs 11y agoThe end of that first sentence you quote, "must withstand huge temperature ranges and enormous forces", kind of gives away the answer -- this isn't made from "standard" materials. 3D printing is an amazing technology that's rapidly developing, but it's not quite that far yet.
- webXL 11y agoYeah, I was thinking more in the "fusion timescale", perhaps in 15 years you would be able to print those kind of materials in molecular precision on a large scale. But let's hope it continues to advance a lot faster than fusion, so that it could help make fusion a reality.