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While it's quite interesting that someone has made a 3d printer this big. You can't literally print a house with one of these. Just think about a typical wall b
by willyt 15y ago
While it's quite interesting that someone has made a 3d printer this big. You can't literally print a house with one of these. Just think about a typical wall build up, it will be something like this: dry lining, vapour control layer, insulation, air gap, <magic printed sandstone structure>, waterproofing and or rain screen. The basics you need are to be able to print a structure which is waterproof, has a U-Value of 0.2 w/mk, is fire resistant and has some tensile strength. The material in the OP is 'like sandstone' which is structurally useful only in compression. So you couldn't print a skyscraper or Frank Lloyd Wright's 'falling water'. If they could print fibre reinforced concrete then it wouldn't be so limiting.
Also, bear in mind that the 'shell and core'; the structure, cladding and primary circulation is generally less than half the cost of the finished building. E.g. all the HVAC still has to be installed by hand. Innovation in construction is notoriously slow moving; even quite simple innovations can take 50 years to be widely adopted. It's also incredibly heavily regulated in most countries. I think that modular construction is more interesting avenue to explore. Most buildings are the equivalent of 'spaghetti code' there is lots of progress that can be made by modularising parts and standardising interfaces. Architects like Bucknister Fuller, Otto Frei, and others did lots of interesting work in the 1950's on modularisation but the concept hasn't developed much since then.
- rsheridan6 15y agoIt seems that insulation etc should be printable too. Spray insulation has been on the market for years, and that should be relatively easily adaptable to printing. I don't see why ductwork shouldn't also be printable, and maybe even plumbing too (there are already PVC printers on the market). There are also designs like the Earthship that supposedly get by on passive heating and cooling and don't require HVAC. Certainly Dini's machine won't do all of this, but the approach is promising.
- Retric 15y agoThe main problem is he can't add rebar so it's going to be a lot weaker structure than you could build with a mold. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebar It's also going to be slow and costly, but for art that's less important.
- ajays 15y agoThose are all valid concerns, but (and I don't mean this negatively), they seem to be more "first world" problems. For the majority of the people on this planet (c.f., Haiti), a sturdy box with a roof itself will be a huge step up. Imagine an army of robots just toiling away, building a structure per day. The locals provide sand, and a barrel of ink, and out comes a house. Their very own house, sturdy enough to survive a hurricane or flooding. Yes, this isn't perfect, but nothing is at first. Things approach perfection after several iterations.
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