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The world's largest 3D printer is building cozy homes from wood

cnn.com

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Re: The world's largest 3D printer is building cozy homes from wood

#11

Post by SamBam »

organsnyder wrote: post #2

As a 3d printer enthusiast, I think this is really cool. But as someone who built an ADU a few years ago, I fail to see how this will address affordability in any meaningful way. Building a structure is a lot more than framing. For our project, the framers were on site a few weeks out of the six-month total. I think modular pre-fab building is a much more effective strategy for this segment of the market. Perhaps 3d…

> I fail to see how this will address affordability in any meaningful way

Especially since it's unlikely that we can address the housing shortage by building single-family homes.

Re: The world's largest 3D printer is building cozy homes from wood

#12

Post by tombert »

bamboozled wrote: post #10

Definitely a lot of unanswered questions for me, feels a bit like a feel good piece honestly.

That's kind of how I feel about the entire prospect of 3D printed houses in general. The idea of 3D printing an entire house is objectively cool (insofar that anything can be objective), it feels like the future, and viscerally it feels like it's a cheap way to get endless houses which would be a good thing.

But, at least right now, all the 3d printers do is extrude walls and floors. What percentage of actual home labor is involved with the rough framing of the walls and floors? Certainly not "zero", but you still need to clean up everything, install drywall, paint everything, install plumbing and electrical, etc. I think the idea that we're going to be able to use 3D printing to address the housing shortage is a cute but kind of naive idea.

Re: The world's largest 3D printer is building cozy homes from wood

#13

Post by gambiting »

klyrs wrote: post #6

What I love about modern housing is that it's built out of modular parts that I can buy from the hardware store and fix myself. 3d prints are notoriously unrepairable; if there's an earthquake will houses like this fracture in a way that the entire thing is scrap?

Presumably, long term these kinds of printers would be ubiquitous, so you just pop into your nearest hardware store, give them the CAD file or a picture of what you want and they just print you a replacement. But obviously like with any new technology it's the initial bit which might be painful.

Re: The world's largest 3D printer is building cozy homes from wood

#14

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

SamBam wrote: post #11
organsnyder wrote: post #2

As a 3d printer enthusiast, I think this is really cool. But as someone who built an ADU a few years ago, I fail to see how this will address affordability in any meaningful way. Building a structure is a lot more than framing. For our project, the framers were on site a few weeks out of the six-month total. I think modular pre-fab building is a much more effective strategy for this segment of the market. Perhaps 3d…

> I fail to see how this will address affordability in any meaningful way Especially since it's unlikely that we can address the housing shortage by building single-family homes.

Especially when permit fees and taxes are fixed and ~30% of the cost to build (in cities like Vancouver: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-housing-government...)

It could cost $250k to legally build a sandcastle in Vancouver.

Re: The world's largest 3D printer is building cozy homes from wood

#15

Post by tonetegeatinst »

Technically, humans are also 3d printers....we just are super slow at assembly of large structures.... However we are able to design and build and "print" more complicated structures as we work in 3 dimensions and are only limited by our strength.

Side note: 3d printing is awesome tech. While its not exactly super eco friendly, its a big help for rapid prototyping. I currently have an ender 3 pro which I upgraded with a touch sensor. Its not working due to issues I can't figure out....but I think it has a motor or alignment issue....but the 2 prints I have successfully done were amazing.

Re: The world's largest 3D printer is building cozy homes from wood

#16

Post by darepublic »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #3

> “People can’t find homes, they’re very expensive. We also have an aging population … so there’s less and less people who are electricians, plumbers, or builders,” Habib Dagher, the executive director of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC), told CNN via video call. Presumably this thing doesn't print pipes or electrical wires, so it seems like there's still a need to address th…

Came here to say the same thing. Is he suggesting that when enough plumbing and electricity problems accumulate, the future non handy folk will just order a new home?

Re: The world's largest 3D printer is building cozy homes from wood

#17

Post by yardie »

I watched a warehouse go up over the last few months. Everything above the floor was pre-cast concrete shipped in on flatbed trunks. For the size of the warehouse it was fascinating to watch just how fast it got built. The big time sink wasn't even the warehouse superstructure. Majority of the project time was leveling, compacting, and foundation.

When I see 3D printing construction compared to precast modules I simply don't see a future where printing a whole building is price or labor saving.

Re: The world's largest 3D printer is building cozy homes from wood

#18

Post by ben_w »

Cool though they are, like everyone else, I think 3D printed houses are solving the wrong problem.

I can get an empty shell built for €100k, double that if you want the interior finished, add another €200k around here minimum for land and connecting utilities.

The physical structure of houses themselves are already pretty cheap, it's everything else related to them that makes them expensive.

Re: The world's largest 3D printer is building cozy homes from wood

#19

Post by darepublic »

This is very cool, but as others have mentioned this article was not a deep dive. The general idea of "disrupting" housing by innovating to reduce build cost does seem exciting to me. Empowering people to have a place to live for cheap and therefore make them more resilient seems like it could be a general good. I dunno if 3d printed stationary homes is the way, but creativity around making homes, mobile housing, living off the grid, etc though often maligned seems like it might be a fruitful thing to explore
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