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A Printer That Can Print a 2,500 Square Foot House in 20 Hours

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11–20 of 89 posts

Re: A Printer That Can Print a 2,500 Square Foot House in 20 Hours

#11
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"sub-optimal use of that money for the common good?" -- isn't that how communism started?

Hey, I didn't claim that it was morally repugnant, that the folks should be cast out in streets to live with the other homeless in SF and have their Teslas and iJiggers auctioned off to feed the poor. I just would appreciate some acknowledgement that, "Yeah, we don't fund things like this that could help the average person because it doesn't give us money." It's the same thing behind making money off of war, off of c…

why don't you, personally, fund the things you want to see funded?

Re: A Printer That Can Print a 2,500 Square Foot House in 20 Hours

#12
post #10

The 3d visuals of this printer have been on the internet for more than a year but there are still no pictures and movies of a working version. Concrete printing is not new so I wonder what is keeping them from building the printer over a year later.

Did you see the video and pictures of the printer in the video? It wasn't full scale, but it wasn't far off either.

Re: A Printer That Can Print a 2,500 Square Foot House in 20 Hours

#13
post #8

Wonder how building's made like this can withstand the cold. In Canada or northern US we do not construct houses and building the same way that southern countries do. For example, exterior walls are 1' wide with an R value of close to 30, most houses have a basement that is below the freezing line, etc.

[deleted]

Re: A Printer That Can Print a 2,500 Square Foot House in 20 Hours

#14

Hm. A whole house, except the flooring, walls, wiring, plumbing, windows, roofing, lighting, heck anything but the bare frame and walls. You can already do that, prefab, in a few hours. This is custom, but so is prefab. The problem is the usual: a single material isn't enough to make anything but the simple constructs. Almost everything is complex these days. Materials Science hasn't been a science for a century for…

In the video, he proposes that the printer would have a second pick and place type arm that would be able to install plumbing and electrical systems. He claims that it could be used to do finishing work too, but there are no animations to suggest how that might work.

Re: A Printer That Can Print a 2,500 Square Foot House in 20 Hours

#15

Hm. A whole house, except the flooring, walls, wiring, plumbing, windows, roofing, lighting, heck anything but the bare frame and walls. You can already do that, prefab, in a few hours. This is custom, but so is prefab. The problem is the usual: a single material isn't enough to make anything but the simple constructs. Almost everything is complex these days. Materials Science hasn't been a science for a century for…

In the video, he proposes that the printer would have a second pick and place type arm that would be able to install plumbing and electrical systems. He claims that it could be used to do finishing work too, but there are no animations to suggest how that might work.

So, wave a wand and say "a robot will do it". That doesn't count as "A printer that can print a 2500 sq ft house".

Even imagine the robot exists: how exactly does it just 'plug in' the plumbinb and electrical systems? Currently it takes a person to scramble all over the house, drilling and fitting and connecting.

There is nothing being solved here. Just a blue-sky story about an imaginary printer.

Re: A Printer That Can Print a 2,500 Square Foot House in 20 Hours

#16

Hm. A whole house, except the flooring, walls, wiring, plumbing, windows, roofing, lighting, heck anything but the bare frame and walls. You can already do that, prefab, in a few hours. This is custom, but so is prefab. The problem is the usual: a single material isn't enough to make anything but the simple constructs. Almost everything is complex these days. Materials Science hasn't been a science for a century for…

I wonder how this would compare to IKEA's prefab concept in total hours to construct from start (in IKEA's case at factory) to finish?

http://www.ideabox.us/models/aktiv/

Re: A Printer That Can Print a 2,500 Square Foot House in 20 Hours

#17
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"sub-optimal use of that money for the common good?" -- isn't that how communism started?

Hey, I didn't claim that it was morally repugnant, that the folks should be cast out in streets to live with the other homeless in SF and have their Teslas and iJiggers auctioned off to feed the poor. I just would appreciate some acknowledgement that, "Yeah, we don't fund things like this that could help the average person because it doesn't give us money." It's the same thing behind making money off of war, off of c…

So...facebook for dogs contributes to human misery and suffering?

Re: A Printer That Can Print a 2,500 Square Foot House in 20 Hours

#18
Sigh, if this guy had an actual 3D printer he would realize those doors and windows are a no-go :-) More seriously, there are unsolved issues in printing unsupported structures, the current best solution is a second 'support' material that can be dissolved/blown away once the part is completed but that rules out voids which are part of what you hope to make with this sort of thing.

Also as others point out this is just the frame (and if you do the robotic crane thing you can add a roof. You might also be able to use your robotic crane to do joists for overhangs but the finish suffers as your joist material is exposed on the underside.

No doubt solvable problems but they take away from some of the 'magicalness' of fused deposition printing. Stereo lithography where the part is neutrally bouyant in the construction fluid doesn't have those issues but it has other issues associated with strength and material choices that can be laser activated.

For now doing a concrete lay-up would be pretty killer but building the forms on site isn't that hard and in both cases you need to transport the concrete at the last minute.

Bottom line I think the stuff that BluHomes [1] is doing is much more creative than trying to do this with 3D printing.

[1] http://www.bluhomes.com/

Re: A Printer That Can Print a 2,500 Square Foot House in 20 Hours

#19
post #10

The 3d visuals of this printer have been on the internet for more than a year but there are still no pictures and movies of a working version. Concrete printing is not new so I wonder what is keeping them from building the printer over a year later.

Did you see the video and pictures of the printer in the video? It wasn't full scale, but it wasn't far off either.

Yes I've seen the video's (a year ago). That's why I wonder why they didn't built a house already. They have the knowledge and tech.

Some speculation: maybe it's very hard to print concrete out in the open with all kinds of weather messing up the print. Or companies just don't believe in the benefits so investors are hard to find.

Re: A Printer That Can Print a 2,500 Square Foot House in 20 Hours

#20

Sigh, if this guy had an actual 3D printer he would realize those doors and windows are a no-go :-) More seriously, there are unsolved issues in printing unsupported structures, the current best solution is a second 'support' material that can be dissolved/blown away once the part is completed but that rules out voids which are part of what you hope to make with this sort of thing. Also as others point out this is ju…

This is TED. The majority of stuff presented there requires antimatter spherical cows in vacuum to work. At best.
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