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3D Printer Built 10 Homes in 24 Hours

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Re: 3D Printer Built 10 Homes in 24 Hours

#11

Post by brenschluss »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #4

Not sure why this is currently front page. They could have built even better houses had they used what is referred to around here as 'tilt-up' construction. You pour a concrete foundation, You stake out four wall forms around that foundation and pour in the walls, when they cure you tilt them up and tie the tops together with steel. Boom, "instant" building with windows and doors.

Uh, because it's a new / interesting / powerful way of creating buildings that enables a vast degree of complexity and customization?

Re: 3D Printer Built 10 Homes in 24 Hours

#13

Post by bkmartin »

bri3d wrote: post #5

This design actually seems pretty interesting - one of the advantages of additive manufacturing by printing is that the resultant parts can be made with a strong internal structure (triangles, honeycombs, etc.) while still being made of mostly air, an outcome that's difficult to achieve using molding/casting, forging, or subtractive manufacturing (milling). I also suspect that the mostly-hollow walls have a decent R-…

This is very promising and on its way to commercial availability http://www.ruralstudio.org/initiatives/20k-house

Re: 3D Printer Built 10 Homes in 24 Hours

#14

Post by toomuchtodo »

bri3d wrote: post #5

This design actually seems pretty interesting - one of the advantages of additive manufacturing by printing is that the resultant parts can be made with a strong internal structure (triangles, honeycombs, etc.) while still being made of mostly air, an outcome that's difficult to achieve using molding/casting, forging, or subtractive manufacturing (milling). I also suspect that the mostly-hollow walls have a decent R-…

> I do wonder how this competes with straw bale / rammed earth, shipping containers, and other recycled, rapid prefab building manufacturing.

On labor? Much cheaper. And labor is typically the greatest cost.

Re: 3D Printer Built 10 Homes in 24 Hours

#15

Post by bcoates »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #2

Built on pre-existing foundation. No kitchen nor bathroom in evidence. So for 2nd-world poor housing, maybe.

They're just ahead of the curve, a century from now people will be amazed that 20th century first-worlders went to so much expense and effort to bring filth and vermin as close as possible to where they live.

Water isn't cleaning the fecal bacteria off the toothbrush you keep in the same room as your toilet, your wall-to-wall carpeting is full of food crumbs that roaches love, etc.

Re: 3D Printer Built 10 Homes in 24 Hours

#17

Post by Turing_Machine »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #14
bri3d wrote: post #5

This design actually seems pretty interesting - one of the advantages of additive manufacturing by printing is that the resultant parts can be made with a strong internal structure (triangles, honeycombs, etc.) while still being made of mostly air, an outcome that's difficult to achieve using molding/casting, forging, or subtractive manufacturing (milling). I also suspect that the mostly-hollow walls have a decent R-…

> I do wonder how this competes with straw bale / rammed earth, shipping containers, and other recycled, rapid prefab building manufacturing. On labor? Much cheaper. And labor is typically the greatest cost.

In First World countries, sure. In Third World countries, maybe not so much.

A lot would depend on whether there was a local concrete industry.

Edit: I'm not so sure that this is all that "eco-friendly" either -- cement production requires a lot of energy.

That said, concrete is very durable (if made and poured properly) and might be a win in the long term.

Re: 3D Printer Built 10 Homes in 24 Hours

#18

Post by hershel »

bri3d wrote: post #5

This design actually seems pretty interesting - one of the advantages of additive manufacturing by printing is that the resultant parts can be made with a strong internal structure (triangles, honeycombs, etc.) while still being made of mostly air, an outcome that's difficult to achieve using molding/casting, forging, or subtractive manufacturing (milling). I also suspect that the mostly-hollow walls have a decent R-…

For the indian market Worldhaus.com has a roof/floor panels that reduce construction cost and time by around 40% and blocks that reduce construction time by 50%.

Re: 3D Printer Built 10 Homes in 24 Hours

#19

Post by bkmartin »

lotsofmangos wrote: post #3

This is cool, it does seem unfortunate that Behrokh Khoshnevis and the University of Southern California haven't gone and done this already given how long they have been developing contour crafting, moon bases are great and all, but cheap housing is immediately practical and in dire need in California.

California - You mean Everywhere, right? Because no state, province, country, etc is without a need for cheap housing.

Re: 3D Printer Built 10 Homes in 24 Hours

#20

Post by ChuckMcM »

brenschluss wrote: post #11
ChuckMcM wrote: post #4

Not sure why this is currently front page. They could have built even better houses had they used what is referred to around here as 'tilt-up' construction. You pour a concrete foundation, You stake out four wall forms around that foundation and pour in the walls, when they cure you tilt them up and tie the tops together with steel. Boom, "instant" building with windows and doors.

Uh, because it's a new / interesting / powerful way of creating buildings that enables a vast degree of complexity and customization?

The previous discussion from Oct '13 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6628137) on these guys : http://www.industrytap.com/the-printer-that-can-print-a-hous... suggested an interesting powerful way of creating buildings. Looking at the article it appears this guy prints a concrete tube and then tilts it over on its side and puts windows/doors on either end. That seems to me to greatly restrict his complexity choices.
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