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3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

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Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#101

Post by Dig1t »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #2

"...range in price from around $450,000 to close to $600,000." In other words, there is little economic incentive to recommend this construction method. Not much in the way of aesthetics either --- unless you want a ranch box.

I disagree, they are priced the same as a new timber framed house but concrete is way better insulated and more efficient, which is great for the Texas heat. Also they are much more resistant to storm damage.

Look at the results in Florida where the only houses left standing after hurricanes are the ones which are built with ICF (insulated concrete forms)

So for the same money I would argue you are getting a better product. That’s also saying nothing about a more consistent build quality. Timber framed houses vary a lot in quality depending on the crew who built them and the quality of the materials used. Framing with a robot means that there is far less variation in quality, vs framing with crews of humans who are often paid a little as possible and told to work as quickly as possible.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#102

Post by Dig1t »

brudgers wrote: post #4
jqpabc123 wrote: post #2

"...range in price from around $450,000 to close to $600,000." In other words, there is little economic incentive to recommend this construction method. Not much in the way of aesthetics either --- unless you want a ranch box.

3D printing doesn't relieve any important construction constraints and probably raises costs because unfamiliarity increases risks and increased risk increases price. Superstructure is about the easiest and fastest part of residential construction. Sitework, finishes, and MEP systems are harder, tend to take longer, and cost more. Anyway, market rate housing sells at market rates no matter how it is built.

Many of these printed homes just leave the concrete exposed inside the home. They can just be painted directly, and they are also well insulated already so you don’t need to fill the wall with insulation.

So not only are you framing differently but you can skip the drywall and insulation steps of construction as well. This is the type of finish work you are talking about I think.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#103

Post by brudgers »

Dig1t wrote: post #102
brudgers wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3D printing doesn't relieve any important construction constraints and probably raises costs because unfamiliarity increases risks and increased risk increases price. Superstructure is about the easiest and fastest part of residential construction. Sitework, finishes, and MEP systems are harder, tend to take longer, and cost more. Anyway, market rate housing sells at market rates no matter how it is built.

Many of these printed homes just leave the concrete exposed inside the home. They can just be painted directly, and they are also well insulated already so you don’t need to fill the wall with insulation. So not only are you framing differently but you can skip the drywall and insulation steps of construction as well. This is the type of finish work you are talking about I think.

You still have to mobilize a drywall crew for ceilings. And your painter needs to use another primer and paint system for the concrete. Hanging interior doors and trimming them out is no longer a job for nails. Same for crown and base moldings and kitchen cabinets.

And you still have to insulate. Four feet of concrete wall thickness is needed for a nominal R10.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#104

Post by dghlsakjg »

lnsru wrote: post #92
dghlsakjg wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is nothing you can’t do with classical drywall. Curved walls, ornamentation, patterns, integrated furniture… you name it Okay, I name compound curves. Can I do that with drywall?

Yes you can. It’s the frame behind drywall then. Probably CNC cut plywood construction. And it’s more art than anything you might get from standard construction company. And crazy decorative art can be made from gypsum and integrated into drywall.

It’s a trick question sorta.

You can’t make a compound curve out of sheet material. Drywall can bend in a single axis only. If you add a second axis (compound curves) it won’t really work. Think about trying to drywall a sphere. The best you can do is a high poly sphere.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#105

Post by wkat4242 »

ternnoburn wrote: post #34

If you have the ability to pump concrete, and a gantry across the whole site, why wouldn't you pick and place concrete blocks or other materials rather than concrete the whole thing on site? Also, aren't these walls significantly more CO2 unfriendly than lumber, and more difficult to renovate? What if I need to get a builder in to do repairs, is there a concrete wall guy who knows how to repair them? Can it print mul…

For me it would not be about being cheaper but about being super customizable. I'd make mine look like a huge dragon.

The benefit of 3D printing is making unique things. If you make the same thing over and over there's way better options.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#106

Post by throwaway173738 »

dhosek wrote: post #37
wombatpm wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Standardized wall sections, JIT inventory management, dedicated install teams?

My parents’ home, built in the 1950s was built from pre-fabricated components. From what my dad says (his mother was the original owner of the home), the fit of walls was very poor and they had to do a lot of patching to fill in gaps between the walls and the ceilings. There have been numerous attempts at prefabricated building but all have failed to gain any traction.

Some Quadrant homes in Washington are built this way. The framing is done in a factory on a gantry and the walls are trucked out and assembled on site. There are subdivisions of thousands of houses built this way.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#107

Post by jdeibele »

postalrat wrote: post #98
ibash wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3d printers haven’t changed that much… they’ve gotten easier to use, sure, but the materials and quality we’re printing is about the same as 10 years ago.

I tear apart medical and other machines to recycle parts. I do often see 3d printed parts inside commercial machines, probably because they are making so few of them and it's more economical to just print a couple specialized parts.

How can you tell that they're 3d printed? Because they don't have a part number or the manufacturer's name and logo on them?

I don't have a 3d printer myself so maybe it'd be obvious if I printed some.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#108

Post by robgibbons »

jdeibele wrote: post #107
postalrat wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tear apart medical and other machines to recycle parts. I do often see 3d printed parts inside commercial machines, probably because they are making so few of them and it's more economical to just print a couple specialized parts.

How can you tell that they're 3d printed? Because they don't have a part number or the manufacturer's name and logo on them? I don't have a 3d printer myself so maybe it'd be obvious if I printed some.

Most 3D printed parts have a telltale texture resulting from the layer-by-layer deposit of material. The same goes for many milled/CNCed parts bearing evidence of tool marks. Once you've seen and held enough, it's relatively easy to identify whether a given part was printed, cast, milled, lathed, etc.

I say most because there are finishing methods which can largely obscure these details and make it less obvious as to which method produced a given part.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#109

Post by brudgers »

janalsncm wrote: post #72
brudgers wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At scale it takes significantly less time because the designs are familiar and there are not mobilizations and demobilizations. The next framing job is on the next lot.

So if a technology could cut that cost in half it would be desirable even if it took twice as long because in real terms your final cost drops 10% and only takes 2 more weeks.

It would depend on what else was in the spreadsheet.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#110

Post by wycx »

brudgers wrote: post #25
pxmpxm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Superstructure is about the easiest and fastest part of residential construction. I'm perpetually confused on that front - interior, especially drywall, is stupid labor and time intensive (have to wait for taped joints to dry). There should be huge econmomies of scale for prefab walls with electric and ducting built in, yet all we see is this sort of 3d printing stuff.

How do you finish the joints between sections of prefabricated walls? Where do you store hundreds of running feet of prefabricated wall during construction delays? How do you move sections of prefabricated wall into and within a dryed-in building? How do you trim a section to fit and extend another when construction is not ideal? Who is responsible when something is not right? And of course there’s getting UL listing…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huf_Haus Construction of a Huf Haus in the UK featured in the 2004 series of Grand Designs.
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