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

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

#81

Post by sitkack »

moocowduckquack wrote: post #43
ChuckMcM wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No doubt, if you are into carpentry however you would call it a "header" rather than a plank :-) The more salient bit though is that the header has to be able to support the weight that the missing wall underneath it would have supported, had that wall been there. Since we're building with concrete (in this hypothetical example) you're looking at a lot of weight. That puts you in the 4 x 12 category of header, maybe…

They do show in the video the robot putting down steel beams for those lintels to be fair, so they have obviously planned for it. Along the same lines I have been sketching designs for a robot to lay down 2-part foam, wire mesh and shotcrete, though I have been trying to work out if I can get it to climb its own wall, rather than needing a giant crane.

Depends on the build speed. It could "print in" holes into the wall and use a scissor action ... but I don't think that would work. You want the whole concrete/ferro cement to setup at once. An overhead cement pump and a much smaller more precise placement head/nozzle would probably be a better choice. Anything you can reuse from existing construction tech the cheaper.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_pump

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

#82

Post by sitkack »

moocowduckquack wrote: post #33
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #9

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…

Prefab needs a factory to make the prefab sections. Also, you can lay down multiple materials by making the head swappable. I would also say plumbing and electrics are nowhere near as complex as they used to be. Everything is available as clip-on fittings these days, which is perfect for automation.

Form in cable runs in the floor and walls (use modular extension style cables for all the wiring). Let the "customer" run that stuff. Have voids in the ceiling for light pipes that also store solar energy for light at night. There are tons of solutions to these problems. We need some mid-size prototypes (10x10 size) and some playtime.

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

#83

Post by MikeTLive »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #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 ju…

if you watched the 8 minute video you would see the actual concrete printer in action.

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

#85

Post by tehwalrus »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #35
StandardFuture wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You did not watch the accompanying YouTube video where these things are mentioned as being needed and could be accomplished using auxiliary automation techniques. EDIT: They also show visual demonstrations of techniques as to HOW this would be accomplished. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdbJP8Gxqog

Sure I watched it. I was not convinced. Handwaving is not the same as research. It may be true that fixtures could be set into place in an automated way. Its not true that they can be connected. And certainly no existing fixture is ready to be installed this way. Housing construction depends upon massive efficiencies of scale. All the new fixtures for these imaginary houses would be designed differently (for robotic…

You just need to build modular parts, as the video shows (polymer blocks with embedded conductors, that slot together, was the example for electronics. There was also a demo (strike that, computer rendering) of plumbing soldering done by a machine.)

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

#86

Post by JoeAltmaier »

moocowduckquack wrote: post #72
diydsp wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am glad to see your justified skepticism of 3-d printer mania. The real breakthroughs will come when people stop fixating on "printing" (extrusion) and realize it's the 3-d (4-d, 5-d, etc.) gantry that's the super-useful part. Fitted with different tools, such as painting, gluing and sanding tools, a 3-d gantry can be extremely useful. There will however continue to be a "last mile" problem in Computer-Assisted Man…

I would love to see a 3-d printer friend explain to me how it's going to build a guitar from scratch. http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-worlds-first-3d-printed-guitar edit - and a video of a 3d printed violin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU3AZmf6O7I

Very cool! Still, I doubt that plastic violins will win the hearts of musicians. They look different; they play differently. I won't guess if that sounded good or not; I've got a tin ear. But is sounded different. Calling it a 'stradivarius' was disengeneous. Its a plastic box that looks like a violin.

I think that 3D printing will win when it starts making things that couldn't be made before. How about an instrument with complex echo chambers impossible to reproduce with wood and glue?

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

#87

Post by toomuchtodo »

Tloewald wrote: post #70
toomuchtodo wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the correction with regards to material. I do tech/IT by day, but have a welding certification as well. Its extremely easy to braize copper tubing together for plumbing once you've practiced, but feels like its work that isn't necessary when there are easier ways to do it (ie the pex pipe you suggested). Coincidently, I'm replacing two toilets in my home tonight. Wish me luck!

Good luck. Replacing toilets is surprisingly straightforward, just need the $2 wax ring.

Thank you! It went splendidly!

Off topic: They actually advertise the toilet as being unclogable and demonstrate it by flushing a bucket of golf balls down it. Brilliant.

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

#88

Post by sologoub »

tdiggity wrote: post #55
sologoub wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just read the info on the "Why Blu" page as the photos look intriguing, but as soon as the page mentioned "pre-fab", it became a non-start for me in the SoCal market. The problem is that pre-fabricated or pre-manufactured homes are a very specific category of homes and require specific disclosures when selling and financing. It's basically a derogatory term used to describe cheaply built structures that are a step ab…

Prefab and preamnufactured homes are different. Premanufactured homes are also known as mobile homes. There are probably a lot of prefab homes around you that you never knew about.

While I agree that it's not exactly the same, the only definition I could find is the one for manufactured homes in CA: http://law.onecle.com/california/health/18007.html.

The above definition lumps them together and unfortunately if there isn't something that makes the home not fall under that definition, you are going to have to disclose this at sale and financing will be a PITA...

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