Posted on 04/28/2014 3:38:50 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Scientists claim to have developed a revolutionary new giant 3D concrete printer that can build a 2,500-square-foot house in just 24 hours. The 3D printer, developed by Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis from the University of Southern California, could be used to build a whole house, layer by layer, in a single day.
The giant robot replaces construction workers with a nozzle on a gantry, which squirts out concrete and can quickly build a home based on a computer pattern, MSN News reported.
It is "basically scaling up 3D printing to the scale of building," said Khoshnevis.
'Contour Crafting' is a layered fabrication technology and has great potential for automating the construction of whole structures as well as sub-components, according to the project website.
Using this process, a single house or a colony of houses, each with possibly a different design, may be automatically constructed in a single run, embedded in each house all the conduits for electrical, plumbing and air-conditioning.
The potential applications of this technology are far reaching including in emergency, low-income, and commercial housing.
The technology may potentially reduce energy use and emissions by using a rapid-prototype or 3D printing process to fabricate large components, according to the project website.
Featuring robotic arms and extrusion nozzles, a computer-controlled gantry system moves the nozzle back and forth.
"Our research also addresses the application of Contour Crafting in building habitats on other planets. Contour Crafting will most probably be one of the very few feasible approaches for building structures on other planets, such as the Moon and Mars, which are being targeted for human colonisation before the end of the new century," researchers said on the project website.
With the process, large-scale parts can be fabricated quickly in a layer-by-layer fashion.
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
The chief advantages of the Contour Crafting process over existing technologies are the superior surface finish that is realised and the greatly enhanced speed of fabrication, according to the project website.
Very cool technology.
A different video without all the fluff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yv-IWdSdns
Thats cool
The entire thing was formed and poured in one day.
There have been lots of revolutionary building systems. (Snap together houses. Metal houses. Pounded earth.) But if the building codes aren’t written for them you can’t use them. The building codes are all written with 1940’s ideas.
Where will the illegals work if this product/process gets developed?
Is this printer racist?
I’d like to look at straw bale building, but as you say, how can you get it approved? Have you heard of it?
cool stuff...now what to do with all of those construction workers...
IIRC there are still places in this country where there are no building codes, doubt that will last much longer though.
(cool stuff...now what to do with all of those construction workers...)
Enroll them into a training program conducted by HUD, and teach them English as a second language.
Never heard of it. After a 1985 hurricane where the only houses destroyed were not built to the existing code and had been illegally signed-off by the “inspectors” they re-wrote the one three-ring binder into 12 three ring binders. The code is so detailed it’s virtually impossible to either know or follow. Also, companies paid to have their products actually written into the code. So it now reads, must use a hurricane fastener similar to the pictured Acme 2199. To get anything different approved is impossible. The code office won’t take the chance of approving it for fear it won’t work and they’ll be blamed.
Aw, these guys always suck you in. Sure, the printer’s cheap, but just try replacing the ink cartridges.
I was going to link the earlier thread but saw that you posted the same earlier.
You must mean concrete cartridges.
Great technology. That’s the plus. The minus? Getting it approved. Here is my top 10 list of the opponents:
1. The Unions.
2. The Democrats.
3. Every single agency in the U.S. that issues building permits.
4. Architects.
5. The IRS
6. Anyone who works in the building trades.
7. Anyone in the lumber industry.
8. John McCain and his best buddy Hillary.
9. Every single Keynesian economist in the world.
10. PETA.
Tell me again why we need millions of illegal aliens to work home construction.
Does the printer put REBAR in the concrete? Because if you don’t get some rebar in there, you’re concrete is much weaker than it should be.
“The building codes are all written with 1940’s ideas.”
Yes indeed. And one of those ideas is to keep the trade unions employed and use the city muscle to do so. The trade unions have vigorously impeded new labor saving technology in home construction.
Lots of them in New Mexico.
Here’s a link to some uTube info: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=straw+bale+house+construction
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