Posted on 05/22/2016 7:16:29 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Italian 3D printing firm WASP is no ordinary company, claiming as its mission to save the world with digital fabrication technology and a new maker economy. To do its part in the World Advanced Saving Project (WASP), the firm has built its Big Delta 3D printer, a large-scale system capable of printing structures made from concrete and meant to produce homes for people in developing nations. It has yet to fulfill this latter goal, but a bit of news announced today indicates that WASP is making moves in the right direction. Together with Siam Cement Group (SCG) and architect Pitupong Chaowakul, they have 3D printed a house in Asia.
SCG has previously worked in 3D-printed construction, having co-engineered cement composite for Emerging Objects’ laser-sintered “Bloom” pavilion in 2015. Upon discovering WASP's enormous 3D printer, the Thai firm and Chaowakul, founder of Supermachine Studio, reached out to WASP to construct a 4-meter-tall printer capable of printing thick fluid materials, like SCG's concrete, at a volume of 2 m x 2 m x 2 m. Housed at the SCG facility, the custom DELTA WASP printer was then used to 3D print Chaowakul's blueprint, a pavilion that took a painstaking three months to design. In addition to the large concrete 3D printer, fused deposition modeling and powder bed 3D printing were also used, resulting in an entirely 3D-printed structure. The parts were then snapped together onsite....
(Excerpt) Read more at engineering.com ...
I’ve always said that the do-gooders want us to save the earth by having us live in caves and surviving on nuts and berries. A global population of 30 million ought to be sufficient. Too many humans just means too many problems.
Can I keep my man cave?
I’m actually writing a sci-fi story with much of these concepts - To live on the moon you need a directional driller with detonations to create “rooms” beneath the moon, then you send a polymer spraying head in to coat the “rooms” and pool as the floor, and then much of the furniture is printed attached to the pooled polymer. All of what we have learned through fracking, polymers, and 3d printing, in addition to CO2->O2 microbes and condensed food could provide endless life on other planets provided no one kills themselves out of boredom.
A fair amount of science fiction has been written about terraforming planets (like Mars). It seems to me that your direction makes a lot more sense. Go into the crust of the world and carve out spaces and build atmosphere within an enclosed area. Much more manageable. Start small and proceed from there.
Wonderful! Civilization, always fragile, is being so deconstructed that now we can all go back to cave painting !
>>A fair amount of science fiction has been written about terraforming planets (like Mars). It seems to me that your direction makes a lot more sense. Go into the crust of the world and carve out spaces and build atmosphere within an enclosed area. Much more manageable. Start small and proceed from there.
Yeah, I’m a horrible writer with no ability to have enough time to write (I teach, translate, and have a bunch of kids), but I hope I can get it done. Embarrassingly, it’s going to probably end up like “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” with tech. I put a lot of it up on wattpad.
Thanks for posting this. My brother is CEO of a concrete testing company.
I sent the article to him! I think he will enjoy reading it.
Thank you very much!
Colonists would need regular entertainment blasted off and digitally beamed to them so they don't get bored. I also don't think they could stay for long, unless the crew is larger than on the ISS. Can't go anywhere floating, but you can explore the moon, not that there's much to explore.
A holodeck would do nicely, and lots of attractive women. That’s always a plus. Pity the poor schmuck who has to clean the holodeck afterwards. That thing would be stickier than the floor of an old movie theater.
With a transporter you could just beam the um fun time residue, into space.
“All right kids we’re passing the...white nebula.....roll em up”.
I’ve been following the 3d house print concept for a bit now, but I can’t get past the idea that concrete prices are such that it isn’t economical. Perhaps the reduced labor offsets it enough, but $5k quoted for my driveway replacement doesn’t seem to fit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.