Posted on 07/26/2015 4:31:46 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Get ready for buildings a whole lot more complex and cheaper and creative.
My first thought is that the time, trouble and logistics to transport the 3D builder to the site coupled with the site preparation, dealing with weather, excess room required for the builder would limit the type and frequency of structures that could be built.
In the end, I think that premanufactured panels, modules and components of a structure in a controlled environment would be quicker, more efficient and cheaper.
Maybe for building a base on the moon out of local media or something like that would be the best use....
just a few thoughts.
Your forgetting zoning, builder associations, trade groups and other regulations adding tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of a building.
Didn’t read the article so bear with me
Saw a great show on 3D printing pressurizable lunar habitats for moon exploration. I believe they heated to the melting point the lunar regolith that they used as a building material. They practiced on earth with a similar material. We live in amazing times......if we don’t blow ourselves off the face of the earth.
Yes, those also....I was just thinking of anything uniquely different from conventional construction.
I think construction and manufacturing, as well as organ replacement, is where 3D printing will be most significant in the short term.
Whole lot of guys are going to be out of work. Probably kitchens and bathrooms offer some opportunity later to get in on the closest thing to a ground floor. At some point printers capable of printing countertops will be available, meanwhile if you save on the building itself you might be more apt to spend a fortune on pretty kitchens and bathrooms.
True, and just like with cars, features are going to exponential, so it’s no good looking back.
(I keep hunting down and killing spell check, and it keeps coming back!)
3D print a Mohammed, and drop it in the middle of Mecca, with a sign that says, “I’m back”. sit back and watch what happens. Endless hours of entertainment.
The Horror! What will all the undocumented workers do?
I find it a great application and can’t wait to see where it ends up. People are still thinking in the box, literally, but the possibilities are endless.
Um, move down the street and bring your whole neighborhood into disrepute when they are the subject of a well publicized heroin bust like a housefull did here?
They can’t move down the street if they’re unemployed.
The US construction industry have never worried about H1Bs—they have just hired illegals for decades. Maybe some Americans will be able to at least operate the printers for their $15 per hour.
Sure they can, it only takes one or two in good standing to rent the place.
Well I don’t know what’s going to prevent companies from hiring visa holders instead, but Americans can buy an tinker with these machines as they become available and maybe end up being the ones who make such hiring g decisions :)
Too true!
I did some work with ProE making match plate pattern equipment used to produce gray iron castings.
There was a time when skilled wood workers produced furniture grade (hard maple usually) wooden patterns which were then used to produce the metal patterns used for series production of metal parts like engine blocks and such.
With a good CAD/CAM program you can produce a solid model of the part, apply details like draft angles, shrink allowances, fillets and radius details (in hours not days). The computer then translates your model into code to drive a computer controlled milling machine. A machinist loads the turret with the required cutters and loads the raw material. Hit the go button and watch the chips fly.
The process can produce a match plate pattern from solid stock in a matter of hours. Working with wood patterns used to take weeks.
Not exactly 3D printing but what I have described will produce metal parts with internal details at mass production rates. I expect that metal foundries will be still with us for a long time to come.
Regards,
GtG
I’m thinking 3dprinting will cut the cost of pipelines in half.
You just truck the ingredients to the right spot and drop them into a 3d printer on tracks that works by continuously extruding pipeline.
Then —if its a water pipeline on a slope somehow stick in an electrical generator every chance you get generate electricity.
You just truck the ingredients to the right spot and drop them into a 3d printer on tracks that works by continuously extruding pipeline.
Then —if its a water pipeline on a slope somehow stick in an electrical generator every chance you get generate electricity.
The idea of extracting energy from the flowing water is novel. If the pipe is heading down slope all the way from it's source to it's destination it might work. If however, it has to climb hills as well as descend you may find the flow slows drastically and it requires a pump to keep it moving at the desired rate. (That is true even if you don't try to generate electricity.)
The Roman engineers built aqueducts from the mountains to their cities. When they encountered a valley, they built a bridge like structure supporting an open topped trough. The idea being to maintain the downward slope throughout the length of the aqueduct.
Regards,
GtG
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