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New giant 3D printer can build a house in 24 hours
NDTV Gadgets ^ | January 13, 2014

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: 3dprinters; 3dprinting; homebuilding; housing
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1 posted on 04/28/2014 3:38:50 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Very cool technology.

A different video without all the fluff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yv-IWdSdns


2 posted on 04/28/2014 3:43:06 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Thats cool


3 posted on 04/28/2014 3:43:49 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; AFPhys; AD from SpringBay; ADemocratNoMore; aimhigh; AnalogReigns; archy; ...
3-D Printer Ping!


4 posted on 04/28/2014 3:44:42 PM PDT by null and void ( They don't think think they are above the law. They think they are the law.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
My parents bought their first house in 1956. It was entirely concrete. Even the roof was cement spancrete.

The entire thing was formed and poured in one day.

5 posted on 04/28/2014 3:45:21 PM PDT by blackdog (There is no such thing as healing, only a balance between destructive and constructive forces.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

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.


6 posted on 04/28/2014 3:45:29 PM PDT by Gen.Blather
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Where will the illegals work if this product/process gets developed?
Is this printer racist?


7 posted on 04/28/2014 3:49:02 PM PDT by impimp
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To: Gen.Blather

I’d like to look at straw bale building, but as you say, how can you get it approved? Have you heard of it?


8 posted on 04/28/2014 3:49:28 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2M for Cruz and/or Palin's next run, what will you do?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

cool stuff...now what to do with all of those construction workers...


9 posted on 04/28/2014 3:50:46 PM PDT by Homer1
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

IIRC there are still places in this country where there are no building codes, doubt that will last much longer though.


10 posted on 04/28/2014 3:53:42 PM PDT by PoloSec ( Believe the Gospel: how that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again)
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To: Homer1

(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.


11 posted on 04/28/2014 3:57:00 PM PDT by Ed Condon (subliminal messages here in invisible ink)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

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.


12 posted on 04/28/2014 3:58:39 PM PDT by Gen.Blather
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Aw, these guys always suck you in. Sure, the printer’s cheap, but just try replacing the ink cartridges.


13 posted on 04/28/2014 4:03:24 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I was going to link the earlier thread but saw that you posted the same earlier.


14 posted on 04/28/2014 4:05:58 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Billthedrill

You must mean concrete cartridges.


15 posted on 04/28/2014 4:13:43 PM PDT by slouper (LWRC SPR 223)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

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.


16 posted on 04/28/2014 4:17:46 PM PDT by InterceptPoint
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Tell me again why we need millions of illegal aliens to work home construction.


17 posted on 04/28/2014 4:19:16 PM PDT by montag813
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

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.


18 posted on 04/28/2014 4:19:57 PM PDT by willgolfforfood
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To: Gen.Blather

“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.


19 posted on 04/28/2014 4:38:24 PM PDT by marktwain (The old media must die for the Republic to live. Long live the new media!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

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


20 posted on 04/28/2014 4:41:05 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Want to keep your doctor? Remove your Democrat Senator.)
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