China: Firm 3D prints 10 full-sized houses in a day

[Ichingcarpenter]

A company in China has used giant 3D printers to make 10 full-sized, detached single-storey houses in a day, it appears.

A private firm, WinSun, used four 10m x 6.6m printers to spray a mixture of cement and construction waste to build the walls, layer by layer, official Xinhua news agency reported.

The cheap materials used during the printing process and the lack of manual labour means that each house can be printed for under $5,000, the 3dprinterplans website says.

"We can print buildings to any digital design our customers bring us. It's fast and cheap," says WinSun chief executive Ma Yihe. He also hopes his printers can be used to build skyscrapers in the future. At the moment, however, Chinese construction regulations do not allow multi-storey 3D-printed houses, Xinhua says.


http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-27156775





In thirty years ......3d printing of android duplicates of yourself.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. This is one of the reasons why I like old houses so much.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. i've worked on trac homes, custom homes

and geodesic domes etc.

Think about when a hurricane or tornado destroys housing what this could mean. .

[geckosfeet]

4. If it's a choice between no home and a home that a major storm could destroy

I would take the home that a major storm could destroy. Dwelling and contents can be insured. Just make sure you get to a shelter before storm hits - that can be said for almost any house.

Some folks just can't afford to buy storm proof dwellings because of income issues or unemployment - but that is another story for another day.

[mainer]

3. Imagine these at a refugee camp

Construct ten a day, place a family in each -- it'd be an astonishing improvement over tents.

[Agschmid]

5. Construction waste.... Such as?

[csziggy]

7. Other articles say industrial and construction waste

"To obtain natural stone, we have to employ miners, dig up blocks of stone and saw them into pieces. This badly damages the environment," Ma said.

"But with the 3D printing, we recycle mine tailings into usable materials. And we can print building with any digital design our customers bring us. It's fast and cheap," he said.

Buildings made with 3D printing technology can spare construction workers from having to work in hazardous, dusty environments, he said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sci/2014-04/25/c_133290171.htm

[dipsydoodle]

6. K & R

[ThoughtCriminal]

8. Thomas Edison had a similar concept

The technique is different, but concept is similar.

"Although ultimately a failure, Edison's 1908 system of concrete construction is this country's best known early example of the mass-produced concrete house. His system involved the use of elaborate forms and machinery for pouring a one, two, or even three-story house in a single operation, and offered concrete built-ins such as a bathtub. Sectional cast iron forms bolted together were to be assembled on the foundation walls to the height of the house, ending in a centrally located funnel into which the concrete was poured."



http://exhibits.mannlib.cornell.edu/prefabhousing/prefab.php?content=two_a