And even then, the filament needed at this scale will take another several years, and a few days for shipping.
Also, it doesn’t do well in sunlight or high humidity for prolonged periods of time, so we’ll need maybe 20 to 30 years to work out a solution for that problem.
Certain arches or domes, maybe a lining for a tunnel. A tower if it’s not very windy. Really just all the stuff the Romans built, since that’s what they were working with, and their volcanic ash-based cement was somewhat weaker than modern cement.
It would be pretty hard to print between rebar. You’d need a crazy multi-axis head, and at that point it’s probably cheaper to just build a form. If they can achieve some significant strength with long fibers, which seems likely, you could spool that into the stream of concrete, but just concrete is already an actively researched problem. Printing one big form in foam or plastic and then filling it could be considered. The manual equivalent certainly makes a great building, especially in harsh climates where insulation is a concern.
And is that huge 3D printer in the room with us now?
To be fair, you don’t need a very huge 3D printer for that, if you divide it into a lot of smaller parts which can be assembled later.
Idk, if we can already print steel though and whether we can make it structually sufficiently stable.
So our proposal is we prefab a bunch of metal pieces and assemble them on-site?
As opposed to our current method where we carve bridges out of a big block of metal?
Hahahaha absolutely. :D The difference is, that they come from a 3D printer and that’s cool.
shakily points to an Etch-a-Sketch
Unfortunately it’ll take 10 years to build the printer.
And even then, the filament needed at this scale will take another several years, and a few days for shipping.
Also, it doesn’t do well in sunlight or high humidity for prolonged periods of time, so we’ll need maybe 20 to 30 years to work out a solution for that problem.
I can only assume they’re trying to talk about concrete 3D printing, but oh boy is that not ready for anything which needs strength.
How weak are we talking? All I’ve seen is the press releases from the companies that do it.
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Yeah, but how much worse than normal unreinforced concrete? (Which is actually fine if you aren’t worried about tension)
Oh it should be roughly equivalent. But really, what besides a slab can you build without worrying about tension?
Certain arches or domes, maybe a lining for a tunnel. A tower if it’s not very windy. Really just all the stuff the Romans built, since that’s what they were working with, and their volcanic ash-based cement was somewhat weaker than modern cement.
It would be pretty hard to print between rebar. You’d need a crazy multi-axis head, and at that point it’s probably cheaper to just build a form. If they can achieve some significant strength with long fibers, which seems likely, you could spool that into the stream of concrete, but just concrete is already an actively researched problem. Printing one big form in foam or plastic and then filling it could be considered. The manual equivalent certainly makes a great building, especially in harsh climates where insulation is a concern.