Build a custom home in 20 hours using a giant 3D printer

There has been discussion ATS before about 3D printing technology, and I recently posted a thread about how this could be used to "print" medicine and chemicals. Now comes the most ambitious 3D printing idea yet: entire houses.

Contour Crafting uses what is essentially a giant 3D printer that hangs over the space the home will occupy, building up the walls using layers of concrete. The machine can add plumbing and electrical wiring as it goes, leaving a completed shell needing just windows and doors to complete. There are even ways to robotically paint the walls and add tiling to floors and walls.

More at source (dvice.com):

The article goes on to mention that details can be customized so you don't end up with the same house every time. It also notes the safety and efficiency that such projects could result in.

For those looking to live "off the grid" or even just a bit more cheaply, this could come as a welcome revolution in architectural planning. On the other hand, might it be just another technology that reduces the need for actual workers and thus plunges the economy into an even more moribund state?

Here is a longish but related youtube clip, for those interested:

Wow that's awesome!
Shame it can't make me some land for my house..

You can't even go camping in the UK unless you have express permission from the land owner or pay to use a campsite.. WHY CAN'T I CAMP OUTSIDE??

Got a bit carried away there..

This 3D printing thing is epic!
S+F

Oh look, it's technology that could save everyone from labor and promote a new chapter in the freedom of man. Looks like we better suppress it.

The future is going to be so amazing.

Oh how incredible! 3-D printing is exciting and just magic as it is....but taken to this scale? Now that is the kind of thing they ought to give a Nobel for if his adaptation of the technology actually works. Imagine just having a giant rig pull up to one empty lot after another down tracts to plop houses from base material like a hen laying eggs. lol.....

Kinda silly for the U.S. maybe...but wouldn't that be the ultimate game changer forever in less resource rich nations? WOW...

As amazing as this is it will put a lot of people out of work . Sad that something like this will only serve to promote maximum profit at lowest spending cost .

Assuming it ever gets up and running of course .

reply to post by Max_TO


.....Or it produces an entirely new class of industry to work in. Machines like this would be needed by the thousands...IF actually proven viable. If it really works as complete from start to finish as small scale 3-D printing is capable of.

...and what about the "raw" materials? They have to come from somewhere and by the millions of tons if that kind of idea took off. Recycling would finally mean more than storing cubes of "recycled" garbage in a different warehouse as sorted junk. I can see where many jobs would be created as those others would be lost. It's an exciting idea.

reply to post by Max_TO


See, what I am about to say is going to ruffle a lot of people's feathers who have been indoctrinated in believing that life must be lived a certain way:

Who says anyone has to work anymore? No, a WALL-E situation won't occur, especially with the technological leaps in the biological and cybernetic manipulation of the human form. No, people won't start raping each other because they have nothing to distract themselves. No, culture and society won't degenerate through lack of innovation and progress.

Yes, humans may actually be free of the curse to toil under the sun.
Psalm 23 verse 2 may just be a reality in the next 25 years. I look forward to the day.

We could use this while terraforming Mars. While we wait for the atmosphere to change it could be building cities.

as a home owner that suffered a house fire and then was alloted x amount of dollars to rebuild the home up to some new, rather extreme local ordanance specs, if this tech proves itself, and I was looking to get a new home, unless the new home had antique value, I'd be inclined to tear the original house down to the ground, ship out the old stuff and use this technology to build a new one.

This time though I'd very nitpicky about wiring arrangements and finishing touches, as well as bringing in the landscaper during the design phase instead of after the house and fence are compleated

Originally posted by buster2010
We could use this while terraforming Mars. While we wait for the atmosphere to change it could be building cities.

I love this idea!!

reply to post by silent thunder


I am very excited about this 3-D technology. Isn't it true that the bumbling Kodak Company has this same technology?

I sure hope so, I need to make all of my money back that has been lost over the past 4 - 6 years with Kodak stock.

reply to post by TheOneElectric


You see that's just it . For our economy to be drivin to serve people , rather then generate income growth , a lot of very controlling people , laws and just about the entire job force would have to change .

That aside , what would people do with all that free time ? My guess , that scares TPTB more then losing there money .

Originally posted by ThePublicEnemyNo1
reply to post by silent thunder

 

I am very excited about this 3-D technology. Isn't it true that the bumbling Kodak Company has this same technology?

I sure hope so, I need to make all of my money back that has been lost over the past 4 - 6 years with Kodak stock.

You have this technology. People are building 3-D printers in their workshops for under 400 bucks. I'm planning on it and I know that at least one ATS member is merrily printing whatever he thinks of.

Right before the Industrial Revolution, there were "cottage factories". I can see these sort of tech breakthroughs leading back to that sort of industrial economy again. Then eventually it will lead to something completely unheard of and very, very cool.

reply to post by silent thunder


It is a game changer. I recently have been interested in 3-D printing, and have researched how easy it is to build one from scratch, using open source code to program one. The sky is the limit.

However, people will still be required to load the thing with raw materials, after other humans has set up the scaffolding on-site, and you'll need technicians to calibrate it properly. That large of a scale, for a permanent structure, would require a similar amount of man-hours just for the set-up and tear down, and re-location.

reply to post by silent thunder


I am all for this technology!!!
Note: I am a retired plumber.
I have seen several US citizens be put out of work by cheaper illegal alien labor, so the chance for them to be put out of work sounds awesome to me!!!
So, I don't see to many US citizens losing their jobs over this tech.

I have worked with SLS/3D printing for a number of years, all I can say is that is was only a matter of time. However my favourite piece of 3D printing is in the form of "SolarSinter" a research based project from a student of London Metropolitan University and the RCA. For me this is such a amazing process and the use of two such free materials (sun and sand) is going in a direction I will be fascinated to follow. Further development could lead to additional solar machine processes such as solar welding, cutting, bending and smelting to build up a fully functioning solar workshop.

The products could be anything from glass vessels to eventually the glass surfaces for photovoltaic panels that provide the "solar factories" power source even the water channels and glass roads that service them.

For more info: www.markuskayser.com... or watch the video below.

Originally posted by TheOneElectric
Oh look, it's technology that could save everyone from labor and promote a new chapter in the freedom of man. Looks like we better suppress it.

The future is going to be so amazing.

This has been promised to me since the 50s, actually this and flying cars.

My question has always been what will people do and why should they get paid for having leisure time. It is not as if a rocket surgeon has to take time off from rocket surgery to build a house now. And while I know some dynamite dry wallers -- I want them to stay away from rocket surgery.

Great post, OP, but would Mike Holmes be able to fix the printer when it breaks down?

Maybe they can get the "massive moves" people to put it in place each time?

Originally posted by g146541
reply to post by silent thunder

 

I am all for this technology!!!
Note: I am a retired plumber.
I have seen several US citizens be put out of work by cheaper illegal alien labor, so the chance for them to be put out of work sounds awesome to me!!!
So, I don't see to many US citizens losing their jobs over this tech.

Really? You don't see millions of Americans in the construction industry out of work due to this?

Maybe you're just being sarcastic?

Originally posted by babybunnies

Originally posted by g146541
reply to post by silent thunder

 

I am all for this technology!!!
Note: I am a retired plumber.
I have seen several US citizens be put out of work by cheaper illegal alien labor, so the chance for them to be put out of work sounds awesome to me!!!
So, I don't see to many US citizens losing their jobs over this tech.

Really? You don't see millions of Americans in the construction industry out of work due to this?

Maybe you're just being sarcastic?

Really, no sarcasm at all.
I have already seen millions of US citizens be put out of work by illegal labor, at times I was one of them.
I see alot of illegals losing jobs though, I'm ok with that.
At least the machines will not try to duck paying taxes.
Well, they might but they will not need welfare or healthcare or schooling for their illegal children.
I'm all for the tech.