back to article Concrete-jet 'printers' to build houses, Moonbases in hours

Most readers will be aware of so-called "3D printing" techniques, in which solid objects can be constructed automatically from computer models. Researchers in California intend to scale the process up radically, using "contour crafting" concrete extrusion to erect buildings in a matter of hours. "Instead of plastic, Contour …

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  1. Tim

    @ AC- Concrete Boats

    It's been done before...one of the many delights of Canvey Island

    http://www.concretebarge.co.uk/

    that landing page is so freaky.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Rebar is now optional...

    Recent developements have seen fiberous materials mixed into concrete in such a way to massivly increase its tensile strength. Shotcrete has used wavey metal strips (like staples) for many years, now newer materials such as kevlar are being used, yes its more expensive, but its cheaper than many many man hours.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Glue and vaccuum's

    While we are at it, what type of glue will set in a vacuum? This would have been a handy glue when the space shuttle had heat shield tiles on the front which fell off. Being able to go outside and stick on a few replacement tiles would have been very handy - except liquid glues evaporate in a vacuum

    Loctite (r) do anaerobic glues, superglue(r) for instance sets when the parts are pressed together and the air expelled

  4. John

    economic collapse?

    yeah, like the factories of the industrial revolution. and the tractors and combine harvesters of the farming revolution.

  5. Fenton

    Green Concrete

    I though I saw an article a few years back about green concrete that actually absorbs CO2 and in the process makes it stronger.

    Yes it takes more CO2 to make but over the lifetime of the building it will actually absorb about 2x the XC02 used to make it.

  6. David Hayes
    Coat

    Test Page

    So we'll print a test page in Windows just to make sure it works on the moon. Some nice advertising on the moon for M$ then!

    Mine's the one with the really long telescope to read the test page on the moon!

  7. Stephen Gray

    @ TeeCee

    LOL!!! You cant go wrong with a little Kenny Brockelstein

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    concrete boats and harbours

    Knew a chap (with no maritime skills) who bought a concrete boat.

    Went off sailing in it and didn't realise it would take a while to slow down at the harbour. Apparently there was a lot of shouting, a huge crunch and he was never allowed back in that harbour (after it had been rebuilt). The boat suffered minimal damage.

  9. Big_Boomer Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    One off houses?

    Waste of money to build a single house this way.

    The reason CAT are into this is mass market.

    Imagine you arrive at your virgin site, lay 10 rows of tracks, fit the printer to the first row and press start.

    Once it's finished the 30th house on that row, you move it row 2 and press start,.... etc.

    In the meantime you just have the keep the machine topped up with concrete and rebar and stuff.

    As for people who live in earthquake zones, well more fool you. :-)

    Modern concretes can use shredded waste instead of rock and are better for it. Build your house using landfill.

  10. Steven Jones

    @AC - Glue and vaccuum's

    anaerobic really means "without oxygen" not "without air" (sometimes it will be loosely mean the latter, but that's not really accurate).

    The real problem with the vacuum is the rapid evaporation of liquids. Nothing can remain liquid in a vacuum. For a glue to work in vacuum it would have to be spreadable and it's a bit difficult to see how that would be done, although I suppose if it was something with very low volatility then it might be possible.

    That's a very different thing to glues setting in a vacuum - that's perfectly possible.

  11. Simon Millard
    Happy

    Refilling

    And when it runs out of concrete, it'll be cheaper to buy a new printer

  12. joe K
    Dead Vulture

    Limecrete

    @Fenton : I think you might be referring to limecrete, which is a concrete equivalent made from lime (CaO) instead of the limestone (CaCO3) in concrete. As its set the lime absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere and slowly turns into limestone (CaO+CO2=CaCO3). However, its notoriously difficult to machine,is more brittle and takes considerably longer to set.

    My problem is with this whole green fanaticism. The planet is living and self regulating. Using one naturally occuring material instead of another is not going to prevent an impending doom from happening. Adopting limecrete to save the planet is no different to a 1 million strong colony of ants in an anthill in equatorial africa deciding to reduce their daily leaf harvest by 12% in a bid to cut their carbon footprint.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Best ever subhead! Kudos...

    What the title said.

  14. Lukin Brewer

    Roger Dean will love this!

    Roger Dean is best known for creating record covers, usually depicting unearthly landscapes and buildings, plus the odd bit of set design. However, he actually trained and qualified as an architect and interior designer before he got sidetracked into cover design. A lot of the buildings that he painted were conceived as practical builds as well. He has tried (and in a few cases, succeeded) to get the buildings constructed. This technology would presumably make it as quick and cost effective as any other structure.

  15. Vlad

    I dread the helpdesk calls that this one might generate!

    User: Hello, is that the Helpdesk? I've got a problem with my concrete-jet printer. I've tried printing the Concert Hall job five times but it keeps going wrong! Your engineer might need to bring a sledge hammer along with them.

  16. Waldo
    Happy

    WELL Well well

    ..... I 've heard of shitting bricks but....:-P

  17. Paul Stephenson

    cladding?

    presumably if this where used on houses it would be cladded in soemthing, cause generally speaking concrete looks like sh!t. most 1950's buildings anyone? :)

  18. truenorthern

    efficient already

    I hope they can make this work, they have a long ways to go to make what works an inch wide in the lab work on a typical building site.

    and I have sure seen a lot of these types of efforts. Someone basically outside the construction industry comes along and determines that all construction is inefficient and that they can do it 10 times faster, 10 times cheaper, and now more environmentally friendly.

    Well, I have news for you construction professional operate extremely efficiently and at least in residential housing marginally are razor thin with very high competition.

    one more thing, softwood lumber is a renewable resource. Nearly all the lumber in Canada/US comes from plantations. The whole process is self sustaining, we have not been harvesting more than is sustainable for years,...

  19. Richard Clayton
    Coat

    Ooops... sent it to the wrong printer

    Anyone who works in an office knows the problem of sending stuff to the wrong printer.

    On discovery of this it is usually only a matter of walking to the actual printer you sent it to to find out that it is on the wrong size paper or is black and white instead of colour

    Imagine the horrors of looking out the office window and seeing your email printed out in glorious concrete several feet high!

    Including the signature line "Please consider the environment before printing this email"

    I'll get my concrete overcoat...

  20. Adam Foxton
    Thumb Up

    @lIsRT

    You mean like 3D printers? Like the ones that have been out for years and are even mentioned in the article?

    Apologies for the sarcasm.

    And yeah, they're awesome! Wish I had one at home...

  21. rhidian

    the pdf is good

    As AC said above.

    http://www.isi.edu/craft/CC/Welcome_files/resources/AIC2004-Paper.pdf

    Quite a bit about the process in there, including the reinforcements methods and domes etc. Worth a read :)

    I do like the idea of printing to the wrong printer or print jobs getting stuck in the Q ;p

    Wasn't there a usb device that would fabricate you a mug or some such thing? What was that called?

  22. Acme Fixer

    @ dave lawless

    Not according to The History Detectives. Edison wast stuck with the equipment that could make cement, so having a load of lemons, he tried to make lemonade. He said he was going to build the cement houses, and got patents on the concept of a concrete house poured into a mold. But his plans fell through, so it didn't happen. Instead, a guy named Ingersoll built some concrete houses in Union, New Jersey using Edison's techniques (the street they're on is named Ingersoll), but they were NOT built by Edison.

    See www.pbs.org and The History Detectives.

    http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/pdf/201_edison.pdf

    "Raymond: Well Edison’s attitude was “I didn’t fail. I just found ten thousand ways that didn’t work.” So after all these media attention, Edison decided to cut his losses and get out.

    Gwen: But that’s a disparity, because Antonio’s house was built in 1917, which is a number of years after this.

    Raymond: That’s right. Well, it turns out that Edison never did build a concrete house."

  23. Tim
    Thumb Up

    You can print floors, you just need to kinds of "ink"...

    ...normal 3d printers print with two materials and one of those materials is blasted away with a water jet to reveal the finished product. So if you want to build a hollow cube, its a simple matter of printing with concrete and um, sand I suppose, then removing the sand when you're done.

  24. William Lane

    Stereolithography

    Search Stereolithography, this is the same thing as had been around for a while now, but was used in smaller scale for rapid prototyping. This is a great way to use this technology. I wonder what the machine/structure cost, and the easy of transportation/movement.

  25. Brian
    Thumb Up

    RE: Roger Dean will love this

    I've had the good fortune to get to know Roger over the past few years at a USA Progressive Rock Festival (NEARFest) and he has shown me many designs of modular housing, etc that has an incredibly homey feel and beautiful design.

    I love his work, and he should be as well known for his archetecture as his artwork!

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