3-D "printed" castle made of concrete ~ WOW

[Melensdad]

This is pretty amazing.

Man invents concrete 3-D printer so he can print his own castle.

If we can do this, soon we will be able to do anything with 3-D printing.

Be afraid, .gov. Be very, very afraid. With 3-D printing technology the restrictions that government places upon people will be moot as people will be able to make their own stuff. Be it a plastic gun or a concrete castle or anything in between.

VIDO AT THE LINK => Man 3D-Prints Castle In Back Garden Using Concrete Printer He Invented

Here is just the first portion of the article, follow the link to the full story:

A 3D-printed castle, built by Andrey Rudenko, an inventor in Minnesota(Andrey Rudenko)

A building contractor living in Minnesota has developed his own 3D printer which can print concrete directly from CAD design software, and he has used it to 3D-print a castle in his back garden.

According to 3DPrint.com, Andrey Rudenko has printed a small single-level castle (a child's playhouse) in just three months, as part of a test before printing a full-sized two story house, which would make it bigger than the houses that were 3D-printed in 24 hours in China.

Similar to the Chinese inventor Ma Yihe, Rudenko has built a 3D printer that prints out a mixture of cement and sand in layers measuring 20mm by 5mm, using technology and software from the open-source RepRap 3D printing project.

However, Rudenko, who has a background in architecture and engineering, is critical of Ma's design. He thinks that the ten 200 sq m houses that Ma printed are more like shells than homes.

"A cheap house built in 24 hours is not my goal. As an experienced builder, I know that to avoid problems in the future, it is more important to produce homes of a good quality, which may take longer to build than cheaper homes made quickly," Rudenko said.

. . .

 

[rlk]

That is very interesting.

My wife and I attended a seminar about 3D printers that was put on by a vendor for DDD Systems. They had several 3D printers in operation while we were there. Here are a few photos of the things they printed:

The fan in the first photo is made of stainless steel and was printed prior to us arriving.

The items in the second photo are made of a polymer and are models and not working. They were printed so a designer could see what the finished product would look like. Again, they do not work.

The shoe in the third photo is also a model that is made of a polymer that felt exactly like suede. Eventually they expect to be able to print shoes in whatever type material the consumer wants (leather, plastic, polymer, etc.).

The robot in the third photo has moving parts such that you can twist the robot into many different shapes. You can raise his arms, spread his legs, bend him over, twist his head around, twist his arms, etc.

Bob

 

[rlk]

I have heard that NASA is sending a 3D printer to the space station so that parts can be printed as needed rather than wait for the next space shuttle.

We were also told there are plans to scan most of the artifacts in the Smithsonian so exact replicas can be printed all over the world.

Since the seminar, I have read that we will soon be printing food with 3D printers. Imagine this situation: you are disabled or home bound. A dietician writes a meal plan for you that addresses your need for additional iron or calcium, or whatever vitamin/mineral your body needs. The dietician notes that you prefer meatloaf and roasted chicken, and string beans and mashed potatoes. All this info is stored in a database.

While the Meals on Wheels delivery vehicle is on the way to your house, a computer in the vehicle accesses the database, gets your meal plan for the day, chooses which vitamins/minerals you need, along with the exact amount of calories, then prints your dinner while the vehicle is driving to your house.

When you get the meal, you think you have meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans, because that's what it looks and tastes like, but in reality, what's on your plate is a perfectly balanced meal that was designed explicitly for you. It may not have any meat/potatoes/green beans in it at all but it will have the taste and texture like it does.

This application will also work very well in a hospital setting.

There is speculation that in the future we will not have a traditional range in our homes as they will be replaced by a 3D printer. Than, dad can have a steak, mom can have quiche, and the kids can have pizza. Everyone will have a perfectly balanced meal that was designed by a dietician. Once the meal is printed, just pop it into the microwave to warm it. So, no more need for a traditional range. By then though, we'll probably be using something other than a microwave oven.

Sorry to take this topic off track - can you tell I'm very interested in 3D printing????

Bob

 

[leadarrows]

Star Trek Replicator....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6XASxni0I0#t=12

 

[Doc]

All this 3D printing is mind boggling to me.

To print something on paper you have to put paper in the printer and ink in the printer. So to print 3D concrete or a 3D fan do you have to have the raw materials in the printer or where the heck do they come from?

 

[Melensdad]

All this 3D printing is mind boggling to me.

To print something on paper you have to put paper in the printer and ink in the printer. So to print 3D concrete or a 3D fan do you have to have the raw materials in the printer or where the heck do they come from?

There has to be a hose leading to the nozzle. The hose comes from the supply tank and the nozzle spits out the material.

The printer itself works like a CNC milling machine, in reverse. The milling machines run their heads over material and remove material. The printer follows the same path that a milling machine head follows, but starts with nothing and deposits materials instead of staring with a block and taking away bits of material.

 

[rlk]

There has to be a hose leading to the nozzle. The hose comes from the supply tank and the nozzle spits out the material.

The printer itself works like a CNC milling machine, in reverse. The milling machines run their heads over material and remove material. The printer follows the same path that a milling machine head follows, but starts with nothing and deposits materials instead of staring with a block and taking away bits of material.

The ones we saw did not work like that. The printers we saw were for printing small objects, the largest being about 16 inches square. There were several printers in operation, and all were a little different, but one worked like this:

There is a container of material in the printer. The material can be polymer, metal particles, plastic, or other materials.

A CAD drawing instructs a laser light that outlines the object being printed. This hardens about 1/1000 inch of the polymer. The printer head then deposits more material over the object, the laser flashes again outlining the shape and another 1/1000 inch of polymer is hardened. This continues until the object has been printed.

When you are watching the printer, all you can see is the laser flashing and the printer head moving back and forth over the container of polymer.

The object being printed is printed from bottom to top and is always covered by the polymer.

Once the object has been printed an operator reaches into the polymer material with gloves and removes the object. He removes the excess polymer with compressed air. All this is done inside the printer, behind a large window - similar to a sand blaster where you are wearing gloves and looking through a glass window.

The excess polymer falls back into the original container, ready to be used again.

The process is slow as the printer can only print about one inch of height each hour.

Bob

 

[FrancSevin]

I read today where medical researchers think they can "print' replacement organs. That will change the world.

 

[Melensdad]

I read today where medical researchers think they can "print' replacement organs. That will change the world.

I believe they have already used 3D printers to print the external parts of Ears for surgical replacement onto wounded soldiers.

 

[bczoom]

Yea, but can it make a cold beer?

 

[FrancSevin]

I believe they have already used 3D printers to print the external parts of Ears for surgical replacement onto wounded soldiers.

Here is more on that.
Exploring 3-D Printing to Make Organs for Transplants

Wed, 07/30/2014 - 9:44am

American Chemical Society

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A close-up of tiny bioink droplets used to print organs shows live cells inside. Courtesy of the American Chemical SocietyPrinting whole new organs for transplants sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, but the real-life budding technology could one day make actual kidneys, livers, hearts and other organs for patients who desperately need them. In the ACS journal Langmuir, scientists are reporting new understanding about the dynamics of 3-D bioprinting that takes them a step closer to realizing their goal of making working tissues and organs on-demand.
Yong Huang and colleagues note that this idea of producing tissues and organs, or biofabricating, has the potential to address the shortage of organ donations. And biofabricated ones could even someday be made with a patient’s own cells, lowering the risk of rejection.
Today, more than 120,000 people are on waiting lists for donated organs, with most needing kidney transplants. However, between January and April of this year, just short of 10,000 people received the transplant they needed.
There are a few different biofabricating methods, but inkjet printing has emerged as a frontrunner. It’s been used to print live cells, from hamster ovary cells to human fibroblasts, which are a common type of cell in the body. But, no studies had been done to really understand how biological inks behave when they’re dispensed through printer nozzles. Huang’s team set out to fill that gap.
They tested bioinks with different concentrations of mouse fibroblasts plus a hydrogel made out of sodium alginate. They discovered, among other findings, that adding more cells in the material reduces both the droplet size and the rate at which it gets dispensed. The new results will help scientists move forward with this promising technology.
The authors acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation.